Trixie360 Interviews Van Lingo

Published April 29, 2009

He's a shipping agent in Houston who is also a husband, father, editor at Co-Optimus.com, and Star Wars nerd. Heave to and prepare to be boarded by Van Lingo.

trixie360: What's the story behind your Gamertag?

Van Lingo: I tried my hand at the pen-and-paper Star Wars RPG in high school. The name sounded cool, and it stuck.

trixie360: Where do you live?

Van Lingo: North Houston, Texas.

Van Lingo and family.

trixie360: What do you do for a living?

Van Lingo: I'm a shipping agent. I get to board tankers that come in and out of the Houston ship channel! It's a fun and interesting job; unfortunately, it doesn't always leave much time for gaming. When I have downtime, I volunteer for Co-Optimus.com, my favorite co-op gaming community.

trixie360: What's the worst or weirdest job you've ever had?

Van Lingo: Nothing too weird. I once worked for a service that took incoming phone orders for FTD florists. Mother's Day was horrible!

trixie360: Hey kids, mommies enjoy jewelry more than flowers. At least greedy mommies like me. How long have you been on Xbox LIVE®?

Van Lingo: I've been on LIVE since December 25, 2007. I "converted" to Xbox as soon as my wife and wallet would let me.

trixie360: Do you have an archenemy on Xbox LIVE?

Van Lingo: I don't play too many competitive games, but I am in friendly competition with my best friend 0000BUCK0000 and my Co-Optimus editor BAPenguin. I usually use Live Party to play with people I know. However, I'm not bashful—I take most Friend Requests.

trixie360: What's your Xbox setup like?

Van Lingo: We're in our first house as of March 2008, so the gaming rig isn't properly set up (that's what we all say, right?). In the meantime, I play on a 32-inch HD LCD screen with "virtual surround" and HDMI input for 1080p resolution … it serves its purpose for this semi-casual gamer very well.

R6V2 is one of the all-time multiplayer classics.

trixie360: What's the best feature of Xbox LIVE?

Van Lingo: By far, the Friends List is incredibly simple and yet so useful. Close behind that is the Live Party function, which is a dream come true for online gaming.

trixie360: What is your favorite multiplayer Xbox game?

Van Lingo: I'm still a sucker for Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six® Vegas 2. It has such great co-op and competitive gameplay, and the customization is a personal favorite. Close behind it are Call of Duty® 4: Modern Warfare™ and Star Wars Battlefront™ II.

trixie360: What is your favorite single player Xbox game?

Van Lingo: My current favorite is Far Cry® 2. I haven't made it very far, but that's because I usually get pulled into a multiplayer game when I log on.

trixie360: What do you think is the best game of all time?

Van Lingo: GoldenEye for Nintendo 64.

trixie360: My ex-husband traded that in for frickin xxxxxx. What do you think is the best film of all time?

Van Lingo: I have a lot of favorites, but I think that Raiders of the Lost Ark takes the trophy.

Van Lingo is also quite the Star Wars nerd.

trixie360: What do you think is the best album of all time?

Van Lingo: I have a Steven Spielberg/John Williams collaboration album that I think is a timeless classic. I'm sure many won't agree. I'm more a movie fan than music, so can I get a handicap?

trixie360: Rock Band or Guitar Hero?

Van Lingo: I think Rock Band offers the best ongoing support. You just can't argue with a 550+ song library.

trixie360: What's the funniest thing you've ever heard on Xbox LIVE?

Van Lingo: I once set the player voices to come through the TV speakers and guaranteed my wife that we'd catch someone singing in the Halo® 3 lobby at least once per game. For five straight matches, someone sure enough belted out a song. It was funny and annoying at the same time.

trixie360: What is your greatest Xbox LIVE moment?

Van Lingo: Having my wife play as a guest with me on certain games is always a treat. Playing Halo 3 co-op with my wife, my best friend, and his wife tops that list.

trixie360: If they made a movie about your life, who should play you?

Van Lingo: I've been compared to Ryan Hurst, and I like his acting. Michael Madsen would be cool, too. We all have the "Eastwood squint."

trixie360: What's your karaoke song?

Van Lingo: "Roll With the Changes" by REO Speedwagon.

Master Chief says, "No singing in the Halo lobbies."

trixie360: What superpower would you like to have?

Van Lingo: I've always thought that shapeshifting would be awesome.

trixie360: If you could trade places with anyone for one day, who would it be?

Van Lingo: I would like to live in Tiger Woods' house for a day and play on his golf course. Have you seen his house?!

trixie360: What celebrity would be the worst roommate?

Van Lingo: I can't think of any that would be a good roommate! I bet Sacha Baron Cohen would be the worst, his pranks would probably be pretty severe.

trixie360: Yeah, many of his pranks tend to be pantless. How many people are on your Friends List?

Van Lingo: Currently 60.

trixie360: Hot celeb you'd like to be stranded on a desert island with?

Van Lingo: That's a tough choice. There are a lot of interesting people out there in the tabloids … Who's the chick from House M.D.? (checks IMDB) Jennifer Morrison.

trixie360: If you could be any video game character, who would it be?

Van Lingo: The Green Knight from Castle Crashers. Stylish but deadly.

The Green Knight of Castle Crashers gets a callout.

trixie360: What's the worst food you've ever eaten?

Van Lingo: I've had salt-cured pork on Italian ships before. It's basically raw pork packed in salt for weeks. It's not gross to look at, but it has a strong taste that's hard to keep down. If you're ever offered salt-cured pork, keep a piece of cheese handy … it helps.

trixie360: What's the first video game you ever played?

Van Lingo: The first was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on a friend's NES.

trixie360: What's the last book you read?

Van Lingo: I just finished reading Tom Clancy's Op Center by Tom Clancy.

trixie360: If you could go on tour with any band, which would it be?

Van Lingo: Either Kevin Costner's band (Modern West), or Bruce Willis' (The Accelerators). I've never heard any of their music, but they tour in some interesting places and seem to do a lot of charity work. And they always seem to be having a great time.

trixie360: How about Joaquin Phoenix? What do you predict will be the "next big thing" in gaming?

Van Lingo: I'm seeing co-op catch on more and more, and I agree with Ken Levine that it has a lot of promise. Since that's really more of a current trend that's growing, I think that the next big thing for games will be digital distribution.

The Mile High achievement in Call of Duty 4 is a lot of gamers' bête noir.

trixie360: What do you think is the best thing about Xbox 360®?

Van Lingo: I love the versatility! You can buy as few or as many upgrades as you want without being coerced into a packaged deal of features that aren't necessary. Add to that the game catalog and post-release support from so many developers, and I was sold, albeit two years later!

trixie360: What is the Xbox 360 Achievement that was hardest to get?

Van Lingo: I'm not much of an ambitious Achievement collector, but the one that I'm still working on is the Mile High Club for Call of Duty 4. I may never get it!

trixie360: What would you like to be doing in ten years?

Van Lingo: I would like to be in ship agency operations management, and playing games with my daughter. In ten years, she'll be pushing 11 years old. She already loves to steal my Xbox 360 controllers … I've actually had to resort to buying her own! I would also like to see community sites like Co-Optimus.com grow and benefit gamers in ways that aren't even thought of yet. So far, we're off to a great start, and I'm very excited to be a part of the gamer community culture.

Interview by TriXie