March 18, 2009

By Justin Dewiel

EA SPORTS World Community Member Spotlight: JBHuskers

This week's EA SPORTS Featured Profile is JBHuskers, who is an avid sports gamer and an active member of www.ncaastrategies.com. Recently, JBHuskers was one of the few community members who were brought to the EA SPORTS Tiburon studio for an early look at Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 10.

Continue on to find out more about JBHuskers and leave your questions and feedback in the comments below. If you would like to be the next EA SPORTS World featured profile, make sure you state your case. For those of you out there who are curious to see just how dominant JBHuskers is in this year's EA SPORTS titles, you can check out his full stat line here.

1. What is your first name?  Jeremy


2. Where do you live?  Lincoln, NE


3. Where did you grow up? My grade school days were in Nebraska City, NE and my junior high and high school days in a small town of 250 called Talmage, NE.


4. How old are you?  29


5. How long have you been a gamer?  About 21 years, which was when I received the NES.


6. What is the first video game you were ever hooked on?  There were plenty of NES games that I played a lot, but the first game I was absolutely hooked on was Ken Griffey, Jr. Presents Major League Baseball.  I played FOUR FULL SEASONS of 162 games with the Cubs on that game.


7. What was your first game console? The 8-bit NES system


8. What console do you play on most now? PS3 (but did finally get a 360 in November, still play the PS3 the most)


9. What's the story behind your EA ID/Gamertag?  In the PS2 days I played in an online league for NCAA Football so I went with my alma mater and my initials and it just stuck for my EA ID/PS3 Name/360 Gamertag (JBHuskers)


10. How often do you visit EA SPORTS World?  At least two or three times a day to see if anything new has been posted in the game news, and also I love the feature of uploading videos.  I've uploaded many photos and videos for NCAA Football and Basketball 09.


11. What do you rank as your favorite game right now?  I have too many to rank as a favorite.  Right now these games are at the "top of my stack" of games:  SOCOM: Confrontation, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09, NCAA Football 09, Burnout Paradise, Street Fighter IV, and Skate 2.


12. What's the best video game of all-time? Why?  My two favorite genres are sports and shooters.  For the shooter, I'd say the original SOCOM.  It was my first taste of online play ever, and it turned out to still be one of the best online gaming experiences of all time.  There are many aspects of this game that are wanted and needed by the community on the current incarnation of SOCOM.  For sports, it's going to have to be NCAA Football 09.  It's just simply a fun game to play, but when you add the Online Dynasty aspect of it where you can play a career with friends and fight over the same recruits, it made an enjoyable gaming experience something that should be standard in all sports games today.  I've probably played 10+ seasons in the Online Dynasty this year.


13. What's the most underrated video game? Why?  In terms of the shooter, I think Unreal Tournament III is the most underrated.  The fast-paced action of this shooter is a nice change of pace compared to my preferred style of tactical shooters.  The game play is great, but it's the ability to import created maps and various mods make the game valuable.  I think the upcoming addition of trophies may bring in a new crop.  For sports games, I think MVP 06 NCAA Baseball takes the cake here.  The engine EA put into this game provided one of the most enjoyable baseball gaming experiences I've witnessed.  I absolutely LOVED the analog fielding and hitting (wasn't a fan of the pitching hence I chose 06 over 07).  I really wish EA would reinvigorate this franchise for the PS3/360.


14. What's your best video game story? (e.g. Playing someone famous, beating a friend 100-7 in Madden, etc)  My best video game story came recently when EA invited me to Tiburon for the Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 Community Event.  Being one of the first to try out the latest installment of one of my favorite franchises was an honor.  On top of that, everyone down at Tiburon was great and made the experience one I'll never forget.


15. Beyond the games, what's your favorite sport(s)?  My heart is with the NFL first, MLB second along with NCAA Football/Basketball, NHL, and NASCAR.  Yep I like a lot of sports!


16. Who's your favorite athlete of all-time?  The reason why I wore #23 in my high school sports wasn't for who you think.  It was for Ryne Sandberg of the Cubs.  Flat out my favorite athlete of all-time.


17. What is your favorite Pro Team? Do you play as them?  My favorite pro teams are the Cubs, Bears, Celtics, and Flyers.  When I'm online with friends I like to mix it up...but when it comes to an in-depth dynasty, it's always with these teams.


18. What is your favorite College team? Do you play as them?  Definitely is my alma mater the Nebraska Cornhuskers.  With the online dynasty, I've been mixing it up (in some cases we're choosing 1-star schools), but I always have an offline dynasty going with my team year in and year out.


19. When do you play? Does anyone in your family give you a hard time?  I would say I play for a good 4-5 hours a day, some times more.  My family really doesn't give me a hard time though (thankfully!)


20. Have you ever suffered a video game injury?  Hah, nothing more than some sore thumbs and fingers....that was mainly from fighters like Street Fighter IV (thankfully I have a fighting stick now...so that is much easier on the digits)


21. What are your top three favorite non EA games?  SOCOM Confrontation, Fallout 3, and Street Fighter IV

 
22. Do you play fantasy sports? Which one(s)? WAY too many....I'm in four baseball leagues this year, usually in three football leagues, and I'm also currently in one NBA and one NASCAR league.  Fantasy baseball is my favorite I believe, mainly because I'm involved in it almost every day.


23. Did you play sports in school? Which ones and what position? Were you any good?  I was in basketball and track.  I was okay in basketball, I was a guard since I was one of the smallest and fastest on the team.  But track was my best sport.  I was a sprinter and consistently made the finals in most heats of the 100 and 200.  However my best achievement was making the state track meet for the 4x100 relay back in 1997.


24. Which EA SPORTS title do you think you are best at? What tip or trick could you recommend to players?  I'd say I'm the best at NCAA Football and Tiger Woods.  For NCAA Football, my best tip I could give is if you're struggling on the offensive side of the ball, try controlling the clock with the run, and try perfecting just a couple of pass plays rather than worrying about trying to get every play in the playbook in to start.  For Tiger, my best tip would be to learn your greens and pin positions.  The short game is what makes someone successful.  For myself, I try to approach the green leaving me with an uphill putt, as I'm more successful putting uphill rather than downhill.