Mauer83: It doesn't take a fool to figure out the first part of your gamertag Ben, but for those not keen to how you got your gamertag, why don't you fill them in? Where did "bensashi" come from?

bensashi: "sashi" is from a PS1 game called Brave Fencer Musashi...I happened to be playing that when I signed up for AIM in high school and it has stuck with me

Mauer83: Sweet gig then. You've one of the more recent members to join O7AH's ranks, how did you and O7AH cross paths?

bensashi: I was trying to put a Grifball team together through the TTL forums that I had been hanging around on for a few months.  Ratty ended up joining the team and kept saying he had a friend who wanted to join (Compton).  Eventually we were able to work him in, and it was all downhill from there.  It basically ended up being an O7AH + Ben team. Through those associations I started hanging around the O7AH site

Mauer83: Interesting stuff. Ben, let's say hypothetically that you're going to start a band where Compton plays the bongos, Steve TALL plays the flute, and Ratty plays the bells, and you play electric bass guitar...What would be the name of this band?

bensashi: The Explosion

Mauer83: Who would get the most groupies?

bensashi: The singer usually gets the most attention...so I guess it would depend on that...but if Steve can rock a jazz flute like Ron Burgundy....

Mauer83: Which we'd only be correct to assume...Moving on. What kind of Halo player would you describe yourself as?

bensashi: I see myself more as a support defensive player...big on callouts. I used to play primarily team slayer but I am growing to like objective games....with fewer people

Mauer83: Fewer people as in, you like the game to contain fewer people, or are you lumping yourself into the minority of gamers who prefer objective style games?

bensashi: Games with fewer people.  I prefer smaller maps in general so I like social skirmish over big team battle

Mauer83: Which leads me into my next question, what would you say your favorite Halo 3 map and game is?

bensashi: Team Slayer on the Pit (BR starts). That has long been my favorite map....Guardian is a close second

Mauer83: When the game starts, would you consider yourself a creature of habit, as in you do the same thing to start every game no matter what, or do you adapt to your surroundings?

bensashi: I tend to do the same things...on Pit that would be rushing camo, but if it has been communicated prior to a game start that someone else is heading to a spot I frequent, I will change plans

Mauer83: What's the one thing in Halo that irritates you more than anything else?

bensashi: People that don't wear mics...or worse, wear mics and don't say anything...I think communication is a huge part of winning games

Mauer83: What's the one thing in Halo 3 you'd want to change more than anything else?

bensashi: Removal of certain game types (anything VIP-related, Swords, Hammers)...I love multi-team but those come up too often, and I have never encountered a single person that doesn't hate VIP

Mauer83: Yeah, there's no rough median in VIP, before it was changed, you'd just hide him and it was harder than hell, and after they fixed that, it was way too easy to kill the VIP. Now did you start out playing Halo 3 or did you play previous Halo games?

bensashi: I have a long history with Halo with many gaps. My buddy in college bought an Xbox shortly after it came out and got Halo...eventually I started playing some campaign with him and eventually that led to 1 v 1. In college it was great because everyone could play over the network so we could call people up and get matches going. I went a year pretty much without playing then because for half of it I was in England. Then senior year we lived together and we would play again on occasion but not as frequently. Since I didn't have a box I never really got to play Halo 2 after I graduated. I caved right before Halo 3 came out and started playing Halo 2 on 360 to get ready. That was pretty much why I got the 360 (Halo 3)

Mauer83: What other games besides Halo do you enjoy?

bensashi: Resident Evil 4 is one of my faves...and recently along those lines I enjoyed Dead Space quite a bit.  I used to be into RPGs a lot but not as much in recent years.  Another favorite of mine is anything from the Advance Wars series.

Mauer83: There really hasn't been any decent RPGs since the SNES to PS1 days.

bensashi: I wouldn't say that necessarily...I did enjoy FFX quite a bit when I first got my PS2, but I haven't been playing many since then.  I picked up Mass Effect since it was supposed to be pretty great but I really never got around to playing it. I'd say it's more that I became interested in other games...not that the quality has dipped for me.

Mauer83: FFX was a vastly underrated game...but now I'm making us seem like nerds...so perhaps a move on would be a good idea. Ben, if you were a dinosaur, what kind of dinosaur would you be?

bensashi: Velociraptor...just because they are badass.

Mauer83: Well I'd be a T-Rex and eat the shit out of you. So that's about as far as that goes. Ben,
what's something not many people know about you?

bensashi: You'd have to catch me first, you fat lumbering vulture (T-Rex).  I am really into music....have played guitar for probably 11 or 12 years now.

Mauer83: Wow, so you don't need those fake games like Rock Band or Guitar Hero?

bensashi: I still enjoy those at parties...not so much as a single player experience.  I think it's funny when musicians get upset and start ranting about music video games.  It's not meant to replace art.

Mauer83: True true. Well Ben, the honor has literally been all mine and I hope everyone has gotten a little more Bensashi than they had before. Is there anything you'd like to say to everyone?

bensashi: See you around.

Mauer83: Sounds more like a threat.

bensashi: :)

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