There’s an intense battle going on for the number one spot on the Geometry Wars leaderboards. BillyBlaze314 kicked K4rn4ge from the number one spot this week and the former champ has been struggling to regain that position ever since. Enough reason for us to have a chat with BillyBlaze314 (we are allowed to call him Nate though).

Intro

Nino: So let’s start from the top; congratulations on your #1 spot on the Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved leaderboards!
Nate: Thanks! It took a lot of time, practice and effort to get there.
Nino: (laughs) I can imagine but we’ll get to that later, tell us a little bit about yourself ; how old are you, where are you from, what kind of education/work do you do?
Nate: I’m 22, from Salt Lake City, where I still live. I go to school at the University of Utah, studying computer science. I work at my dad’s architect’s office, where I mostly do 3d modeling, and some drafting.
Nino: Ok great so you spend more time being around geometry besides the game?
Nate: Yeah, I wish it would help me more in my calculus class.
Nino: (laughs) Then you’d get like straight a’s

The Fame

Nino: How is life after the achievement? Media coverage? Girls that want your babies? Received the key to your city etc?
Nate: My friends list went from 30 to 99 in about 3 days. The local news team was over here doing a story and I have to deal with paparazzi, it’s pretty wild;) I think it’s driving away the girls, two of them said they “had to work” when I asked them out the other day. I guess they just don’t understand.
Nino: But have you mentioned the 65 million to them? I’m can imagine them getting excited. I get excited when I score like 250.000…
Nate: I had a girlfriend a few weeks ago (we broke up though, Geometry Wars is more important (j/k)) when I was starting to score in the 10-15 million range, and I had her play the game and she was getting excited when she got an extra life at 75,000. But she was always asking me how I was doing, if I had climbed the leaderboard.

How did he do it?

Nino: She’s not the only one Because not only have you managed to beat K4rn4ge (the former champ), you’ve surpassed him by 20 million points after K4rn4ge ruled that leaderboard for ages; was it just a lucky break or was it the first time that your score got submitted? What happened?
Nate: Well, the game hits a point where it doesn’t get any harder at about 3-5 million, so it’s just a matter of endurance. Last week I started scoring in the 25-32 million range, and K4rn4ge got up to 43.5 million. On Saturday, I scored 44.5 million, and passed K4rn4ge, but I didn’t put much room between us. I think he couldn’t stand to be knocked off his #1 spot, so about 7 or 8 hours after I beat him. He scored 45.5 million and knocked me back down. So I said to myself, “today I will get 50 million.” I started a game up, and just kept on going all the way to 65.5.
Nate: He’s not going down without a fight!
Nate: Also, since then, he’s been playing every day trying to pass me again, and he’s gotten up to 61 million now.
Nino: (laughs) wow, that’s sick. How long did the 65 million game itself take?
Nate: I started at 5 pm and it went until 10 pm, so the game was running for 6 hours. I had about a half hour’s worth of breaks in there, though.
Nino: Yeah I can imagine. Do you take a lot of breaks while playing? To catch a breath and stuff? (I pause every now and then just to keep me from freaking out)
Nate: Pretty much when my hands hurt too much to move the thumbsticks the way I want them to go. My eyes don’t really get tired, though. Maybe if I could get myself some cybernetic hands I could keep going nonstop.
Nino: Is it the game itself that’s so great to make you want to get body-modifications or just the drive to keep that #1 spot on the leaderboards?
Nate: Well, the game got me addicted, but the leaderboard really keeps me going. I remember being excited when I got to the top 1000. I thought I’d be happy if I could just get to the top 100. Then it was top 50, then top 25, then top 10, and now I’m in an intense battle for the #1 spot. It just keeps getting more and more satisfying. I remember feeling high for several hours when I took the #2 spot for the first time I think K4rn4ge and I are still going to be pushing each other for a while.

The Future

Nino: Uhuh, I wonder where and when it will end.
Nate: I know K4rn4ge set his motto to “going for 100 mil”
Nino: What are you guys (you and k4rn4ge) going to do when you reach that 100 million marker?
Nate: K4rn4ge was telling me that we should try and tie at some score way up there, but I don’t think that’s going to happen. We’re both way too competitive. If/when K4rn4ge passes me up again, I won’t be able to rest until I get that spot back, and I’m pretty sure he feels the same way.
Nino: So no big plans to storm the leaderboards on another title?
Nate: Probably not, I never expected to get this high on this one. I remember seeing Code Kata up at 12 million when I first got the game and I couldn’t score much more than 100,000. It seemed impossible to even get to 1 million. But as I played it more and more, I realized that I actually had a chance to climb the leaderboard. Then I started devoting more time to this game because I realized it’s probably the only game I actually could get #1 in.
Nino: How long did that take? (from 100.000 to 65 million)
Nate: I got the game on January 15th and played it for a few weeks before getting into Halo 2 for about a month. So it’s taken me probably close to 3 months of playing the game nearly every day.

“Geometry Wars is my drug”

Nino: But you said you felt high when you got that #2 spot, Geometry Wars is your drug then?
Nate: Definitely. I’m not the only one who is a Geometry Wars user, either.
Nino: No you’re not :D, Geometry Wars almost blew out of proportions, people called it the best Xbox 360 launch game and whatnot
Nate: I play it more than all other 360 titles combined, and I’ve got Oblivion, Ghost Recon, Call of Duty, and other stuff.
Nino: How much Geometry Wars do you ‘use’ on a weekly basis?
Nate: Lately it’s probably been 20-25 hours a week.
Nino: Wow, that’s sick Having Geometry Wars dreams already?
Nate: Oh yeah, all the time. Well, it’s more like when I close my eyes, I see the game in all of it’s glorious detail. I see the different spawns coming out the way they do, and my ship is flying around shooting stuff, black holes are flinging the green guys and all that kind of stuff.
Nino: Considering therapy yet?
Nate: My friends are there for me if I feel like I need to play and I don’t have time. I have to call them and tell them to come over and make me stop.
Nate: I’m going to need some physical therapy on my hands though…
Nino: Yeah I can imagine sick RSI developing there…
Nate: When went to church the other day, it was really painful when people wanted to shake my hand.

His secret?

Nino: a whole other subject; what is your secret? In what kind of environment do you play it? A dark cave or a sun filled room? With up-tempo music playing in the background or the mellow kind of stuff? How do you set the right mood for Geometry Wars ‘usage’ ?
Nate: Well, the secret is practice. I play in a nice sunlit room on a mini rocking chair about 2 and a half feet away from a 27″ standard TV. My music is mostly more mellow, but there are some songs on my playlist that get me moving.
Nate: When I’m getting ready for a long high score run, I’ll usually grab me a glass of Mountain Dew and get nice and comfy in my little chair
Nino: Have you spoken to Mountain Dew yet? Any word of a sponsorship deal?
Nate: Hmm… never thought I would be able to get any money from all the time I put into this game… *wheels turning in my brain*
Nino: If that F4t4l1ty guy can have his own hardware-line then I see no reason why you shouldn’t
Nate: I’ll have to get on top of that…
Nino: Then I see a long future of RSI treatment in front of you

From noob to pro in 5 steps

Nino: Do you have some basic tips for our readers struggling to get 200,000 points?
Nate: Get comfortable controlling the ship. You need to be able to be accurate in both shooting and slipping through tight spots. I would suggest doing the pacifist achievement at the start of most games, or try seeing how long you can go without moving.
Nate: A lot of the time I make bee-lines from black hole to black hole shredding them up as I go. Sometimes they’re good for getting a swarm off your back, because when you’re shooting the black hole, it repels the guys that are close to you. Also, you can use them as sort of a red magnet trap, just activate one that’s in the path of one of those red guys. If you look at my videos, you can see me doing this.
Nino: And where do you focus your attention? In front of the ship or on the whole screen or?
Nate: It’s good to be aware of what is on the whole screen, but I focus in front of the ship. Most of the time I’ll be blasting a path to go through. Also, when blasting a path, try and watch for the little pink guys that spin around and try and aim at them. They cause me the most trouble.
Nino: What are bombs to you; a last resort or something you use in your strategy?
Nate: Kind of both. My brain has been hardwired to automatically bomb if death is imminent. Sometimes that will make me bomb, and I’m thinking, I could have gotten through that, but it probably was good to bomb anyway. But there is a strategy to bombs, too. There is always a short break after the spawn where all different kinds of guys and black holes come out of the 4 corners, so if there is a lot of stuff on the screen when that spawn starts, I’ll bomb to make sure I can get through it and I’ll have a nice bunch of guys to clean up with no pressure.

Nino: Ok I think I’ve asked you all I wanted to know, thanks for the nice and the lengthy answers, it’s been great. Any shoutouts/last words/stuff you that’s on your mind? Something you want to say to k4rn4ge perhaps?
Nate: It’s a battle to the death, K4rn4ge!

For even more Geometry Wars sweetness check out Nate’s videos on Google Video. The title and neat header graphic probably already gave it away but we’ll be doing more of these interviews with people who achieved certain stuff on Xbox Live, expect interviews with the #1 guy in achievements, PGR 100 etc. (if they’re willing ofcoure). Now go practice your Geometry Wars skills! Oh and we did the whole thing via instant messaging so please excuse the IM-jargon and layout. Thanks again Nate, it’s been awesome.