Welcome to the Lasombra Files, PSU’s weekly hit program. Follow the story of Lasombra and V as they try to stay alive in Shadow City, unraveling its secrets, while at the same time shining the spotlight on Trophy hunters around the world and in our community.
A black, inky feeling consumes my sight before I wake up, groaning as if I was assaulted with a car by the Hulk. I try moving but I am strapped into a chair, held prisoner to someone unknown. Struggling is hopeless as the metal straps are too strong and only serve to make noise and alert my captures. As I lay back and think of this unusual turn of events, the Boss’s betrayal, getting shot, and who knows what happened to V, a light suddenly shines in my face in episode 19: Toxic Work Environment. This is the first time I notice my shades are missing as the light burns my eyes, a pain so potent that my body tries to be humane and let me slip into unconsciousness but only to have that plan sabotaged by something unknown. Awake, conscious, and very much in pain, I can only struggle as I see a familiar figure through water drenched eyes.
Name: Cybertox
Age: 17
Gender: Male
Occupation: Student Career Goal: Find a job which could interest and inspire me, as well as motivate me to improve the execution of my main job further. The job should also be able to afford me a Lamborghini and its required servicing.
Country: Switzerland
Disclaimer: This interview is reproduced as written by the interviewee. Pictures copyright of their artist/photographer/owner. All likenesses used are for parody and/or satirical purposes.
Lasombra: How long have you been gaming?
Cybertox: I have been gaming for 11 years.
Lasombra: How did you find PSU?
Cybertox: When I got my PS3 I searched for a PlayStation forum to post in and so I found out about PSU.
Lasombra: Are you solely a Sony gamer this generation or do you split your time between multiple systems?
Cybertox: I split my time between multiple systems. My gaming time is shared between the Sony PlayStation and the PC.
Lasombra: What do you like about the community at PSU that keeps bringing you back for more?
Cybertox: Multiple point of views and also some people from which I could learn and share with them general knowledge.
Lasombra: In your opinion, what needs to be done to help the community to grow bigger and better?
Cybertox: The first major thing which should be done in order to help the community to grow bigger is to fix the immense amount of the forums technical issues. The next step would be the addition of new features.
Lasombra: Do you have any gaming goals for this year?
Cybertox: Currently I have none. I am more concentrated on my other aspects of life.
Lasombra: Are you a Trophy hunter, and what do you think about Trophies overall?
Cybertox: I really like the Trophy system and the features it offers. However the goals for unlocking Trophies is my main issue with Trophies. The goals are very time consuming and pointless. The goals of Trophies have to be more interesting which could motivate people to earn them and show them what they have really earned. Wasting a lot of time just to get some freaking bolts is retarded.
Lasombra: The PS2 dominated a console war like no other system. What tricks does Sony need to pull out of their hat to create the same magic with the PS4.
Cybertox: A simple and clean OS. Good enough specifications which could be a decent rivalry between other consoles. A traditional PlayStation design.
Lasombra: Do you have a favourite era of gaming? The SNES/Genesis war? The reign of the PlayStation Reich? Hail to the NES?
Cybertox: I have no favourite era of gaming.
Lasombra: Is there a lot of gaming culture in your area of the world? Unique stores, conventions, etc?
Cybertox: In Switzerland there is no real gaming culture. There is just mainstream gaming things which came across the world.
Lasombra: Have you ever been burnt out from a gaming session?
Cybertox: Nope, never. When I start feeling not so well I am able to stop and take a brake realizing that I should do that or the consequences are going to be bad.
Lasombra: Seeing your current signature is of Vice City are you a big GTA fan? If so would you like to see a Vice City 2?
Cybertox: I am a big GTA fan and really love all of the games. Vice City is for me definitely the best one. It’s locations and city structure are really amazing and gives an awesome atmosphere. The main character Tommy Vercetti is also great and one of my favorite GTA characters for sure. He is also one of the main reasons why Vice City is such an awesome game.
DEFINITELY. I would love to see a GTA game based on Vice City again. The developers mentioned that it would be hard to make another GTA in Vice City again because of the time, as the 80s were special, and that is why Vice City got created. But I think making like an after story which would follow Tommy Vercetti’s story and still be based in the 80s and get the retro look would be awesome. Imagine Vice City in the 80s once again with improved city structure, graphics and with new additional features. Vice City is such an awesome GTA city which would be a shame not to be included in another GTA game.
Lasombra: Why do you think companies put in useless grinding Trophies in their games when they know they serve no point?
Cybertox: Well I think that they don’t take the Trophies feature too seriously in their project and just make them mediocre just to fulfill the Trophies list. They do it just for an easy additional feature and so that people won’t complain that there are no Trophies in the game.
Lasombra: Why do you think Switzerland does not have a big gaming culture? Too much skiing and snowboarding?
Cybertox: Gaming in Switzerland is quite popular, but the thing is that 99% of the gamers in Switzerland are casual gamers. Only when games like Black Ops 2 come out that people start talking about it, share it with everybody and tell others to buy it and play it a lot. I don’t consider Black Ops 2 something great and in fact I didn’t even bother buying it. Most of my Swiss friends were like ‘oh why , it’s such a great game you should get it,’ while I knew that there are other great games which are going to come out and that I will get day-one. My friends won’t even know what kind of games those are. Also the lack of organizations or convents or even like displays concerned with gaming is the main reason why the Swiss gaming culture isn’t big. Also Switzerland doesn’t have any noticeable pro gamers which would somehow be able to promote Switzerland and its gaming culture.
Lasombra: In Switzerland Swiss French and Swiss German are the native languages. Do you know any other languages, and do you prefer to play your games in English or in one of your native languages?
Cybertox: The native languages in Switzerland are Italian, Swiss French and Swiss German. Overall, I know 4 languages which would be Russian (mother-tongue), Italian, German/Swiss German and English. I also know some French but not that well to consider it another language which I really know. Since every single game which I have played as a kid was in English I got very used to it and so I couldn’t play the games in any other language. I really got used to English in gaming and just thought that any other language doesn’t fit to games at all and that the real experience of the game for me was in English. Believe me you wouldn’t like playing a shooter in German, I can tell you that from my experience 😛
Lasombra: I am from Canada where we have English and French as our official languages, and respective cultures, which causes some political and social tension. How is it in Switzerland? Does the German side get along with the French side and vice-versa or is there a cultural tension due to the differing languages?
Cybertox: Well, there is a small political and social tension between the three regions and they really differentiate from each other, but I haven’t really noticed any big tensions, politically nor socially. As I was born and raised in Lugano, which is a city in south Switzerland and is the Italian part, I found the environment and the people really great. People are friendly, the weather is warm and all the parks were just beautiful. All of my brightest memories from my childhood were from Lugano. Now that I am in the German part of Switzerland which is located towards the North, from my experience I think that the people are very unfriendly and rude, but of course not all of them but most of them. But I have learned more discipline, punctuality and being able to control myself with them. Here people just do their things precisely and with discipline but don’t really care about others who are around. I just realized that all I have to do is just ignore these people as well as there is no purpose in talking to them or even start discussing something as I think people here are very strict minded. However it’s not 100% of the time and I am not judging these people, that’s just how my experience with them was in the past and is currently.
Lasombra: Sharing your gaming time with the PC are you are big fan of Steam? Are you interested in their rumoured console? How did Nintendo and Microsoft fail to gain your attention this generation?
Cybertox: I am a fan of Steam and I think that it is a great service for the PC. It has a nice interface and many payment methods and all the periodical sales are great. Nintendo failed to gain my attention because of their very weak hardware in terms of specifications while Microsoft didn’t release the new Xbox yet. I currently have my PS3 which has everything I need so there is not much sense in buying a 360.
The pain continues for what feels like an eternity before finally stopping, a small mercy for whatever unknown crime I did in a past lifetime. As the last few tears run down my cheek I can fully focus seeing Captain Li standing against a wall with a cocky smile and arrogantly crossing her arms as if I were a mere plaything to be poked, prodded, and disposed of. She tells me I did a good job at sniffing out her liability, tilting her head to the side. A simple turn of the head, as painful as it was, allowed me to see the body of a man half laying on a surgical table in Episode 20: Brave New World. A weird mask was attached to his face, and the body didn’t look like it could decompose so soon from a natural death. She took a glass cylinder from one of the adjoining tables; a miniature storm looking like it was housed within it. Eternal torment to the souls of traitors she said. The snap of her finger reignites the light that only moments ago made me wish I had never been born, her sadistic grin taunting me as I slip in and out of the soothing darkness of unconsciousness, trying to escape this damnation.
Missed an episode? Check out the back issues.
Want to hear random thoughts about life in Japan, gaming, or want to leave your thoughts about the series and the story? Follow our intrepid reporter on Facebook, Twitter, or email him at Dane.Smith@psu.com.