Thanks a lot for your time. Could you give everyone a little bit of background information about yourself?

I'm 19 years old and come from the small state of Rhode Island. This summer I'm working for my dad in construction. I go to school at the University of Rhode Island, studying to be an engineer. I started playing AA around 1.6 and joined a clan called -=UEO=- United Elite Operations.



Name: Justin Berendes
Alias: xenotype
Age: 19
Location: Rhode Island
Current Team: Rising Storm

How did you come up with your in-game alias?

Tried to find something kinda cool, and "Justin" wasn't cutting it. So I looked up words starting with "X" and "Z" figuring they were cool, and came up with xenotype. Xeno means foreign, and xenophobia means you have a fear of foreigners.

Can you tell us what teams you have played for in the past, which was the most fun, and which was the most competitive?

My first team was -=UEO=-, there were a couple people in the israeli division and european divisions that were really good at the time. This was around version 2.0. The NA division sucked but was a good group of guys and I had a lot of fun. I learned a lot from the israeli and euro guys tho. Tought me how to cqb fight, this is when I started really getting into comp. After a year or so with them I decided I was good enough to move on. The NA division was also becoming pretty inactive so I left. After a month of being a free agent I joined up with the KHuDa guys to form iC or inverse concept. Didn't really learn much here but this is where i started playing CAL, it was around the time when the league was starting up. The big name teams at the time were logic and iog. After playing a few matches with them, we encountered fightclub as an adversary. I dropped bombs in a match on HQ Raid vs fightclub and thats when I decided it was time to move on. Fightclub seemed pretty interested in me at the time so I put in an app. I joined up with fc and played there for a long time. While here I met a lot of guys and made the greatest improvement in my skills. I think I would say that playing for fc was the most fun I've had playing AA, that was back when there were a lot of quality teams playing and TWL was still a good league, there are too many newfags today and its not as much fun. The 2006 allstar match as a fightclub rep was a highlight in my gaming career. A few months after I joined, along came epic out of nowhere from a team called ru raw underground. We became pretty good friends and spent a lot of time improving our game. After a short stint with fc, epic moved on to play for oR. I ended up following him there after a few weeks later. oR was a totally different experience. Playing with a team composed of all exceptional players was a change for me. I played for 1 season with oR before taking a break for RL after my senior year of highschool. When I came back I needed to find a new home so I joined the remnants of no said date and formed nerve damage. I thought this was going to be my home for a long time but ppl became inactive. I got an invite to join the reformed rising storm and I took them up on the offer. I see myself staying with rS until this game dies which might happen soon.


You have played in many matches but if you could pick one highlight from from one match?

Well, I could name a lot. First there was that HQ Raid match where I ended up carrying iC to beat fightclub, this started my invite career. Then there was the 2006 allstar match, I began to make a name for myself though I stayed under the radar for quite awhile. Lastly there would be the CAL finals match fightclub vs. audigy which was vidcasted with no delay. I think aud ended up winning in the very last round, me vs. agentryan at south building and I jammed for the loss.

In your opinion, who are the top 3 teams and top 3 players today?

Thats a hard question regarding the players but the teams are easy. 1st would be jCp, one of the longest standing teams at the top of competition, tho I do remember when they were just IC scrubs playing with the -=jCp=- tags. A close 2nd if not tied for first place would be rising storm. 3rd, i would still have to go with oR despite their recent inactivity. For players its hard to say. I'm going to go with epic, jonny, and probably dtraf. Epic isn't at his tip top game right now but in 2 days time he could be and he will beat just about everyone in a 1v1 if they want to admit it or not.

There is a trend of a slow decline in competition. What do you think could help in bringing back more competition? Do you have any suggestions on how to teach new players to learn the game or improve at the game at a faster rate?

I honestly dont see this game progressing anymore at this point. It's unfortunate but the learning curve for AA is a lot higher than a lot of other FPS games. its also not advertised as well as some of the others which is a problem. the only way to really get more competitive players is to have some of the pub teams start joining the leagues. pubbing wont help players become better. Scrimming and matching with good teams will. If people want to learn they should talk to some of the top teams and find a few people that aren't a-holes and are willing to lend a hand in teaching some things.

Thanks alot for your time, would you like to give any shoutouts?

Definitely to all the old -=UEO=- guys if they are still around. and of course all my past teamates, thanks for helping me to get better at the game. Will have to mention my 3 best online friends, rouNdsy when he was in -=UEO=- before widow got him into the WoW cancer, epic for just being epic, and wolf from fc who is one of the chillest guys I've talked to. Oh and vacancy (wolf's daughter), I love you Nikki!