Hawty McBloggy Invites You to Play

You may be wondering why the gamertag SpaceGhost2K (who goes by worldwidewebbs on eBay) sounds familiar to you. Could be you first discovered his talent in October’s Official Xbox Magazine. Could be because you have seen pictures of his original handcrafted Xbox 360 faceplates floating around on the internet. Could be because you have read one of the 500 million articles I have written about his amazing faceplates (you will find I have an unnatural obsession with his work which leads to him dominating the eBay finds category of my blog). In this interview not only will you gain some insight into the man and the gamer behind all of these things, but you will also be lucky enough to catch an exclusive first look at his very special 100th custom made faceplate. Along with everything else, he has some big news about a brand new home for both faceplate collectors and faceplate designers alike so sit back and enjoy the interview (and some awesome pictures) with the extremely talented, passionate, and creative SpaceGhost2K.

So, let’s start at the very beginning. When did you start gaming and what was the first game you ever played?

Around 1980, my dad was in a bowling league. My brother and I entertained ourselves in the arcade. There were about ten machines there over a couple of years so I can’t remember my exact first one, but it was probably “Star Castle.” They also had Super Mario Brothers, Donkey Kong, Space Invaders, Defender, Ms. Pacman tabletop version, Wizard of Wor and Berzerk. And a Black Knight pinball table.

I bet you and your brother looked forward to bowling nights just as much as your dad. What is your favorite video game of all time, one of those old school arcade games or something from the current gen?

I’d have to say The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. I’ve got almost 300 hours in it and still haven’t done it all.

That’s a serious chunk of time! What games dominate your free time right now?

I’m in the middle of both Blue Dragon and Eternal Sonata. I finished Halo 3 on Normal and Heroic by myself, and got through the first chapter on Legendary. In the immortal words of Kenny Loggins, “This is it. You’re going no farther.” I think I maxed out my skillz.

I maxed out my skillz on the first level of Normal so I am adequately impressed. And Kenny Loggins rocks by the way. As do all of the 80’s. Guitar Hero or Rock Band?

Donkey Konga. Sorry.

That wasn’t a choice! I’ll pretend you said Guitar Hero. How much time do you actually get to game? What are some other things you enjoy doing in your spare time?

I have to sacrifice sleep in order to game because there’s no other time to do it. I was working almost full-time at a game store when the faceplate thing exploded, and I didn’t have enough time to do both. I actually sacrificed the game store job so I could do faceplates. After the exposure in OXM, requests for plates were coming in faster than the plates themselves were going out. I’d go to work and think, “Wow, I’ve got this plate to do and this and this.” There might actually be a future in this, so I took a leap of faith.

Other than that, I collect action figures/miniatures. A lot of my plates were inspired by figures. The majority of figures are Star Wars and Japanese Gashapon capsule or trading figures. In fact, wanna see a figure plate before anyone else?

YES doesn’t quite begin to cover my excitement with this proposition.

Oh my goodness, that is beyond amazing! What an original design. I just love the bubbles hanging off all the ports. I just may have to bid on that one myself. (To interested buyers : When/if this faceplate goes up for sale on eBay, I will write an article about it with a link directly to where you can bid on it.) When did you get started making custom faceplates and where do you find your inspiration for all of them?

In October of 2006, I was given the MVP Award by Microsoft for the Xbox division. There’s only about 60 of us in the whole world. I was nominated for the award because of my active participation and positive contributions to the Xbox community. One of the benefits of that is that we are occasionally given free codes for Live Arcade games. We have the option of using them ourselves or passing them along to someone in the gaming community.

I had been given some codes around the time of the 360 Elite launch, so I said let’s do a contest. It’s a Design an Elite Faceplate contest. What I MEANT to say was “Create an Elite Faceplate,” but I didn’t. We got lots of Photoshopped pictures for plates, many of which were very good, but nobody actually created a physical plate. I did one to show how easy it was. It was the first “Heroes” plate. They all freaked out and asked me to make more, so I did a Space Ghost plate and a Spiderman-styled plate for my son. Then it just went nuts. People started asking me like crazy to make plates for them, plus I was trying to maintain it as a creative outlet.

You sound like you spend a lot of time doing faceplates for other people. How is your personal Xbox 360 decked out?

Not that impressive, really. There’s a Blue Dragon faceplate on it since that was the game I was playing. I refurbished an old ’40’s radio cabinet and turned it into a game cabinet. There are five 12v fans in the back to circulate air, a 360, Gamecube, PS2, Intec wireless switching unit, and a DVD recorder stuck in the bottom.

Five fans! You are a true gamer. Which of your faceplates is your own personal favorite?

I get that question a lot and I never have an answer. I have a plate that was suggested by one of my repeat buyers that I love. It’s the “Star Wars: A Long Time Ago..” plate. Out of the plates that were my own design, I’d say the Spirit of Yoda plate, where Yoda glows green when you turn on the Xbox. But then I’ve got a soft spot for the Space Ghost plate too, of course.

As a Star Wars fan, I love the classic-ness of the A Long Time Ago faceplate. But seriously, much better than a glowing green Yoda does it get? (Please tell me you saw what I did there.) What goes into creating each individual faceplate and approximately how long does it take to complete one?

My secret weapon is a kiosk at the local mall that cuts vinyl stickers for car windows. They cut stickers in reverse so that I can use them as a spray painting mask. Any particular plate can consist of a number of these steps:

• Buy a plate. I don’t have a source except just whatever is out there.
• Remove the power button and i/r port, or mask them off.
• Sand the plate.
• Primer the plate with a plastic friendly primer. That way you can use any paint instead of being restricted to plastic friendly paint, which limits your color options more.
• Create a black and white jpeg on my computer that can be used to guide the vinyl cutter.
• Get the stickers cut. I usually get duplicates so a screw-up doesn’t require me to drop everything and make another trip across town for a replacement sticker.
• Paint a base color if the base color of the plate isn’t being used.
• Apply the sticker and mask off the rest of the plate with masking tape.
• Spray it as light as possible. Let it dry. Remove the sticker.
• Seal with polyurethane. Another customizer told me he uses spar urethane but I haven’t tried it out yet. If and when I get an actual airbrush, I’ll probably switch to an automotive clear coat.
• Attach any toys/figures.
• Reattach the power button and i/r port, or remove the masks.

I can do a plate in a day, or there’s others that take a week or more. I have some plates that are a couple of months in the works, but they’re complicated plates where I need to be able to focus my full attention on them. Lately, my attention has been very scattered, hence they’re not getting done as fast as I’d like.

I would imagine you are just swamped with orders. I don’t see that changing any time soon either! What do you have planned for future custom faceplates?

More than I have time to do, lol. Oh, Mario, Zelda, Tekken, DOA, Family Guy, Invader Zim, “Save the cheerleader,” and a couple that are sworn to secrecy.

Sworn to secrecy? Oh, that is such a tease. I can’t wait to see pictures of all of those! How should somebody who is interested in ordering a custom faceplate go about contacting you?

OXM listed my gamertag and I have plates up on eBay as well. I get requests through both of those places as well as from my home at teamxbox.com. The people give me an idea of what they want to do. I let them know if I think it’s something within my abilities, check into the availability of any toys required, and give them an estimated price. I’ve only had one person pass because of the price, and another paid me more and told me to quit giving my plates away!

Each of your faceplates has such a unique feel. You are certainly very talented and passionate about what you do! Best of luck to you and I can’t wait to see your future projects! Thank you so much for the amazing interview.

SpaceGhost2K just started a faceplate collecting forum at the newly relaunched Xbox Addict.com. You can get there by going to the main page and clicking on the Faceplate Addict button on the right, or by going directly to this link. Whether you collect faceplates, design faceplates, or just enjoy looking at various artists’ creations, this should be your ultimate faceplate destination. Go check it out!