Who are these new teammates and what can they do?
Hello OPTX gamers, fans and staff and welcome to your exclusive OPTX insight zone for Forza Motorsport 2. As the CGS has chosen a new game this year, (Forza 2) we were destined to have new faces arise from the crowd in an attempt to be called pro gamers. This change in plans has brought out racers from all walks of life and has attracted a more realistic racing crowd than previously seen in the CGS. Although many teams decided to go with people they are familiar with, the OPTX GM (Kat Hunter) decided to go with a young new team who is familiar with each other for the 2008 season. After talking with the new racing branch of the OPTX, I have found they are eager and excited going into this year’s CGS season. I’m sure you are all wondering who exactly these new players are and hopefully this will enlighten you on who Chad “Miximup” Neil and Kevin “SACKAMONJARO” Uribe really are, in and outside of the gaming world.

Let me get right down to what you all want to know………… who is Miximup?

Chad “Miximup” Neil

Chad “Miximup” Neil is a 20 year old skater/ guitar player who resides in Dublin, California. He has a passion for music and enjoys the breathtaking acceleration of race tuned sports cars.

Miximup has been involved in videogames since he was young getting his feet wet casually playing games like Mario Kart 64 on the Nintendo 64, Gran Tourismo 3 and Gran Tourismo 4 for the PlayStation2. Finally the day came to buy an XBOX 360 which just happened to come with a copy of PGR3 (Project Gotham Racing 3). After playing PGR3 for 2-3 years and realizing he was often finding himself amongst some of the best, Chad developed a competitive edge and began competing in online tournaments until the release of Forza Motorsport 2 for the XBOX 360 late in May of 2007.

Always wanting to become better, Miximup chased the coveted #1 spot on the “U-Class*” scoreboards and achieved 3rd fastest in the world before the scoreboards were whipped clean due to glitches found in the game. This unfortunate event coupled with a feeling of PGR4 being the CGS 2008 game turned Miximup back to PGR in hopes to become a pro gamer at the 2008 CGS combine & draft. During his run in PGR4, Miximup won 14 online tournaments before turning back to Forza2 after the 2008 CGS game announcement.

Throughout his jumping from game to game in search for the honors of being called a pro gamer, Miximup decided to join the highly acclaimed “VVV” (Veni Vidi Vici) club in an attempt to gain recognition amongst the best racers as well as support in entering the pro gaming world.

When asked: “Why Forza? Why not a different game?”
He replied: "The more realistic a racing game becomes, the more competitive it becomes as well. Forza being the closest representation of reality there is in a console racer and Miximup’s urge for competition form a magnetic couple. "

“How do you feel about joining the OPTX as opposed to a different team”?
His response was: ”This is actually the team I wanted to go to. The OPTX has a lot of good players and they are all very good at what they do. Other teams may have cracks in certain places but I think with the addition of me and SACK, the OPTX has an overall strong team.”

By now you may be wondering who the other half of this dynamic duo is.

Kevin “SACKAMONJARO” Uribe

His name is Kevin “SACKAMONJARO” Uribe, he’s 23 years old and lives in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Kevin is a full time college student at the University of Rhode Island where he is studying marketing.

SACKAMONJARO started playing games seriously during the days of Moto GP where he had success with the online demo placing himself amongst the top 10 racers on the worldwide scoreboards. After a successful start in Moto GP, SACK would continue along his online racing path through PGR2 and Forza Motorsport 1 on the original XBOX (where he placed in the top 5 on the “S-Class*” scoreboards before he called it quits) and eventually moved on to PGR3. Over about a 1 year time span SACKAMONJARO managed to qualify for a 64 man, Lamborghini sponsored, global tournament where he placed in the top 20 overall. Although SACK does not have a lot of experience with Forza Motorsport 2, he has taken part in the only 2 major competitions held for the racing sim so far.

In the early stages of Forza 2, Nissan sponsored a tournament with a grand prize of a brand new Nissan Sentra. SACKAMONJARO is believed to have had a reasonable chance of winning the entire competition had it not been for a disconnect while leading a race in one of the later rounds. After a harsh run in the Nissan tournament SACK took a break from Forza but like his teammate Miximup, the CGS game announcement pulled him back in. This new motivation towards Forza lead SACKAMONJARO to Austin, TX and eventually landed him a spot on the San Francisco OPTX.

It's all about Teamwork...

Just because they are both great racers, what makes them a good team?
Well this is simple, both Miximup and SACKAMONJARO have learned each other’s driving styles, strengths and weaknesses. They have good chemistry together and have a great understanding of equality between each other. Though both of these drivers want to see the OPTX win, they agree that this can only be accomplished through teamwork and not selfish acts.

Upon interviewing SACKAMONJARO and Miximup, I found most of their answers to be the same. Both of these racers have been pursuing pro gaming for just over a year and the CGS 2008 combine was the 1st pro gaming event either of them actually attended. They have been racing together, online and otherwise, for just over a month now and when asked: “What do you plan on bringing to the OptX?” I received a joint response: “We plan on bringing teamwork throughout the preseason and practicing to become the best duo. (SACK) Oh and of course some W’s. (MIX) That along with dedication, basically a strong platform for the OptX to stand on”. 

You can all rest assured, the new San Francisco OPTX racing duo are highly motivated going into the 2008 CGS season. They even went as far as to buy the same equipment (as the CGS and each other) in an attempt to create an environment as close to the actual competition as possible.

In closing, Miximup and SACKAMONJARO would like the rest of the OptX to know that they are eager to work with the team and are really looking forward to the world finals. Along with that, I would personally like to give a huge thanks to Kat Hunter for giving me the chance to work alongside the OptX. The opportunity is greatly appreciated and I am anxious to share my experiences with you all.


Key=*Car classes will be explained in future installments