PMS Lammy: Your last Gamer Spotlight was almost 4 years ago! Back then you were leader of the Rhythm Game Division (360), and now you're the Streaming Director. Can you tell us about that position and what it entails?
PMS Wedge: My current role is to build the clan's presence on Twitch.TV. Streaming is growing in popularity, and we have a lot of members who already stream to personal channels - my job is to try to corral all these great people and organize them to stream from our clan channel. We're still building up the department, so there's lots of job openings right now - check the Clan & Operations Job Board for open positions!

PMS Lammy: What sort of content are you looking to stream?
PMS Wedge: We plan to stream everything from eSports to retro games to possibly a PMS podcast - anything that our clan members are involved in, we'd like to stream it. One of the first things I did as Streaming Director was to put together the Extra Life charity marathon stream. We've streamed some other charity events (like your Run Lammy Run marathon), and also an unveiling of the PS Vita - so really, anything and everything is capable of being streamed.

PMS Lammy: Do you find that certain types of games or formats tend to attract more viewers?
PMS Wedge: Some games that are more popular to view than others - League of Legends and Starcraft are huge - but most importantly, the stream needs to be entertaining. Entertaining can mean a wide range of things, such as a competitive match, great commentary, or just a known personality. Whatever it is, to attract a large crowd you need more than just straight gameplay. Anyone interested in streaming on the clan channel should send a PM to me and PMS Ayane Chan!

PMS Lammy: Let’s hear what else you've been up to since your last spotlight! Are you still working at Intel?
PMS Wedge: Yes, I’ve been there for almost 9 years now. While the specifics of what I do change every few months, the general job - performance testing for PC games - has been the same.

PMS Lammy: Do you find that working with games all day affects your gaming life outside work at all, like do you ever get tired of games?
PMS Wedge: There are so many games out there that I can always play something I'm not testing at work. And so far, testing things hasn’t made me want to stop playing a game that is truly good - maybe I just like gaming too much!

Rocking out in costume at Umloud 2011.

PMS Lammy: So what kinds of games have you been playing recently?
PMS Wedge: Actually, I've been playing a lot on my iPhone - since everything is in nice bite-sized chunks I can play for a few minutes at a time. Some of my favorites include Dungeon Raid, Draw Something, Run Roo Run and Where's My Water? One of my friends recently released an iPhone game, which I did some voice work for, so I've been playing that for the past week. The game is called T-Rex T-Party, and you're a T-Rex who is getting revenge on teacups and pastries for shunning you from their tea parties. I've also recently gotten into Legend of Grimrock - it's an old-school style RPG like Dungeon Master or Eye of the Beholder. I grew up with games like this, so it's great to play something with a nostalgic feel but is still fresh and new.

PMS Lammy: As someone who plays a really wide variety of games, what’s your take on the notion of hardcore vs. casual gamers?
PMS Wedge: I think hardcore or casual is really a state of mind. A hardcore player isn't someone who plays a specific type of game, but rather someone who spends a lot of time thinking about video games. A casual player only thinks about games when the topic comes up. I think the reason why so many games are labeled as "casual" games is because certain ones attract casual players due to the ease of picking up and playing the games. The defining characteristic to me is that the person makes gaming a huge part of their life instead of just one small facet.

PMS Lammy: You definitely fit the hardcore mold then, being someone who both works with games and plays all kinds! What are some of your non-gaming hobbies?
PMS Wedge: I really like to cook. For a while I did some cake baking and decorating, though I haven't done that so much lately since it takes a LOT of energy out of me. I made a blog for some of the cakes I've worked on, it's at www.thesteakerycakery.com - although I got a little lazy and stopped updating it... oops!

PMS Lammy: In the 6 years you’ve been with the clan, the clan has grown and your role in it has evolved. Where would you like to see the clan go from here?
PMS Wedge: I'd love to see us have a wider reach - we're pretty well known in the competitive circles, but as eSports grows I think we have to be sure to grow along with it. PMS can both be a way to get new people into games - turning casuals into hardcore - and to get people into supporting competitive tournaments too. I would love to see us grow and expand our influence even more than who we reach today. I really think that some of the trolling that exists in gaming would start to disappear if it wasn't so much of a "boy's club" - just the presence of females can keep boys' attitudes in check. So if we keep striving to have that gender balance, especially in the more "hardcore" genres of games, we can make gaming a better place for everyone.

Wedge with her fiance Chris in Kyoto. Photo by Dylan Cuthbert of Q Games!

PMS Lammy: Streaming will definitely help us grow our visibility, so your position as Streaming Director could really help with that! Before we wrap things up, do you have any favorite recent clan memories?
PMS Wedge: My best memories are of the events where I get to see people in person - most recently, I got to see a lot of people at PAX East. The last Quakecon I went to, a huge number of people from the Rhythm division went, and I have this memory of me singing Alanis Morissette's You Oughta Know on Rock Band 2... at around 3AM in the BYOC area of Quakecon. I really belted it out and I got all this applause from the people who were in the room. It was hilarious, and I don't think I would have done it without the other clan members there.

PMS Lammy: Do you have any shout-outs you’d like to give?
PMS Wedge: I'd like to give a shout-out to H2O Mystakin, who's grown into my partner-in-crime in the clan. Also to Athena and Athena Twin, for creating such a great, positive environment for gamers to grow competitively. And of course, to all of my Rhythm Division members - we're scattered all over the place in the clan these days, but I think that's just a testament to how awesome we were. Even without the structure of a division so many of us are still involved.

PMS Lammy: As a former member of the Rhythm Division I can’t argue with that! Thanks so much for the interview!