Features & News

Interview: OJ Borg

November 4, 2010, Author: Neil Hughes

If OJ Borg looks or sounds familiar to you, it’s probably because he has rather sneakily infiltrated your everyday life without you even realising it. His voice may have accompanied on your journey via the medium of your car radio on stations such as XFM, Kerrang! Absolute Radio and has even been the continuity voice on Channel Five.

The face you will have seen many times on the BBC Lottery Programs and fight fans will know him for being the post-fight interviewer for Cage Rage promotions on NutsTV, and not forgetting Cage Fighter for Sky Sports, which is an MMA panel show.

After a recent interview with Iain Lee for This Is My Joystick, using great cunning and stealth OJ Borg tracked me down on Xbox Live for a dual, which led to us meeting up at this year’s Eurogamer Expo and an interview with the man about his love of gaming.

Q. Where did your love affair with gaming begin?

“It began with an Amstrad CPC-464. I got it for my 8th birthday and my dad had taught it to play happy birthday (which back then had taken him about three months). The anticipation of listening to this to play something like ‘Vigilante’ ‘Daly Thompson’ or ‘Desert Island Dizzy’ was truly amazing.”

Q. What kind of games do you enjoy most?

“It changes with the seasons. Probably had the most fun from FPS.”

Q. What is your favourite game soundtrack?

“There can be only one game soundtrack; Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.”

Q. What is your favourite gaming memory?

“Possibly the day I finished Monkey Island without the cheat book, or when Andy Cole scored his 100th Goal for Leicester city in a season on Sensible World of Soccer. Also beating all comers on Tekken Tag at Tribal Gathering in front of about 10,000 people was pretty ace. Although it being a rave festival meant that no one really paid much attention. Bastards.”

Q. What’s your console of choice?

“Xbox 360. It’s like Facebook but with violence and smack talk.”

Rich Man's Iain Lee

Q. Microsoft Kinnect… Your thoughts please sir?

“I’m not a fan of motion gaming. I think if you want to play tennis, go outside and play tennis. Gaming needs a controller. Although Samba di Amigo was fun for an hour.”

Q. What is your favourite Indie and Arcade game?

“Four player Gauntlet was great on the arcade but nothing beats Tron!”

Q. What games have taken up most of your time this year?

“COD. I’m close to dreaming about the bloody thing. I haven’t mentioned the new one coming out to my girlfriend yet. I’m sure she’ll be thrilled.”

Q. Are some developers exploiting DLC?

“Possibly. It’s not something that really has caught my attention as yet as I don’t think that anyone has released anything of any worth, but then as long as the released game is good, why not offer more content for people who dig that particular game?”

Q. Any future releases got you excited?

“COD 7. Cancel work cause I’m not coming out for a week. The annual release of FIFA as well is always a pleasure… although someone at TIMJ ruined it slightly for me this year.”

Q. Any truth in the story that you made the UK Air Guitar Finals under the name of Johnny Hot Sausage?

“This is totally true. If you have a nervous sensibility I recommend not watching it. “

Q. How did you get on?

“I came 12th, with a better song I’d have won it!”

Q. In August 2009, you were voted “Personality most likely to turn on Cathedral Square Christmas Lights” by readers of the Peterborough Evening Telegraph. It never happened, could it be this year?

“I wish. Now stop reading Wikipedia will you… someone keeps spamming it… and it’s funny spam so I don’t mind. The only lights I’ve turned on were the Gorton ones when I worked for 96.2 Revolution. Two people turned up, we had a wooden box to stand on and the actual turning on was telling the park warden to flick the fuse box on. Now that one is true!”

Q. Have you come across any other celebrity gamers on your travels?

“Iain Lee (who is a rich mans OJ Borg by the way) I’ve got his gamertag but never actually played him online. I’ve chatted to a few ‘slebs’ at things but always been drunk (these doo’s tend to feature free booze) so I’ve either lost or forgotten whatever their tags are by the morning.”

Q. It has been said that you should never meet your heroes, have you ever met someone you admired only to be disappointed or not actually like them?

“Many times. I made a cock of myself in front of Noel Gallagher, been speechless in front of Quentin Tarantino and was shocked at the amount of ‘chicken fillet’ Gwen Stefani keeps in her bra. The last one is a lie.”

Steve, did you get your name from the iPhone game SeaSick?

Q. What are your thoughts on the recent Golden Joystick Award Winners?

“I think it’s all pretty much as you’d call it, apart from game of the year… I really did think that COD would take it but maybe the hostage level played against it in the end. “

Q. Is there anything you would like to Plug?

“Not really… only my Twitter @OJBorg. I intend to make a 1000 followers by Christmas or Tiny Tim will get no present this year.”

Q. Finally could you help settle an argument, who would win in a fight between Scorpion and Sub-Zero?

“Sub Zero every time. Scorpion wears ladies underwear… I have proof. “

I thank OJ for his time and hope that I receive the plain brown envelope containing the winning lottery numbers that I pleaded for, but I feel a rematch on FIFA 11 is much more likely or even some fun on COD. However as our editor appears to have a strong loathing for anything COD related, I will keep the latter very quiet.