Q&As// GameStars - Q/A with Pro Gamer, Sujoy Roy

You will most likely know of Sujoy Roy (pictured right) as the UK's first and most successful professional gamer. Sujoy packed in his well-paid city job in the late 1990s and has managed to carve out a nice living from himself playing games professionally, having attracted numerous international sponsorship and endorsement deals and travelling the world competing in major Quake tournaments. Basically, living the dream.

Although Sujoy is now officially ‘retired’ as a pro gamer he is still very much involved with promoting e-sports and he is currently preparing for the opening of the hugely impressive Omega Sektor gaming centre in Birmingham this summer.

SPOnG caught up with him recently to fire a few questions his way about his gaming background, his all-time favourite games and more. Read on.


SPOnG: What are your favourite games of the last year or two? And why?

Sujoy Roy: I've been enjoying simpler games recently, particularly Guitar Hero 2 on the Xbox 360 and all of the new Wiimote-friendly titles on the Nintendo. These games introduce a new social aspect of playing in your living room, and anyone can join in.


SPOnG: What are your top three favourite games of all time? Any particular memories they evoke?

Sujoy Roy: One of my favourite multiplayer titles is the original Bomberman. I think I played it on the Commodore Amiga back then, with a jury-rigged four-player joystick converter. It was such a blast to battle with your friends until the early hours.

Next on my list is the original Quake, written by iD software. I picked up this game while I was in my second year of university and you can trace a steady decline in my grades from that point. Quake had all the speed and exhilaration of Doom but now with a full 3D world to explore and most-importantly, the ability to play other people from around the world.

My final pick would be Elite. While it didn't link you up to millions of people worldwide, like today's popular MMORPG games, Elite made you feel like you were taking part in a huge boundless universe. I remember those days of haggling over the price of narcotics at a Feudal port, twisting and turning to escape the Viper police ships, or the terror of being pulled out of a hyperspace jump by the evil Thargoid mothership.


SPOnG: What are your earliest memories of playing video games?

Sujoy Roy: I have an older brother so most of my earliest memories involve fighting him to get to the family computer. I think my first computer was a ZX81 and the first game I played on it was one my brother had typed out from a magazine.

No CDs or DVDs back then, if you wanted to play a game you had to type out all the code yourself!


SPOnG: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC or Nintendo Wii? Any preferences, and if so can you say why?

Sujoy Roy: I still prefer PC by far, mainly for the flexibility of using the Internet and being able to customise everything. Times are changing, but the PC still rules the Internet.