If you’ve been living under a rock for the past few days, you may have missed that Eric “GH057ayame” Hewitt was hired at 343 Industries. After being a part of Beyond Entertainment for most of 2013, we were able to squeeze out one more piece of content with him. Below is a question & answer session with Eric about his future at 343 Industries and Halo. Enjoy!

Q.) First off Eric, we’ve known each other for quite some time now, so I want to personally congratulate you man. I know from behind the scenes at Beyond that you’ve worked your ass off on everything you do and in turn, have helped the Halo community while it wasn’t in its finest hour.

A.) Thanks man. It was certainly a journey, but we made the best of it. Once again, I want to give a huge shout-out to everyone who supported me and the Halo movement over the past year. We were going through some rough times as a community, but we all joined together to reinvest our time and efforts into something we love dearly.

Q.) With that said, can you dive into what position you’ll have at 343 Industries yet? (via Moa)

A.) I will be a filling a tester position over at 343 Industries, and will be working alongside Mason “Neighbor” Cobb and Sean “Dersky” Swidersky.

Q.) Have any idea who you will be working with yet at 343 Industries?

A.) Well, as I previously stated in my last response, I will be working with the test team along with “Neighbor” and “Dersky.” 343 Industries has numerous teams within its company: games, services, test, community to name a few. So I will be privileged enough to work on one of these various teams!

Q.) What was your reaction when 343 Industries contacted you about getting hired? (via PainTrain)

A.) Hahaha, I wish I could put that feeling into words… Or I wish I had a video of my reaction! Nevertheless, the only way I can explain is: I instantly got a burning desire in my chest to make Halo great. I certainly jumped with joy, and screamed some profanities in excitement, haha! But, that burning desire has stayed with me since that day. I can’t even begin to explain the passion that I have for this franchise and its community.

Q.) On a scale of 1-10, how nervous are you? (via Oh My Tosis)

A.) Well, I would normally say that I’m extremely nervous going into a foreign area, especially with a new job. However… when I visited 343 Industries for the Weapon Tuning test back in May 2012, I walked in, and just felt at home. Everyone was so nice, generous, courteous, respectful, and the list just goes on and on. They made me feel like I was part of their family, and it felt like I had known everyone for years! I’ll never forget what I said to “bs angel” (Jessica Shea):

[Keep in mind, I come from the East Coast… New Jersey to be exact, haha.]

Ghost: I swear, Jess! Everyone here is just so damn kindhearted and welcoming. It just doesn’t make sense to me! There has to be something in the water!

bs angel: Yeah, there is. It’s called Halo, and we love drinking it daily!

At the very moment, I knew that I wanted to work for 343 Industries.

Q.) What will you personally focus on bringing to the Halo franchise and the 343 Industries team? (via Alias)

A.) I personally aim to focus on bringing a sense of competitive experience and knowledge to the Halo franchise. We, as a community, were blessed with some of the best competitive titles in gaming history. And even though we had a phenomenal social community as well, my expertise is definitely located in the competitive side of the community. Thus, I would love to continue that tradition that Halo has already laid out in front of us!

Q.) With your extensive competitive career and background with the Halo settings, will you try and use that at 343 Industries for future projects?

A.) Yes, I will certainly use my expertise and background to my advantage. 343 Industries has shown a huge amount of support towards the competitive community. Whether it be settings, a playlist, or even a Global Championship, you can easily see that this company wants to continue having a competitive side to Halo.

On top of that, they hired Andy “Bravo” Dudynsky, Quinn DelHoyo, Joshua Menke, Mason “Neighbor” Cobb, Sean “DeRsKy” Swidersky, and now myself! I’m extremely grateful to be able to say that 343 Industries has truly shown some serious investment into our side of the Halo community.

Q.) What will be your number one goal while working at 343 Industries and future Halo titles? (via EF5 Albino)

A.) My number one goal would have to be to contribute to the ongoing success of the franchise and 343 Industries. I know that I could have brought some personal goals with me to the company, but I’d rather donate my time and efforts towards the bigger picture than a personal agenda.

Q.) Are you going to be living with Dersky and Neighbor? (via Brutality)

A.) I actually am residing with Neighbor and Dersky for the time being. Neighbor was nice enough to have me stay with him for now, but Dersky and I do plan on getting our own place here soon enough!

Q.) Will we ever find out what’s under the hat? (via Sam)

A.) Maybe one day, haha! I mean hey, I suppose that we (Bravo, Neighbor, Dersky) could always do a Community Playdate where I put that up as a prize for beating us! We’ll see what we can do, haha.

Q.) Why do you wear your hat backwards? (via Proven)

A.) It just always fits better that way, haha. It also doesn’t mess with my trusty peripherals!

Q.) What is your favorite Halo game to compete in? And what do you think needs to be in Halo Xbox One to make it a successful tournament game? (via Hitman)



A.) I loved competing in Halo 2 the most. I’ll never forget how I started, where I came from, and how I rose to the top with Team Carbon in Halo 2. Those memories will never be forgotten. Competing in Halo 3 with Team Classic does come in as a close second place though!

In regards to making Halo on Xbox One a successful tournament title, I feel that it’s necessary to provide a quality medium for players to compete against each other, such as a competitive playlist. I also believe that it’s pretty important for the game to have a potential tournament playlist or league, coupled with a thorough spectator mode.

Q.) We really appreciate you taking the time to answer these questions Eric. Do you have any shout-outs or a message to the community you want to say before you go to the promise land of Halo?

A.) Oh, wow. Putting me on the spot! Honestly, there are too many people to thank at this point! So, I suppose I’ll try to group everyone up to the best of my ability…

Thank you MLG for giving me the chance to create competitive settings for Halo 4 and GameBattles! Thank you Heinz, Walshy, and Bravo for helping out with creating the original settings. Thanks to the endless amount of forum posts that I’ve read over the past year. Be it The Halo Council, Beyond Entertainment, or Halo Waypoint, I can honestly not thank you guys enough for the infinite amount of feedback that you’ve provided me with in order to make educated decisions for our community.

Thank you 343 Industries for implementing our competitive settings into our own community-controlled playlist! Thank you Virgin Gaming and 343 Industries for throwing the best tournament that I’ve ever been a part of – the Halo 4 Global Championships! Thank you Ready Up Live for showing your undying support to the franchise and for welcoming us competitors into your community! Thank you AGL for supporting the competitive side of the community for so long with tournaments! Thank you Battlefield Knoxville for hosting so many amazing events!

Now, I have a few shout-outs to people that have been a huge part of my personal success for the past year. They have put in more work than I could ever mention in an article, let alone a shout-out, so I’ll leave their contributions out for that reason. While some people may have had a bigger impact throughout the year, all of these people are mentioned for good reason. So please, take note! [In No Specific Order]

Chris Puckett

Joe “SauceySoars” Bentley

Ray “CyReN” Smith

Tyler “Ninja” Blevins

Mason “Neighbor” Cobb

Tyler “TiberiusAudley” Hicks

Kurtis “K2Five” Papple

Ryan “Chef Linguini” Smith

Kyle “FatedFire” Warren

Kory “Hahkarazy” Bosshardt

Scott “Gandhi” Lussier

Clint “Maven” Forest

Alex “GoldenboyFTW” Mendez

Andy “Bravo” Dudynsky

Aaron “Ace” Elam

Justin “iGotUrPistola” Deese

Austin “MiKWeN” McCleary

Eddy “SaLoT”

Brittany “Iniuriaa” Rodrigue

Bryan “iPr0Ph3T” Campbell

Bryan “Legit” Rizzo

Carl “VG Carl” Clendenin

Zachary “ZZ” Zeldin

Wim Stocks

Chase “chaosTheory”

Dustin “Dust Storm” Pettigrew

Sal “HaloFanForLife” Salerno

Eric “Snip3down” Wrona

Jarrod “Clicked” Dunfee

Joe “Jazzy” Roper

Joshua “KraZeR” Gonzalez

Kevin Franklin

Quinn DelHoyo

Jessica “bs angel” Shea

William Archbell

Doug Barnes

Joshua Menke

Che Chou

Jay Frechette

Lionel

Paganz

Jacob Ring

Alan Harris

Carlos “Cpt Anarchy” Morales

Matt “Formal” Piper

Rhys “Moa” Weir

Richie Heinz

Ryan “RyaNoob” Geddes

Sammy “Elitest” Satullo

Tom “Tsquared” Taylor

Tahir “Tashi” Hasandjekic

TJ “Lethul” Campbell

Tyler “DIESEL” Hoyt

Adam McLean

Andrew “Junior” Hanus

Anton “Jokr” Ferraro

Austin “FizZoR” Drake

Chris “Blaze” Chapon

David “D_Love” Lovekamp

Gilbert “MuNoZ” Munoz

Jacob Monnin

Joe “Joe Fries” Pennacchio

Michael “Flamesword” Chaves

John “Anakin” Nelson

John Wray

Joseph “SSickStory” Ebbs

Kyle “Chig” Lawson

Sean “Dersky” Swidersky”

Leland “MimiC” Jones

Logan “Snipetality”

Mauro “Mauro_Fire77”

Len Bose

Luis “RosyCrazyman” Jimenez

Max “MadMax” Rawal

Clynt “Menotyou”

Michael “StrongSide” Cavanaugh

Chris “LD2k” Manning

Dan “Greenskull” Hammill

Nick “Bestman” Johnson

Richard “Redemption” Bremner

Ryan “Above Infinity” Cox

Rondez Green

Tjerk Reintsema

Trey “TreyTri” Christensen

Lalo “Muggsy”

Zach Wigal

CoachMayyne

Apk

Faisal “Goofy” Khan

Tyler “SpartanTheDogg” Ganza

Alex Tomei

DJ Williamson

Colin “Skyzyn” Fogle

Tyler “Royaltyped”

Richard Simms

Teapot

Akademik

Ragnarok Flames

SecretSchnitzel

AphexTwin

ABearInTheWoods

Droid

Proto

Katastrophe

King Nielsen

Reiku78

Cursed Lemon

I’m sorry if I missed anyone! I tried my best jogging my memory over the past year. Thank you everyone for making my dream turn into a reality! I can’t wait to start my career with 343 Industries! -Ghost

Feel free to discuss this topic on our forums now!

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A massive thank you to Eric for doing this quick Q&A session with us, we wish you the best of luck at your new role (whatever that may be) at 343 Industries.

Be sure to follow Eric on Twitter: @GH057ayame.