NateXtrem

Nate Xander is a character in Mini-Grand 5101.

Description:
Tall 23-year-old Caucasian male, with semi-athletic build and a round chin. Short black spiky hair, and pink eyes (via nano-dye augmentation when he was 15; purely aesthetic). Wearing a black "GDC '87" t-shirt with a holographic (3D) print of the GDC mascot on the back, a rounded polygonal figure with an upside-down impossible triangle for a head. Also wearing camo cargo pants and a GDC '87 pin shaped like a small, black flying saucer, which has been secretly outfitted with a tiny camera.

Amiable and prone to humor; crowd-pleaser. Loves his job and appreciates his fans; will often sacrifice revenue or break the occasional non-disclosure contract for an occasion to feed his hungry fanbase. In video-games, quite competitive and a completionist. Has a strong appreciation for game design, especially visual and story-wise; knows every video game trope like the back of his hand.

Items/Equipment:
Wielding a replica H&K MG 9 ultralight machine gun / automatic rifle, with toggled laser sight, ultra-long-range scope, and nano-reloaded 80-bullet capacity, among other fixings. Not that it needs it, seeing as it is only built to fire an unlimited supply of blanks. Has a similarly modern laser-sighted pistol sidearm at his belt, firing similar blanks. Both look, sound, and fire blanks identically to the originals, save at a reduced volume to avoid any chance of hearing loss by the user (esp. in small quarters). Also at his side is an exact replica serrated combat knife from "Call of Duty 12", engraved "nateXtrem"; it is real, and deadly sharp. The GDC pin mentioned above has a hidden camera Nate installed to avoid screening by the Xilyon Odyssey alpha staff; as a low-power miniature camera, it is only capable of taking 52-Gpx still 3D images, able to display them back on a deployable, floating hardlight-nanomesh display when necessary.

Skills:
Expert marksman, through years of competitive VR practice and otherwise. Skilled with a combat knife, through similar means. Moderately athletic, but exceptional at twitch-reactions and dodging, as well as sensing his immediate environment for threats while moving quickly/silently. Basically, a pro-gamer. His PR experience and contract negotiations have also given him a light degree of prowess at social manipulation.

Biography:
"No phones, no wires, no radio, maxfi, or medialink signals; yes, Mister Xander, even your biolink headset and micro-wallet need to go. We can't trust a non-disclosure agreement alone, given your 'history'."

Nathan and the CEO of Matrix VR-ware had a mutual laugh at his air quotes, here, as he was being stripped of his belongings in a deep back room of the 2087 Game Developers' Conference. "Yeah, I understand. It's just, you know, with 120 million blog followers, it can be-"

"Hard to resist the temptation, yes. Especially given the... uniqueness of what we're about to show you." Uniqueness indeed. Matrix VR had released hit after monumental hit since 2063, when they unexpectedly received the rights to resurrect the long-dead "Call of Duty" franchise in a virtual reality game. Contrary to everyone's expectations, they truly knocked it out of the park, and have been topping themselves in leaps and bounds ever since. Most unique was their hardware; their experts insisted on custom-tooling the usual VR-sphere hardware, bringing hardlight-nanomesh graphics and sensory-feedback to their most detailed level yet. Their latest game, cryptically codenamed "Xilyon Odyssey", was a total mystery. They'd teamed up with Bandolier Studios, home to some of the best story-writers and procedural-generation experts in the dev business, and then proceeded to spend trillions of credits on this project while keeping everything on a total lockdown. All they said was that it was bound to "redefine gaming" as never before... and most in the know believed them.

Nathan would be the first outsider to see it.

Virtual Reality - forcing participants to compete physically, not just with a rudimentary interface - had turned pro-gaming into a mainstream-channel sport, and Nathan had been swept to the top. His tournament wins and online commentary had made him the go-to source for fans of VR shooters and RPGs. He was even offered star movie roles on multiple occasions, but turned them down, of course. Can't disappoint the fans by being away for filming that long, even if he documented it.

"You think we're impressive?!" the CEO had joked with him, earlier. "You single-handedly brought back pink eyes. I'd be lucky to accomplish something so amazing in a lifetime!"

Matrix was counting on Nathan's exclusive look to kickstart promotion of the game, generating hype to keep their stock up and competitors at bay. As far as they knew, Nathan would give an exclusive multicast on it, after the demo; no visuals, no in-game sound, nothing but his personal account of his impression of Xilyon Odyssey. Little did they know that his GDC pin was a fake, smuggled days before the show and outfitted by a trusted friend with a state-of-the-art miniature camera, perfect for capturing the game's look and feel. Nate hated to do this to a company he loved, but, well... what the fans demand...

He was handed his VR-linked gun replica and sidearm; both rather current weapons, he thought, giving him an idea of the game's setting. "Oh, and I almost forgot," chimed in the CEO, who then made a show of presenting back the knife they'd taken from him at screening. It was the custom-engraved reward he'd received as a teenager, having won his first championship at a Matrix-sponsored global VR tournament; he never took it off his person. "That's right: you can use it in-game. As long as you don't throw it, that is; while it's on your person, there's no danger of damaging the VR-sphere with your swings, even if you embed it in the ground next to you."

"Just remember, Nathan. This exclusive preview only lasts as long as you stay alive. At your first death, we'll shut it down and escort you out. Prepare yourself... this will be unlike any game you have yet experienced."

"I'm ready."

Everything had gone as-planned, or so the CEO thought at first. Nathan walked into the large, custom VR sphere his company had lifted in for the occasion, and the hardlight-nanomesh framework inside whirred-up in a suitably expensive-sounding manner. A countdown had begun, and their soon-to-be award-winning RPG was unleashed into the sphere as normal.

But, oddly, there was no player detected. When they shut everything down and looked inside, Nathan had vanished.

"Well, James," a pale, sweating CEO said to his second-in-command, "I guess it's time to call in the lawyers."