You remember those insanely cool Xbox 360 faceplates we posted before? Well, we got a chance to talk with SpaceGhost2K about creating those faceplates, how he comes up with the great ideas, his gaming preferences, and what he thinks of the other current consoles.

drunk pandas: How long does each plate take you to create?

SpaceGhost2K: It depends a lot on the plate. There are multiple steps that each take their own time. Do I need a sticker mask to do the design? Do I have one already or do I have to have one made? Do I have to prepare the art? And then there’s issues with securing action figures or other parts and pieces needed to make the faceplate. Then if you have multiple paint ops, it takes time to dry between ops. I’ts possible to finish a simple plate in a day. There’s others that I’ve been working on a little bit at a time for a couple of months. Right now, I have literally a hundred requests for plates. At one a day, that’s over three months to do them all.

drunk pandas: Where do you get your inspirations for your faceplates?

SpaceGhost2K: I’ve seen an action figure and knew it had to be on a plate. I’ve seen cool kinds of paint, scrapbooking materials, tv shows, even certain fonts have triggered ideas for plates.

drunk pandas: Do you sell all of your plates to the general public, or some of them reserved for special use?

SpaceGhost2K: I’m making a Halo 3 plate to be the prize in a Halo tournament around the launch of the game. Generally though, they fall into a couple of catagories: 1) Plates I think of that are destined for eBay. Some of those never make it to eBay though, because when I post them in the Teamxbox forums, someome will PM me, wanting it. 2) Plates that are made from others’ ideas, that will be their own. 3) Plates that I make especially for friends or family. I should note that I very rarely ever make a plate just to go on eBay. I make it because it cries out to be made. Then I sell it and use the money to buy more stuff to make the next faceplate crying out to be made. Even with the recent few plates that have sold for a lot, I assure you, this is NOT a money making venture. It’s a hobby that maintains itself, if I’m lucky.

drunk pandas: Has Microsoft tried to purchase these designs form you or approached you in any way?

SpaceGhost2K: They haven’t sent Spartans to my door to make me stop…. yet. I was asked if they could be mentioned on a blog, but they haven’t been. For Microsoft to make any of these on a major scale, it would require searching for and securing licenses, and that wouldn’t be financially feasable for the numbers the market can support. It is my belief that this is an outlet for creativity and individuality, and those things don’t lend themselves well to 20,000 unit runs. If Microsoft did it, they’d be “selling faceplates.” What I’m doing is basically helping someone create the faceplate they want, if they don’t have the resources or abilities to do it themselves. I’m not selling Iron Giant faceplates. I’m helping someone who wants an Iron Giant faceplate, make one.

Also, I should note that the figures and other toys that are on the plates are licensed toys that I purchased at retail. I’m not manufacturing figures in my garage.

drunk pandas: Why have you not done a Loot Ninja one yet?

SpaceGhost2K: Patience, grasshoppah. To a true student of Tai Kwan Leep, a year is as a day.

drunk pandas: What other designs do you have in mind?

SpaceGhost2K: Hmmm… what’s the rating of this site? LOL! I’ve got some Halo plates that will be done before Halo 3 launch, that will knock you on your butt… but before all this dies down and people are still looking, I want to make a nipple plate. All skin colored with a sculpted nipple in the power button. Silly, weird, perv… whatever. It just has to be done, that’s all there is to it.

Some of my plates have been pretty ambitious, like the Star Wars Sarlaac Pit plate, but the plates to come will make that look like finger painting. Lights, lasers, holograms; it’s enough to make my head spin just a little.

drunk pandas: What is your favorite design?

SpaceGhost2K: It has to be the Space Ghost plate. It was the second plate I made, and the first plate that sold for more than it cost me to make it. I had two people fighting over it, and the one who lost commissioned a second one. It’s her second one that was pictured in the Official Xbox Magazine article. Here I am, gamertag: SpaceGhost2K, and I don’t even have a Space Ghost plate! The woman who owns it has purchased multiple plates from me since then and is a new friend.

drunk pandas: What is your day job?

SpaceGhost2K: I’m a licensed insurance agent, but it was killing me not actually working in the game business, so I took a job part time at a game store. I still sell some insurance now and then. I’ve done something video game related since 1999, including merchandinsing for Xbox (Xbox rep FTW!) and managing a game store.

drunk pandas: When you’re not making faceplates, what are your favorite games to play?

SpaceGhost2K: I’m really a casual gamer. I don’t have the necessary time to spend to be a gamer on a competitive level. Most of the games I enjoy are single player games. I’m a sucker for the “gotta catch ‘em all” concept. I did everything you could do in Oblivion and Viva Pinata, and I finally quit playing DOAX2 because I couldn’t give everything to everybody. Games on my list are Blue Dragon, Eternal Sonata, Halo 3, Mass Effect and Lost Odyssey. I did get to stick my head into the Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4 betas, but it was promptly shot off.

drunk pandas: Is the Xbox 360 your favorite console? What do you think of the PS3 and Wii?

SpaceGhost2K: The 360 is definitely my favorite, and when someone asks me that question in the store, I have to preface my response by telling them my bias. In big business, it’s all about risk vs. reward. Microsoft risked hardware issues by beating Sony to market, and it’s come back to bite them in the butt… BUT… they’re also reaping the reward for being first by having a larger install base and the better and larger library of games. Was it an acceptable trade-off? Hard to say, but when you consider the alternative, then yet, it was.

Sony’s PS3 is a beautiful, well built machine. I have no issues with the Cell or Blu-Ray or any of that. The issue I have is that it has all this potential behind it, but Sony crippled it by how they allocated the RAM. In my opinion, gamers are paying for a lot of potential that they’ll never see.

And Nintendo, God bless ‘em. It’s just not possible to say anything bad about Nintendo. Brilliant marketing strategy, fun and easily accessible games, lower price, sturdy hardware… what’s not to love? I think Nintendo has recognized what I believe is true and what PS2 sales confirm: the average gamer believes that the current quality of games is “good enough.” Do we HAVE to try to make a game that looks better than Bioshock, or more importantly, do we have to try just so we can charge people for it? I think if the game industry had never moved graphically beyond last gen games, whether you’re talking about God of War or Ninja Gaiden or even Mario Kart, nobody would have cared. Nobody sat around, thinking “Wow, Riddick looks horrible. I sure can’t wait for next gen.” Nintendo got that, and is reaping the benefits.

drunk pandas: Any plans of making designs or skins for any other consoles or portables?

SpaceGhost2K: I’d like to make customs faceplates for the DS, but they’re a lot more succeptable to wear and tear than a console faceplate. Since customizing the other consoles would require having the whole console sent to me, I don’t see that happening. This is all just a creative outlet for me, and I think the answer is getting more ambitious with the 360 plates than it is to expand into another area.

We want to thank SpaceGhost2K for his time and allowing us to interview him! Stay tuned to his page on TeamXbox as he creates more awesome faceplates.