n action games such as Quake, particularly in deathmatch, it is skill that makes a player good, not random luck or other variables. And after hours and hours of practice, any Quake player can become pretty darn good. Good enough to beat the developer of the game? You might at first think, no way, since the developer knows the game as well as anyone, including its secrets and its hidden areas - anything that would give him the advantage.

Or so it would seem. One Quake deathmatch devotee had the chance to prove how practice does make perfect. It wasn't Thresh, as you might expect. In fact, it wasn't even a guy. It was a Texas rose named Stevie Case, aka KillCreek. And she beat John Romero in a one-on-one deathmatch! (Romero, now at ION Storm, was one of the designers of Quake.)

GameSpot caught up with Ms. Case to talk about what it's like to beat a master at his own game.

Take me to the interview