I’m official over the hill. Instead of looking at how long I’ve got to go, it is beginning to feel as if the end is near. And though I look forward to venturing out into the “real world,” I can already tell that the college experience will be missed. This is just a quick recap of where I’m at right now, and where I’m headed with my next two years.

Here’s a summary of where I’m at academically:

• Mass Communications major, Marketing minor (switched from Journalism last year)
• 3.66 GPA
• Enrolled in Honors Program (and have satisfied all Honors requirements except Capstone)
• Satisfied all general studies requirements

However, where I am focusing my energies on is instead networking, projects, and other non-academic goals.

• Worked on Program Board as an executive programmer and webmaster since my first year. This year I am the graphic designer as well. I’ve hosted dozens of events on campus while providing flyers, advertising, and website updates for the rest of the board.
• Worked on A-Team over the summer. A-Team is a peer leadership group that is involved in making a smooth transition into college life for first year students. We advise, give support, and provide a quality role model while leading them through a two-day orientation.
• Worked as a Resident Assistant for a semester (more on that later). I hosted some of the largest events and provided a positive role model for a diverse and unique floor of residents.
• Ran for Student Body President my Freshman and Sophomore year. I plan on running again the next two years. I lost to my now-roommate / partner-in-crime Anthony Bellismo.
• I’ve been involved in the Student Government Association, Technology Oversight Committee, Honors Program Board, and the Student Life Council.
• Recognized at Student Recognition Day as a Freshman and Sophomore. 
• I’ve was the webmaster for Student Affairs and Intramurals briefly.
• Started up a now-defunct movie review blog with a few fellow students.

It’s been a pretty good ride, however over the summer and the beginning of this semester have seen a series of events that have taken the turn for the better. That is awfully vague. Allow me to explain:

Over the summer, it became apparent that my help was needed at QuakeCon 2010 with my internet broadcasting organization, Quake Live TV. The issue with this was that it directly conflicted with my Resident Assistant training. I explain my situation in detail, offered to do all the coordination with my staff and do extra work to make up my time off. Unfortunately, they still were unable to keep me onboard and I lost my position as an RA.

However, QuakeCon was an amazing experience and I’m completely glad I went. I met the majority of my staff on Quake Live TV, as well as bonded with a lot of QuakeCon staff and volunteers. On top of that, was able to spend a bit of face time with Bethesda, Splash Damage, and id Software developers and executives. It was a great personal and professional experience, and we did great work while we were there. See our coverage at our QuakeCon site.

I was also laid off of my Webmaster Advisor job for Student Affairs (they essentially combined two positions into one and I got the short stick), so I lost two jobs when I came back to campus. However, I’m still the Graphic Designer for Program Board, and also Rachael (my boss) hired me as the Webmaster for Student Activities, which means I’m charge of making some really cool website stuff. I’m pretty excited.

In another unfortunate twist, my good friend Jon Haar lost his federal aid and wasn’t able to go to Shepherd. However, this let me take his place and room with Anthony Bellismo, Nick Frendzel, and Justin McKenzie. This collection of gamers, filmmakers, and digital artists is truly a great place to be, and already we’ve kicked off and done some fun, unique projects. I’ll be posting some of the videos and films we produce while we’re here shortly, already we’ve done a lot. I’m also rooming right next door to all the ladies I was very close with first year—Stephanie Singleton, Becky Van Wagoner, Ashtyn Lake, Hannah Pebbles, Abbie McMullen, and the “new kid” Heather. They’re a great group of friends and it’s exciting to have them next door.

There has been some ups and downs, yes, but at the end this is looking to be a great year for my personal, professional, and academic growth. Woot!

Hey guys,

As some of you know, I’m the founder, webmaster, graphic designer, and guest shoutcaster over at QuakeLive.tv. Quake Live TV runs very much like a business, but we’re all volunteers and our costs are paid for by donations (thanks to an awesome, supportive community).

So what is Quake Live TV? Well, it’s an organization that broadcasts live, competitive video game matches with some of the top professionals. While a lot of our coverage is of community-run events, a lot of our coverage is of the professionals competing in high-level tournaments. We’ve covered over 1,000 competitive matches in our one and half years of operation, with some of our more popular live broadcasts reaching thousands and thousands of live spectators simultaneously. In the past year, we’ve had over 400,000 visitors on our website.

To sum it up: we’re the #1 broadcasting organization in North America Quake Live coverage, and we’re slowly becoming one of the more reputable names in eSports.

While some people scoff at the idea of playing video games professionally, some do pretty well. For example, Anton "Cooller" Singov (who is coming to QuakeCon) has made more than $130,000 in his career. Sure, he’s not going to be able to retire on winnings from professional gaming, but it’s still a good chuck of cash. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anton_Singov

For those of you that are curious as to what competitive gaming is all about, I wrote a four-page magazine article that details the ins-and-outs of the scene.

Page 1: http://mattc0m.com/College/Spring%202009/Magazine%20Writing/page-1.jpg
Page 2: http://mattc0m.com/College/Spring%202009/Magazine%20Writing/page-2.jpg
Page 3: http://mattc0m.com/College/Spring%202009/Magazine%20Writing/page-3.jpg
Page 4: http://mattc0m.com/College/Spring%202009/Magazine%20Writing/page-4.jpg

Back to the big news:
Quake Live TV is going to be the exclusive broadcaster of QuakeCon 2010.

So, what is QuakeCon? What does this mean?

Here’s a snippet of the Press Release:

Quake Live TV, a community-run broadcasting organization, is set to provide exclusive video coverage of QuakeCon 2010. QuakeCon, the largest LAN party in North America, is hosted annually in Dallas, TX and is home to the Intel® QUAKE LIVE® Masters Championship. Known as one of the most prestigious gaming tournaments worldwide, this year boasts a prize pool of over $50,000. After three years of main-stage action QUAKE LIVE® remains a top choice for competitive gamers.

Check out the rest of the press release on GamesIndustry.biz. I actually wrote the majority of the press release.

Essentially, QuakeCon is a big deal. Biggest LAN in North America, biggest free LAN in the world, and it hosts thousands of gamers at the event with tens of thousands tuning into the coverage from around the world.

My company is going to be that coverage.

I’m really happy to go there and be working alongside my fellow founders Steve "GreasedScotsman" Huff and Ben "FishStix" Goldhaber. These guys are legit. Also along with our promotion to the official coverage team means we get comped rooms, VIP passes, interviews with Bethesda and id Software execs, and a lot more really cool things.

In fact, if anyone has any questions for id Software, Bethesda Game Studios, Splash Damage, Respawn Entertainment (the founders of Infinity Ward, the guys who made call of Duty), Arkane Studios, or any of the pro gamers… let me know!

Anyway, I’m super excited about this and just wanted to share it. Hopefully you guys tune and I have your support!

Matt "Mattc0m" Richards
www.quakelive.tv

Simply the most amazing video of all-time. Worth watching this till the very end.

Spoilers after the break.

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Came across this interactive piece of flash artwork today and it’s fantastic. A very professional and artistic piece, I fully recommend you set aside a couple minutes and check this out. It follows along a brush within this song, allowing you to weave up and down, while changing the pace and adding beautiful animations that go along with the music. Really, you’ve got to just see it to believe it.

http://soytuaire.labuat.com/

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Here is a Motion Graphics project I was working on. It gives a brief introduction to the upcoming Games Cast TV. It’s essentially an e-sports unity project that creates one site to watch all the prominent shoutcasting organizations without ever leaving the page. It’s, essentially, like an online television station that embeds all the content from the variety of different organizations out there.

Check out this slick video. I think you’ll enjoy it — it’s just over a minute long!