Hi, I’m Matt. I’m a sophomore at the University of California at Berkeley where I plan to major in mathematics and economics. I grew up in Oak Park, Illinois and I am a gamer. I have played games my entire life and I have been playing video games since elementary school. I’m writing this blog in order to document my analyses of the gaming industry, games, developers, and other relevant trends.
As for experience in the industry, I spent much of my summer between freshman and sophomore year at the Electronic Arts Headquarters in Redwood City. EA was my first break in the industry and I relished the chance to see what making games was all about. I worked under Shawn Stafford in the Global Online Services team. The team was responsible for the online features of many EA titles. The work behind the game that we see on the screen is so much more than leader boards and matchmaking. I’m very grateful to my friends at EA for giving me my first taste of what I hope to be a long and fruitful career in the game industry.
The games that I like to plan now are mostly role playing games. However, I have been known to pick up an FPS from time to time. The immediate thrill of shooting someone and then hearing them whine about it over Ventrilo is a great temporary high. However, it’s not quite as satisfying as finding a perfect ethereal Death Cleaver Berserker Axe off of a Baal run in Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction. I played Diablo 2 for most of my childhood. Back in the day when I had little homework and no desire to do anything productive I powered up my computer and played Diablo with my friends. In fact, I just quit playing this past summer. Coincidentally, Hellgate: London, a game made by Diablo’s creators, was just released. Before Diablo, I played mostly action and fighting games on the Nintendo 64. My friends met with a swift defeat when we played Killer Instinct Gold. Sadly, my button-mashing induced blisters and my mother told me to seek pleasure in other games.
