Larry Hryb

Larry Hryb

Larry Hryb during Xbox Media Briefing at Electronic Entertainment Expo 2009.
Born Lawrence Hryb
Connecticut, United States
Nationality American
Other names Major Nelson
Alma mater Syracuse University (S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications)
Occupation Director of Programming for Xbox Live
Known for Host of "Major Nelson Radio"
Website www.majornelson.com

Lawrence "Larry" Hryb /ˈhɜːrb/ also known by his Xbox Live Gamertag "Major Nelson", is an Emmy Award–winning Director of Programming for the Microsoft gaming network Xbox Live. His blog "Xbox Live's Major Nelson" provides an inside look at operations at Microsoft's Xbox division. He picked the Gamertag "Major Nelson" after a character by the same name on the 1960s U.S. television comedy I Dream of Jeannie after it was recommended to him by his TiVo.[1] Larry dedicated his Gamertag to Larry Hagman after his death in 2012.[2] Prior to joining Microsoft in 2001, he was a former programmer and on air host with radio broadcaster Clear Channel Communications.[3] Hryb graduated from Syracuse University with a degree in Television, Radio and Film production from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.

Work at Microsoft

Professional

Larry Hryb worked for Clear Channel Communications in Hartford, Connecticut for WKSS prior to Microsoft. Larry Hryb has been working with Microsoft in the Xbox division since 2003. Hryb has been instrumental in the development of the Xbox One, Xbox 360, Xbox LIVE, Kinect and the 'New Xbox Experience'. He was also a member of the small team of people who devised the concept of 'Xbox Achievements,' a popular feature of Xbox One and Xbox 360 games, that was later adopted by Steam, PlayStation Network, and other gaming platforms. Outside of Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer, Larry is one of the most recognizable faces at Microsoft, especially when it comes to Xbox. In addition, Mr. Hryb has done quite a bit of forward-thinking community work, and has advised dozens of gaming and non-gaming companies and communities on how to best engage with their audiences using digital tools and social networks. In 2012, he was named one of Mashable's '13 Bona Fide Geeks to Follow'.[4] Through Larry's vast social reach on Twitter, his award-winning podcast, Google Plus page, YouTube profile, and his personal blog, he often does product mentions and reviews for lifestyle-related products and services. He has said that he declines hundreds of offers a year because, in his eyes, he does not want to talk about a product or service that is not worth talking about. This approach has resulted in the MajorNelson.com blog, podcast, and Twitter to become some of the most influential and valuable areas to get exposure in the gaming and entertainment industry in terms of reach and impact. Larry runs all of his social media properties himself, whereas similar properties belonging to other companies are run by a team of agencies and marketers. As one of the most high-profile and socially-active members of the video game industry, Larry has been approached by numerous brands to 'sponsor' him. He has reportedly turned down many seven-figure offers. Although a YouTube and Twitch partner, he does not promote that fact like other partners. He chooses to focus on providing valuable information to the audience, rather than begging for subscribers or reminding the audience of his status. He is a mature, well-liked global personality which makes him all the more attractive for advertisers and business who want to align with his 'brand.' On October 26, 2015 Larry hosted the largest game launch ever (Halo 5) in a four hour long broadcast. In a partnership with Google, and certified by the Guinness World Book of Record, the broadcast of the Halo 5 broke all existing records for a game launch live stream.

Twitter

Hryb is also on Twitter at https://www.twitter.com/majornelson. Currently he is one of the most influential personalities in the gaming industry and has the most active/followed personal accounts at Microsoft. [Other accounts at Microsoft are managed by agencies. See below.] Larry joined Twitter in 2006, and has pioneered several uses of Twitter that have gone on to become Twitter standards. Examples include live 'Tweeting' of events (like CES or E3) and using Twitter as a contest mechanisms like his #FreeCodeFriday promotion. Today is it commonplace to see Twitter used as a contesting tool based on processes he first developed. Larry also consults and advises various consumer facing Fortune 500 companies on how to properly engage with an audience, and is often cited in demonstrating 'best practices' in social media white papers and research. With over ¾ of a million followers and growing each day, the content Larry publishes is of higher quality and more meaningful to the tech and gaming audience. While not as many followers as the official Xbox Twitter account, that account is purported to be run by over 20 people that create pure marketing driven content that some hard core gamers tend not to care for. Larry, on the other hand, publishes content that is straight forward and more relevant for the this highly attractive demographic. He shares items that a savvy and intelligent tech audience would find interesting with little to no use of over used marketing adjectives like "biggest", "best". On April 1, 2015 Larry did the first ever Periscope from a Hollywood red carpet.[5]

Podcast

Larry Hryb with the Lancer rifle from Gears of War, 2008.

Hryb is most known for his popular weekly podcast "Major Nelson Radio", available on iTunes, Xbox Music Marketplace, and from his site. He does interviews as well. Direct from inside the Microsoft Xbox team, Hryb and his colleagues including regular co-hosts Laura Massey ("lollip0p"), and Eric Neustadter ("e") discuss Xbox One, Xbox 360, Kinect, Zune, gaming, technology, other next generation consoles (including the PlayStation 4, and Wii U), among other subjects. His show regularly hosts interviews with people in the gaming community, and offers prizes to listeners through his "Name the Game" contest, where he plays a short audio clip from a game, and a winner is drawn from the correct entries. Additionally, regular features of the podcast include "Xbox 101", a segment devoted to various features on the Xbox One or Xbox Live, Gadget discussion where they discuss the latest and greatest gadget. Many companies have contacted Larry to review or cover their products to reach this audience, but Larry has declined stating that he only wants to talk about products he actually uses and are of high quality and value. Recently, as convergence takes place with the auto industry, they have also started looking at vehicles that use technology in a new and exciting ways. There is also an after show, an easter egg where Hryb talks about random topics. Hryb and Neustadter regularly joke about each other's Xbox Live gamerscore and gaming habits. Xbox 101 is also a series of "Inside Xbox" videos on Xbox Live.

Originally, Hryb produced the podcast by himself. The podcast used to consist of him giving a monologue and breaking to play prerecorded interviews. On November 6, 2006, he celebrated his '200th' podcast, which was marked with a nearly two and a half hour show. Hryb openly admits that he added to the show number and the figure doesn't accurately reflect the number of shows made. Hryb switched to a #1xx numbering around July 18, 2005, when he did show #136 after the previous '7/10/05 Blogcast'.[6] Major Nelson was interviewed on the Video Game Outsiders Podcast (show #50), where he commented "About a year and a half ago, I started numbering my shows at 100...it makes it sound cooler, bigger numbers are always better."[6]

Motion pictures

In 1996 Larry had a non-speaking role of the scorekeeper in the guards vs students football scene in the movie Sleepers starring Brad Pitt, Kevin Bacon, Robert De Niro and more. Since Larry was in a scene with Kevin Bacon, this gives him a desirable "Bacon number" of 1 in Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon

Video games

Larry has appeared in multiple video games. Some of the more famous ones include:

As a result of the work he has done, he is also included in the game credits of numerous games, most recently he was thanked in the credits for Ori and the Blind Forest.

In August 2014, Larry was featured as the achievements in reddX, a reddit app for Xbox One. In these achievements, Larry is seen acting out popular internet memes. These achievements were met with widespread positive support.

Other media

In addition to his podcast, Hryb hosts a weekly one-minute segment titled Major's Minute. Every week on Xbox Live, Major's Minute recaps new content and news related to the Xbox Live Marketplace. As of January 2012, over 45 million Xbox LIVE Members have access to Major's Minute on Xbox LIVE. Hryb was also a regular on the defunct Sirius Satellite Radio program "Level Up", designed for the casual video gamer. In May 2015, Larry began hosting the weekly video show "This Week On Xbox" which airs each Friday on the Xbox One console as well as YouTube.com/Xbox. On the Xbox One console, the show features an innovative interactive elements that allow the viewer to instantly retrieve content discussed in the show with a click of the controller. The show has been extremely successful and in less than a year reaches over 5 million viewers per week, making Larry the top hosts of a gaming video program of all time.

Personal life

Hryb is married to Taylor Johnson, the author of 'The Happy Girl Experiment' blog and lives in the state of Washington. He enjoys photography, Xbox One, and many other gadgets. During Show 478 of the Major Nelson podcast he expressed interest in classical music, noting that he nearly minored in it during his college studies.[7] In 2006, Next Generation Magazine named Hryb one of the "Top 25 People of the Year" in video gaming.[8] Also, in 2009 he was featured on Wired.com's "100 Geeks You Should Be Following On Twitter".[9] Hryb has worked with multiple Fortune 500 companies, advising them on how to use social media to better connect with the community. He revealed that his guilty pleasure is KFC mashed potatoes.[10] Larry Hryb has admitted to having coulrophobia[11] and claustrophobia after waking up from a dream involving the 2010 Copiapó mining accident.[12]

References

  1. ↑ Hryb, Larry (2008-05-25). "Show #280: XNA, DRM and more". Majornelson.com. Retrieved 2011-07-17.
  2. ↑ Major Nelson from one Major to another
  3. ↑ Hillis, Scott (2008-01-03). ""Major Nelson" emerges as face of Xbox". Reuters. Retrieved 2008-05-18.
  4. ↑ "13 Bona Fide Geeks to Follow on Twitter". Retrieved March 1, 2016.
  5. ↑ "Larry Hryb". Twitter. Retrieved March 1, 2016.
  6. 1 2 Hryb, Larry (2006-11-09). "Now serving over 100,000 comments". Majornelson.com. Retrieved 2008-05-18.
  7. ↑ Show 478: E3, State of Decay and more., "Major Nelson Radio.", 2013-06-07, retrieved 2013-06-08
  8. ↑ Campbell, Colin (2006-12-13). "Next-Gen's Top 25 People of the Year". Next Generation Magazine. Retrieved 2008-05-18.
  9. ↑ Denmead, Ken (2009-05-13). "100 Geeks You Should Be Following On Twitter". Wired.com. Retrieved 2009-05-24.
  10. ↑ Hryb, Larry (2008-03-01). "Show #351: PAX East, SXSW and Battlefield Bad Company 2". Majornelson.com. Retrieved 2011-07-17.
  11. ↑ Hryb, Larry (2009-12-30). "Show #345: Last show of 2009". Majornelson.com. Retrieved 2011-07-17.
  12. ↑ Hryb, Larry (2010-10-24). "Show 375: Call of Duty: Black Ops MP, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II, Fable III". Majornelson.com. Retrieved 2008-07-17.Hryb, Larry (2011-01-31). "Show 386: Dead Space 2, Crysis 2 and COD Black Ops First Strike". Majornelson.com. Retrieved 2011-07-17.

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