Hey SC2GG! Today we're introducing our latest addition to the SC2GG commentary team - MattSC. You may know him better as sm1ley from our Commentator Idol back in '09. Since then, he's teamed up with his brother Stevethemacguy to form MattandSteveSC which has quickly become one of the most popular commentator teams on youtube. Read on to learn more about SC2GG's latest addition.First off, welcome to the SC2GG commentating team MattSC. Can you tell us a bit about yourself? MattSC: My name is actually Matt, and I live in Sacramento, CA. I work for Apple as an internal trainer for Applecare, relating specifically to the iLife and iWork suite of products. I write training curriculum, speak to noobs, travel occasionally, and LOVE my job. And no, I can't get you a discount.
I made a name for myself as "mrsmiley" in the Halo community, and still am involved through Pyrosmile.org, my partnered video production company contracted to Machinima.com, and HaloBabies.net (currently under construction), which actually made it into the Halo 2 credits back in the day!
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"I made a name for myself as "mrsmiley" in the Halo community, and still am involved through Pyrosmile.org, my partnered video production company contracted to Machinima.com."____________________________________
: Despite my once strong love of the Halo franchise, I was raised on RTS games like Command & Conquer, AoE, and of course, StarCraft. I've been it playing since it was first released.
My younger brother, Steve, has also been playing for about as long. While he was killing time in Afghanistan with the army, he stumbled upon the pro scene, and introduced me to Cholera, Moletrap, and Diggity. Instant <3.
You were one of the final six in our Commentator Idol, can you tell us what the experience was like for you? Best and worst moments?MattSC: First off, I completely entered this as a fluke. I've always had an easy time speaking publicly and entertaining people (I didn't get the nickname "smiley" for nothing!), and I thought it would be fun to try out something completely new. I never thought I would actually make it to the final six, much less past the first round! This was very humbling and meant a lot more to me than I thought it would.
The sucky part came when Chill, from TeamLiquid, came on the show in round 5 and blasted me for doing things I didn't do, and not doing things I did do. I respected and received everyone else's opinion, but it felt like he didn't even watch half the videos he was critiquing. It was hard going from the #1 voted commentator to the worst in one week, haha. But that was also humbling, and I think inspired me to really work on my technical abilities, which was, and still is, my biggest weakness in commentating StarCraft. So in a way, thanks for being a dick, Chill!
You formed a commentating team with your brother, Stevethemacguy. How did that come about?MattSC: Steve has some fantastic technical analysis, and a much keener eye than I do. It felt only natural that with his technical prowess and my knack for colorful play-by-play, we would make a good commentating duo. That, and we both hate Vent lag in dual/triple commentaries. I wanted to put an end to that. This was all before we realized Moletrap was so close by to help out! That was complete luck.
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"My hope is first that I get actually chosen for the beta... I'm just excited to play through the campaign."____________________________________
: My hope is first that I get actually chosen for the beta. That would be amazing. To be honest, I'm just excited to play through the campaign. I don't ever see myself as being a really good/competitive SC player, so I'm not going to train furiously like a lot of people who think that SC2 will level the playing field against Koreans.
To wrap things up, can you answer these ten questions, stolen from "Inside the Actors Studio" on Bravo, which stole these questions from French television personality Bernard Pivot, who took the idea from Marcel Proust's "Proust Questionnaire". mhm.What is your favorite word?Lexicon.
What is your least favorite word?"sherbert" (not really a word; mispronunciation of "sherbet")
What turns you on?Attractive women who can think for themselves.
What turns you off?Dumb people.
What sound or noise do you love?"Nuclear launch detected."
What sound or noise do you hate?"Nuclear launch detected."
What is your favorite curse word?I don't curse. So I suppose "crap" will suffice.
What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?I would like to be the guy that edits trailers for movies. That seems like the friggin easiest job in the world, and quite rewarding.
What profession would you not like to do?State work.
If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear BoxeR say when you arrive at the bar?"So you're that world famous professional StarCraft 2 commentator I've heard so much about!"
Finally, any final words for the community?MattSC: Just wanted to say that there's a reason I choose to hang around SC2GG rather than other SC sites out there. You guys are all a lot of fun, and know (for the most part) when to not take things too seriously. StarCraft is a GAME, and sometimes people forget that. Games were meant to be fun, even if things can get intense at a pro level. I commentate because I have fun and enjoy it, and it's viewers like you that help make it that way. Thanks!
Thanks MattSC, and again, welcome to team! You can find Matt and Steve's commentaries at here along with their recent cast of the MSL semifinals and OSL finals on the Violetak account. That's it for this interview, thanks for reading, and later days!Past Interviews ArchiveShow/Hide Spoiler
SCSoulSeekerSample Piece:
"I've been playing StarCraft for a good year now.. probably six months on campaign/B.Net, a two month break and almost four months competitively on iccup. I'm going to say the one name that Lahv love me for..... Combat-ex. He brought me back into SC and without him, I wouldn't be here. At all. I wouldn't have dug up my brood war disk from the depths of my desk drawer. He inspired me and helped me get out of D- (100 points). So i don't hate him as much as everyone else does but i don't watch his commentaries any more."VoroshSample Piece:
"I'd always been interested in commentating, but I was never confident enough to actually put myself out there in the infinite sea of flame and hate that youtube can be. Something in Obama's inaugural address inspired me, and I decided to record my first game later that night. "DejaVuSample Piece:
In terms of commentating, I started my senior year of college just doing casual commentaries of people around school playing each other or playing students from Carnegie Melon or Rochester or other colleges in tournaments. People seemed to like it and one of my friends referred me to sc2gg, where I started doing some commentaries for the star cup earlier this year. Then, I started doing pro commentaries this April when Phrank asked me to do a dual with him and now I have been commentating for about 5 months and absolutely love it.MoletrapSample Piece:
"I grew up watching Star Trek; I'm a big sci-fi fan. I did a lot of sailing when I lived in San Diego and still like to go sailing when I have the chance. I have done a lot of random stuff in my life (acting, newspaper editor, fencing, I can ride a unicycle, some web design, college ultimate frisbee team, etc), but never really seem to do any one thing for a long time or ever get very good at anything in particular."RanshinSample Piece:
"I'm a fan of video games, anime, stand-up comedy and I like adding to my already massive porn collection. For those that wonder, yes I DO have a girlfriend and NO the porn doesn't bother her."NukeTheStarsSample Piece:
"As far as hobbies go, I've been composing electronic music for about nine years. I have the necessary skills to become a club DJ as well, but gigs are hard to set up around here (Atlanta, here I come!). Being a journalist on weekdays and a club DJ on weekends would make me feel like a freaking superhero, so I hope this dream comes true!"KennySample Piece:
"Commentator Idol for me was an amazing experience. I not only met a lot of really awesome people, but I learned a lot about myself as a commentator and I gained a lot of really loyal fans."DiggitySample Piece:
"I am almost positive I will disappear under the avalanche of new commentators. It will be nice to be an anonymous ghost in the ether for awhile. I'm glad that Blizzard has thought to include commentator tools directly into StarCraft2. I am more excited about that than the game itself."
Interview with MattSC, SC2GG's Latest Addition to the Commentating Team
Jan 21 2010, 03:18 AM
