Larry Hryb

Infobox Person
name = Larry Hryb


caption = Larry Hryb's press shot
birth_date =
birth_place =
death_date =
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other_names = Major Nelson
known_for = Host of "Major Nelson Radio" podcast
occupation = Director of Programming for Xbox Live
nationality =
website = http://www.majornelson.com/

Larry Hryb (pronounced Herb), known by the pseudonym Major Nelson, is the Director of Programming for Xbox Live, the Microsoft gaming network with over 12 million members as of May 14 2008, [cite web |url=http://www.xbox.com/en-US/community/news/2008/0514-10million.htm |title=Xbox 360 First to Reach Ten Million Console Sales in U.S. |publisher=Microsoft |date=2008-05-14 |accessdate=2008-05-26] a position he has held from 2004 to present. 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. [cite web |url=http://majornelson.com/archive/2008/05/25/show-280-xna-drm-and-more.aspx |title=Show #280: XNA, DRM and more |author=Hryb, Larry |publisher=Majornelson.com |date=2008-05-25 |accessdate=2008-05-29] Prior to taking the position at Microsoft, he was a former programmer with radio broadcaster Clear Channel Communications. [cite web |url = http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSN0265215120080103?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0&sp=true |title = "Major Nelson" emerges as face of Xbox |accessdate = 2008-05-18 |author = Hillis, Scott |date = 2008-01-03 |publisher = Reuters ] Hryb graduated from Syracuse University in 1989.

Podcast

Hryb is most known for his popular weekly podcast "Major Nelson Radio". Direct from inside the Microsoft Xbox team, Hryb and regular co-host Eric Neustadter (known as "e") discuss Xbox, Xbox Live, Xbox 360, gaming, technology, other next generation consoles (including the PlayStation 3, and Wii), and much more in his podcast. [Podcast description on iTunes Music Store] 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. In addition to the above content, regular features of the podcast include "Xbox 101" (a segment devoted to interesting and sometimes underutilized features on the Xbox 360 or Xbox Live) and the after show (an easter egg where Hryb talks about random topics).

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'.cite web |url = http://majornelson.com/archive/2006/11/09/100k-comments.aspx?sidebar=1&PageIndex=5 |title = Now serving over 100,000 comments |accessdate = 2008-05-18 |author = Hryb, Larry |date = 2006-11-09 |publisher = Majornelson.com ] Major Nelson was interviewed on the Video Game Outsiders Podcast (show #50), where he said the following: "About a year and a half ago, I started numbering my shows at 100...it makes it sound cooler, bigger numbers are always better."On a recent podcast, Major Nelson made a comment about his podcasts specifically stating "My podcasts have a long tail". Major Nelson and his co-host Eric Neustadter regularly jest about each others gamerscore and gaming habits.

Other media

*In addition to his podcast, Hryb hosts a weekly one-minute segment called [http://www.xbox.com/en-US/community/insidexbox/video/majorsminute/default.htm Major's Minute] . *On Xbox Live or the Xbox website, Major's Minute has a recap of new content and news related to Xbox Live Marketplace. This segment is released on Thursdays. [cite web |url = http://www.xbox.com/en-US/community/insidexbox/video/majorsminute/default.htm |title = Inside Xbox - Major's Minute |accessdate = 2008-05-18 |publisher = Microsoft ]
*Hryb also is a regular on the Sirius Satellite Radio program [http://www.sirius.com/maximradio Level Up] designed for the casual video gamer.

Personal

*Hryb enjoys photography, the Xbox 360 as well as the Nintendo DS, and is a keen advocate of nearly all technological gadgets. In 2006, Hryb was voted one of "Top 25 People of the Year" in video gaming. [cite web |url = http://www.next-gen.biz/index2.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4395&Itemid=36&pop=1&page=0 |title = Next-Gen's Top 25 People of the Year |accessdate = 2008-05-18 |author = Campbell, Colin |date = 2006-12-13 |publisher = "Next Generation Magazine" ]
*One can follow the games he is playing on his Xbox 360 on his 360voice blog.

References

External links

* [http://www.majornelson.com/ Major Nelson's official blog]
* [http://www.twitter.com/majornelson Major Nelson] on Twitter
* [http://www.360voice.com/blog.asp?tag=Major%20Nelson Major Nelson's 360voice.com blog]
* [http://www.xbox.com/en-US/community/insidexbox/video/majorsminute/default.htm Major's Minute]