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Irregular News for 10.09.06
Orlando, FL -- Tsquared arrives at the tournament looking like he's stepped out of a hip-hop video: large sunglasses, cap on backward, shorts past his knees, Jordan jacket unzipped a quarter of the way down, goatee beautifully symmetrical, not a single piece of lint clinging to him anywhere. Everything looks like it just came off the rack at the mall.
Some of the other video gamers — fans and fellow players — approach and ask for his autograph at Orlando's Wyndham Resort. Others get him to pose for cellphone pictures. Many are too nervous to talk to him.
Tom Taylor, 18, has gaming contracts, product endorsements and a video game tutoring business.
Tom Taylor has been profiled in The Wall Street Journal and numerous magazines. He topped Stuff's 'Power List' of young trendsetters.
Tom Taylor lives upstairs in his mother's townhouse. One of his bedroom's two TVs is set up strictly to record the games he plays.
He's one of the best among them, a success story whose career choice sounds like the punch line of a joke: Tsquared is a professional video game player.
The 18-year-old high school dropout from Jupiter whose real name is Tom Taylor has managed to turn himself into a small but lucrative franchise, easily earning six figures through gaming contracts, product endorsements and a successful video game tutoring business.
And all the while proving thousands of parents wrong: You can get paid to play video games.
He's one of about 100 professional gamers associated with Major League Gaming, a video gaming league founded in 2002. When they're playing well, pros might bring home a few grand a month.
At the Orlando stop in August, about 1,500 young men (good luck spotting a female or a guy older than 30) ascended their basement stairs and headed to Florida for a shot at the $12,000 grand prize. The featured game: "Halo 2," a "first-person shooter" game with a cult-like following. (Object: Form a four-man army with three other players and take on other teams in virtual war; the team with the most kills wins.)
Among them, Tsquared's "Halo 2" skills are legendary.
When he plays, fans crowd behind him. Cordoned off behind a rope, the ones in the back rise on their toes, looking past his well-groomed head at the screen where he plays.
In every direction, televisions stretch out — 176 of them lined up in careful rows. And everywhere, gamers are bent forward, noses just feet from their screens.
Some treat Taylor like a celebrity; others think he gets undue credit.
They all, though, want to kill him in "Halo 2."
more here
Orlando, FL -- Tsquared arrives at the tournament looking like he's stepped out of a hip-hop video: large sunglasses, cap on backward, shorts past his knees, Jordan jacket unzipped a quarter of the way down, goatee beautifully symmetrical, not a single piece of lint clinging to him anywhere. Everything looks like it just came off the rack at the mall.
Some of the other video gamers — fans and fellow players — approach and ask for his autograph at Orlando's Wyndham Resort. Others get him to pose for cellphone pictures. Many are too nervous to talk to him.
Tom Taylor, 18, has gaming contracts, product endorsements and a video game tutoring business.
Tom Taylor has been profiled in The Wall Street Journal and numerous magazines. He topped Stuff's 'Power List' of young trendsetters.
Tom Taylor lives upstairs in his mother's townhouse. One of his bedroom's two TVs is set up strictly to record the games he plays.
He's one of the best among them, a success story whose career choice sounds like the punch line of a joke: Tsquared is a professional video game player.
The 18-year-old high school dropout from Jupiter whose real name is Tom Taylor has managed to turn himself into a small but lucrative franchise, easily earning six figures through gaming contracts, product endorsements and a successful video game tutoring business.
And all the while proving thousands of parents wrong: You can get paid to play video games.
He's one of about 100 professional gamers associated with Major League Gaming, a video gaming league founded in 2002. When they're playing well, pros might bring home a few grand a month.
At the Orlando stop in August, about 1,500 young men (good luck spotting a female or a guy older than 30) ascended their basement stairs and headed to Florida for a shot at the $12,000 grand prize. The featured game: "Halo 2," a "first-person shooter" game with a cult-like following. (Object: Form a four-man army with three other players and take on other teams in virtual war; the team with the most kills wins.)
Among them, Tsquared's "Halo 2" skills are legendary.
When he plays, fans crowd behind him. Cordoned off behind a rope, the ones in the back rise on their toes, looking past his well-groomed head at the screen where he plays.
In every direction, televisions stretch out — 176 of them lined up in careful rows. And everywhere, gamers are bent forward, noses just feet from their screens.
Some treat Taylor like a celebrity; others think he gets undue credit.
They all, though, want to kill him in "Halo 2."
more here
