Matthew Hawkins hails from the Pacific Northwest, where he was raised on a steady diet of Transformers, Marvel comics, classic Warner Bros and Disney cartoons, Nintendo, and Canadian sketch comedy. Matt also developed a talent for drawing robots and hot dogs, hence the decision to study art in New York City.
Matt attended the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan where he majored in cartooning, with a concentration on comic strips and children's books. He also studied film, and even produced several shorts before graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1999.
Shortly after school, Matt first became involved in video games when he was hired by Ubi Soft, one of the biggest names in the industry. As Ubi Soft New York's head game designer, Matt designed, developed, and consulted on several titles for major gaming consoles and the internet, as well as conducted research into the future of gaming technology and trends.
After Ubi Soft closed its New York studio, Matt began developing games independently, initially focusing on the web. In 2002, Matt also became involved with the mobile space when he co-founded PixelJump, a firm dedicated to creating content for cell phones. There he both designed original games, as well as titles based upon film and television IPs from Paramount, Warner Bros, and Miramax. After four years, Matt left PixelJump to return to web based game development, as well as to focus on other projects.
Also in 2002, Matt became involved with journalism, with video games being the primary focus, starting with Nickelodeon Magazine, as both writer and interviewer. Since then, Matt has contributed tonumerous print and online publications, including GMR, insert credit, Gamasutra, 1-UP MegaZine, GameSetWatch, and even the Internet Archive's video game section. Along the way, Matt has even begun to write about the other non-game related things he's into, such as Hong Kong cinema for Inside Kung-Fu, the world of funny books for Comic Book Resources, and was even a cell phone blogger for Zedge.
Plus in 2004, Matt began teaching game design at his alma mater, SVA. The class, as well as his heavy involvement with the New York chapter of the International Game Developers Association, are all part of his concerted efforts to help foster a stronger game development community in the New York City Area.
These days Matt does pretty much a bit of everything: he's still coming up with wacky ideas for games (SPREADY BEAR, which he's been working on independantly for almost forever now, should hopefully see completion by the end of '08... again, hopefully), and in addition to being a regular contributor to Nick Mag, Matt also has a regular column over at GameSetWatch in which he reviews obscure or misunderstood video game related cinema. Plus, he's still involved with the world of comic books via UNLUCKY, a collection of stories based on real events from his life and illustrated by a variety of comic book talents, which was recently given a honorable mention in The Best American Comics 2007! Other random odds and ends include becoming an online personality for the Weekly World News, working on a series of television scripts that he really can't talk about, at least here (sorry!), and doing some public speaking; for years Matt's been a staple at ICON, the Northeast's biggest fantasy/science fiction/science fact convention, even going so far as to become involved with the behind the scenes, and most recently spoke at the New York Comic Con!
Though for the most part, Matt's always busy with his somewhat popular blog where he talks about, among many other things, video games, living in the Big Apple, and internet LOL. And he even has a small but very awesome message board, with a podcast on the way!
Currently, Matt resides in Manhattan and spends much of his time either playing extremely obscure video games (such asmine cart racing/sandwich making/dating simulators), hunting down wacky Japanese television shows (like ones starring disaffected, talking mannequins), scoping out small press comics (mostly via his many trips to Rocketship), hanging out at Japanese bars till 3 on the weekends (getting drunk and eating kimchee), or going to Coney Island for the Cyclone, the freak show, and a quick game of Ms. Pac Man (while they're still there).
And when he has the time, Matt still enjoys drawing robots and hot dogs.