Randy "N0M4D" Fitzgerald (Born May 22, 1979), is a world renowned professional video game player, and game designer who has shocked the world by his unique and amazing ability to perform at live video game events. Randy was born with Arthrogryposis

Arthrogryposis

Arthrogryposis, also known as Arthrogryposis Multiplex Congenita, is a rare congenital disorder that is characterized by multiple joint contractures and can include muscle weakness and fibrosis. It is a non-progressive disease...

, (an extremely rare non-genetic birth defect, that causes under-developed muscles and frozen joints in the arms and legs). Therefore, Randy accomplishes the task of gaming by operating the modded controller created by Evil Controllers

Evil Controllers

Evil Controllers is a Tempe, Arizona based company that modifies Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 controllers. Notable for their rapid fire, fast reload, evil sticks, and accessible gaming modifications, Evil Controllers sells a variety of different customizations. They also specialize in evil imaging...

, using only his lips and chin.

Early life

Randy began gaming at the early age of just 3 years old. His father frequented the local bowling alley with his friends, and brought Randy along often. Inside this bowling alley was an arcade room with some of the most popular games to date, such as: Space Invaders

Space Invaders

is an arcade video game designed by Tomohiro Nishikado, and released in 1978. It was originally manufactured and sold by Taito in Japan, and was later licensed for production in the United States by the Midway division of Bally. Space Invaders is one of the earliest shooting games and the aim is to...

, Donkey Kong Jr., and Dig Dug

Dig Dug

is an arcade game developed and published by Namco in Japan in 1982 for Namco Galaga hardware. It was later published outside of Japan by Atari. A popular game based on a simple concept, it was also released as a video game on many consoles.-Objective:...

. None caught the attention to Randy more than the Pac-Man

Pac-Man

is an arcade game developed by Namco and licensed for distribution in the United States by Midway, first released in Japan on May 22, 1980. Immensely popular from its original release to the present day, Pac-Man is considered one of the classics of the medium, virtually synonymous with video games,...

 game cabinet. With Randy's disorder, this quickly arose a problem of how he would be able to play the game. Then came a solution, Randy's dad would pull a pinball machine in front of the Pac-Man game cabinet, take Randy out of his wheelchair, and put him on his stomach on the pinball machine and put a quarter into the game and Randy would move the joystick with his chin. It wasn't long after this Randy was setting high scores on the machine, and at an impressive rate also. Soon after this, the bowling alley held a local Pac-Man tournament and among all the competition, Randy came out at an incredible 2nd place finish.

Soon after, Randy took on his playing skills through console games, everything, starting from Atari

Atari

Atari is a corporate and brand name owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by Atari Interactive, a wholly owned subsidiary of the French publisher Atari, SA . The original Atari, Inc. was founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. It was a pioneer in...

 to now playing Xbox 360

Xbox 360

The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...

. With the pleasure of home gaming, also came the frustration of how to handle each generation's new game controllers and there many newly added buttons. Many of these problems, Randy has solved simply by, turning the controller's clockwise 45°, to completely upside down, and now having them personally customized.

Turning Pro

Randy was discovered in 2006, at the Electronic Entertainment Expo(E3), during the Microsoft after-party by all female pro-gaming team, the PMS Clan. They recruited Randy to join their male counter-part clan, H2O.

Randy's first big gaming appearance came in 2007, at the highly recognized Major League Gaming

Major League Gaming

Major League Gaming , founded in 2002 by Sundance DiGiovanni and Mike Sepso, is a North American professional Electronic sports organization, headquartered in New York City, New York. MLG has held official video game tournaments throughout the United States and Canada. Major League Gaming...

 event tournament in Charlotte, North Carolina. Randy & his teammates participated in the Xbox 360 division of Rainbow Six: Vegas. Quickly dominating through their first day of competition, they made it to the 2nd day & semi-finals. This accomplishment gave them their recognized status as "Pro". Along with this highly publicized event, and an eventual cover story on Randy by Fox News, N0M4D, started becoming a recognized player among a large portion of the video game community.

Relations With Infinity Ward

The same year that Randy was recruited to H20, Microsoft also recruited Randy to write blogs and bring E3 live to the Xbox Community.

Making friends at the event, Robert Bowling, Creative Strategist at Infinity Ward

Infinity Ward

Infinity Ward is an American video game developer. Infinity Ward is responsible for the development of the video game Call of Duty and four other installments in the Call of Duty franchise....

, invited Randy to play the Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare beta. Randy fell in love with the game right away, however, he was having a difficult time with the in-game controller options. Randy was hoping for an option that would allow him to toggle aim, bringing up the iron sight of his gun with only pressing the button, instead of having to hold it.

Randy wrote an inspiring letter on the Call of Duty

Call of Duty

Call of Duty is a first-person shooter video game developed by Infinity Ward and published by Activision in 2003. It is the first game in a series with the same name. The game simulates the infantry and combined arms warfare of World War II. The game is based on the Quake III: Team Arena engine...

 message boards, asking if there was a way they could add that into the options. Over 25,000 fellow gamers responded. Infinity Ward quickly responded with a patch, adding a new button layout titled, "N0M4D" in Randy's honor. This layout is identical to the "Tactical" layout, except it has toggle aim.

Treyarch

Treyarch

Treyarch is an American video game developer company, founded in 1996 by Peter Akemann and Doğan Köslü , and acquired by Activision in 2001...

, the other developer of the Call of Duty franchise, has since released World at War

World at War

World at War can refer to:* The World at War, a British television series documenting World War II* Call of Duty: World at War, a first-person shooter developed by Treyarch* A World At War, a WWII-themed board wargame by GMT Games...

 and also, Black Ops, already having the "N0M4D" button layout in the game. It has been confirmed it will also be in the upcoming game, Modern Warfare 3, officially making Randy, "N0M4D", a permanent place in the Call of Duty legacy.

Recently

Today, Randy enjoys his time working on several projects. Some of these projects include: Starting his own game studio, traveling the country to make game developers more aware of disabled gamers, and working closely with the guys at Infinity Ward and Sledge Hammer Games.

Eurogamer, Disabled and Hardcore - Article, June 13, 2011

Eurogamer interviews disabled pro gamer N0M4D.

Facebook Fan Page, Nomad, June 13, 2011

Randy "N0M4D" Fitzgerald's Facebook Fan Page.

Fox Interview, N0M4D Fox Interview, June 13, 2011

Randy "N0M4D" Fitzgerald's Fox interview abour '07 MLG.

Evil Controller Interview, N0M4D Represent's Evil Controllers, June 13, 2011

Randy "N0M4D" Fitzgerald's controller and playing details.

YouTube Profile, N0M4D's YouTube Profile, June 13, 2011

Randy "N0M4D" Fitzgerald's official YouTube Channel.