In the world of professional game blogging, the people are represented by two separate, yet equally important groups: the bloggers who investigate the stories and readers who make silly comments. These are the first group's stories.
- Name: James Ransom-Wiley
- Job Position: Senior Editor / 3,434 posts and counting...
- Past Experience/Education: Joystiq plucked me fresh from the "outside" in July 2004. I did manage a BA in Sociology from Wesleyan University a year before that.
- Life Outside of the 'Stiq: Is a mostly quiet, mostly Hispanic, quickly gentrifying neighborhood in Brooklyn. (Call it "East Williamsburg," or just plain Bushwick.) Lex and I share an Astroturf'd yard set away from the street between buildings, where she really got her flower pots going this spring and on warm evenings we dine at Brittany Perez's just-painted baby blue (from pink) picnic table. On late nights back from the city we hit up the best sandwich place no one's heard of: T&A Deli. There, Alex greets us with, "Goodmornin! The usual, baby?"
- Why I'm blogging: I needed to supplement my income, so I responded to a Craigslist ad for a part-time writing position on a developing video game blog. I submitted three samples in the style of a site I'd never heard of: "Engadget." Five weeks later I got a response. I was hired and began blogging for Joystiq alongside the then only contributor, Ben Zackheim. Coming up on four years later, Joystiq has grown far, far (far!) beyond my naive expectations and completely sucked me up with it.
- First Game Experience: Big bro's ColecoVision. I remember Tarzan, mashing the 5-key to set off the monkey-man's signature cry; and thrashing the mini-wheel on the mammoth alternate controller to flicker around the bases in Super Action Baseball; and helping my color-blind brother figure out which blocks he'd changed in Q*bert. Plus: River Raid, Time Pilot, Smurf: Rescue in Gargamel's Castle, Cosmic Avenger, Donkey Kong, Venture, Zaxxon, Front Line, Looping, Mouse Trap -- yeah, they got me hooked young...
- Favorite Games: Contrary to what GTA IV reviewers will tell you, there still isn't anything quite as "perfect" as Castlevania: Symphony of the Night -- but I'm gonna go with five close to my heart: The Legend of Zelda, Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!, Ninja Gaiden (NES), F-Zero, and Halo ... and five shoutouts to: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Arcade Game, Tecmo Super Bowl, Gitaroo Man, Pac-Man C.E., and Shufflepuck Café.
- Stick or Automatic? Stick.
There's
more to come every Tuesday and Thursday.
_thumbnail.jpg "i am 8-bit: 2008")
(Page 1) Reader Comments
That's one helluvan achievement
Also: F-Zero rocks, i agree.
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*Ahem.
Gentlemen.
Yes I'm aming for the OVER NINE THOUSAND mark.
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Damn straight.
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It's noisy cause of all the Boar's Head trucks. And the motorcycles. And the drunks....
And yes Symphony of the Night is a classic I'm re-playing it on Xbox Live and PSP at the same time. Also F-Zero and Zelda:Lttp(even if you did't mention specifics)I can definitely agree with you as well.
Nice post James!
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You are the community manager, sort of. Slash fire starter log.
...Great, now I want a glass of Fernando milk.
!?
o-0 dude I think I'm going to be sick today.
Just sayin'
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Do you guys get to work from home? Or are you guys forced to/go to an office?
I'm curious, as its an internet weblog is all...
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How much do you guys get paid?
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Otherwise, its pro bono :P
Summa wasn't fired a few years back, AOL just couldn't afford to keep him any longer.
So, I would win like 500k per year, right?
I know these are totally inappropriate, but its the internet.
I used to write for a small monthly and I got like $60 per article, which was about three times longer than an average post. No expenses. It was a labor of love.
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I thought of getting one, but people told me you get tennis elbow from the stop and go around here.
I love stick though. Its like gaming with all fours.
greats = greets?
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greats = greets?
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