Joystiq blogger bio: Alexander Sliwinski

by Alexander Sliwinski @Sliwinski on Sep 18th 2006 12:00PM

I graduated from Hofstra University on Long Island, NY with a degree in broadcast journalism. My game writing has mostly focused on GLBT issues and angles within the industry. Media and the law have always been two things I've been interested in and pay attention to -- along with a bizarre ability to sponge up pop culture.

First game experience: I vividly remember Hunt the Wampus because of the ominous music that would play when the Wampus would eat the player. A lot of Texas Instrument games like The Chisholm Trail and Parsec.
Games that changed me: Super Mario Bros., I still remember the first time I played it, and hating the kid I played it with. Civilization taught me history and its possibilities better than any school education ever did. Starcraft was my first online competitive experience. Goldeneye 007 brought me back to console gaming. World of Warcraft had me join a fantastic guild with a lot great people that I would have never met any other way.
Potential sources of bias and conflicts of interests: I've never worked for a game company and never worked for another gaming publication. I'm pretty virginal when it comes to the darker side of the industry. The only conflict of interest I have is a penchant for brutal honesty and a devotion to getting to the truth of things, which is a conflict in having a sustainable paying career in video game journalism at the moment.
Why I'm blogging about games: As I watch newspapers cut staff, television news create a new vision for tabloid journalism and radio become the bastion of those that trammel progress -- gaming journalism in blog format seems as respectable as anything else. I also think this is the beginning of the natural transition for video games to become part of the cultural mainstream.