Meet the Team: James Ransom-Wiley

by Ross Miller { Jun 10th 2008 at 7:00PM }

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: Managing Editor / 3,750 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.

Tags: james-ransom-wiley, meet-the-team, meet-the-team-08

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Mr Khan @ Jun 10th 2008 7:14PM

You have almost as many posts as i do comments (well, on this site alone anyway)

That's one helluvan achievement

Also: F-Zero rocks, i agree.

Ross Miller @ Jun 10th 2008 8:05PM

Psh, 3434 posts? Cool number, but call me when you get to the 3500 Club

Mr.ESC @ Jun 11th 2008 12:23AM

"Call me when you get to the 3500 Club".

*Ahem.

Gentlemen.

Yes I'm aming for the OVER NINE THOUSAND mark.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

Damn straight.

Untouchable4rc @ Jun 10th 2008 7:15PM

Bushwick...you don't say...I'm comin' over for dinner whether you like it or not James! BTW why is it so damn noisy in bushwick?

Yossarian @ Jun 10th 2008 7:29PM

Wow. Neighbors. Corner of Segal and Bogart myself.

It's noisy cause of all the Boar's Head trucks. And the motorcycles. And the drunks....

Untouchable4rc @ Jun 10th 2008 7:52PM

Wow I'm really close to you Yossarian. I'm at Menahan and Central

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.

teenagertc @ Jun 10th 2008 10:36PM

Brooklyn is in the house on Joystiq?? Awesome!! I'm not in Bushwick, but I'm a B52 bus ride away in the neighborhood of Clinton Hill!!!

Nice post James!

Korova Pyro aspect @ Jun 11th 2008 6:22AM

I am coming over for dinner too. I am in manhattan, but subway is only $2, so I can BYOB - maybe a nice Belgian ale?

Fernando Rocker @ Jun 10th 2008 7:33PM

I want to work in Joystiq =(

Scott @ Jun 10th 2008 7:39PM

You'd be perfect for gaining a lot of activity here actually

Korova Pyro aspect @ Jun 11th 2008 6:24AM

Fernando, sometimes it feels like you already do, so you probably should.

You are the community manager, sort of. Slash fire starter log.

Justin McElroy @ Jun 11th 2008 8:25AM

Why should we buy the Fernando cow when we're getting the Fernando milk for free?

...Great, now I want a glass of Fernando milk.

Mr.ESC @ Jun 11th 2008 12:02PM

"Great, now I want a glass of Fernando milk".

!?
o-0 dude I think I'm going to be sick today.

WiiFTW @ Jun 10th 2008 7:37PM

I'm still waiting on TF2-style Meet the Team videos complete with James Ransom-Wiley eating sandwiches.

Just sayin'

Scott @ Jun 10th 2008 7:41PM

Nice games list.

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...

Xav de Matos @ Jun 10th 2008 7:52PM

We literally roll out of our own beds and begin to blog.

Ross Miller @ Jun 10th 2008 8:02PM

Some of us don't even roll out of bed ... ;)

LaughingTarget @ Jun 10th 2008 8:42PM

TMFI

MarMar @ Jun 10th 2008 7:45PM

i love writing and studied it in college, but i could never do it as a job... its like shitting on your bed.

Korova Pyro aspect @ Jun 11th 2008 6:26AM

?!?!?!?!! How?

Jhongerkong @ Jun 10th 2008 7:46PM

Honest question (even though I might not get an answer):

How much do you guys get paid?

Xav de Matos @ Jun 10th 2008 7:52PM

Paid?!

Fernando Rocker @ Jun 10th 2008 7:54PM

I always wanted to know that. Can you give us an estimated?

Mr Khan @ Jun 10th 2008 7:58PM

Ludwig gets paid per pun, and everyone gets a chance at rigging those joyswag contests so that a comment they leave (under an alias) wins

Otherwise, its pro bono :P

Scott @ Jun 10th 2008 8:01PM

Wow, Ludwig's on a 120k per year job then?

ComradeTrotskii @ Jun 10th 2008 9:36PM

AOL has a complex formula for paying their writers based on length and intensity of any flame war that breaks out in the comments of one of their posts.

Summa wasn't fired a few years back, AOL just couldn't afford to keep him any longer.

Fernando Rocker @ Jun 10th 2008 9:50PM

Comrade

So, I would win like 500k per year, right?

Korova Pyro aspect @ Jun 11th 2008 6:30AM

Are you guys stringers? Do you get benefits?

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.

Zoot Suit Jedi @ Jun 10th 2008 7:51PM

Gilbert Gottfried as Master Chief? Awesome.

BPM [MKWii: 2578 3585 8392] @ Jun 10th 2008 9:13PM

It's Shwick. Just Shwick. From Bushwick, you can call that Bushwick. But just call me Shwick.

kaly @ Jun 10th 2008 11:02PM

what a joke! someone just PSed his pictures to hot ones and then uploaded to the famous dating site~(((((~ sugardaddyconnect . c o m ~)))))~, a site for interracial romance, interracial relationship... so he is said to seek an extramarital relationship with a white model there! lol

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