Few people can say Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time changed his or her life. Kyle Hilliard ’09 is one of them. The communication major wanted to write about video games from the time he played the Legend of Zelda as a middle school student, and now he’s doing just that as an Associate Editor at Game Informer Magazine in Minneapolis, Minn.
And yes, sometimes that means he plays video games at work all day.
Q: What do you do as an editor at Game Informer?
L-R: Tecmo Koei game makers Hisashi Koinuma and Yasuke Hayashi with Hilliard and Legend of Zelda series director Eiji Aonuma.
A: Being an editor at Game Informer means you do a little bit of everything. I’ll write reviews of games, previews for games that aren’t out yet, I’ll attend shows and write about them and then I write video game news for the website. I also do interviews and some video editing. And that’s pretty common for all the editors, we don’t have one specific focus.
Q: Do you come up with ideas for the articles you write, or are they assigned to you?
A: That depends. Sometimes we have previews and reviews for games that are coming out or have just been released, and those are assigned. I will also come up with ideas for feature articles, which is a more open-ended type of story, and I’ll pitch it to the other editors.
RELATED: Check out some of Hilliards Game Informer articles here and here
Q: Do you have a specific area of interest within the video game industry?
A: As far as the games I like to cover, there are certain genres that I like to focus on. For example, I’m one of the bigger Nintendo fans in the office so I like to cover Nintendo stuff and I take every opportunity I can to play and write about Nintendo games. But I don’t have a specific ‘beat’ I’ll go after because we’re not like a normal news organization – we’re already very specialized.
Q: What is a typical day like, if there is one?
A scene from the Game Informer Magazine headquarters
A: There really isn’t. We’re trying to finish up the next issue right now, so today I did a lot of reading and proofing and editing. But some days I might have interviews to conduct, other days we’ll be doing video stuff – filming editos playing video games or speaking with editors about games.
It’s rare, but there are days when I just sit and play a video game all day. That’s not as common as I’d like. This time of year, October through November, is when a lot of video games are coming out so if you walk through our office pretty much every editor is at their desk trying to finish a video game so they can write a review for it.
Q: What do you consider when you review a game?
A: It depends on the game – you just have to experience the game in its entirety. Sometimes that means you’re playing online with other people, sometimes, if it’s a story-driven game, you’re trying to complete the story. If it’s a shooter then you’re analyzing the accuracy and visuals when you’re shooting, for example, but if it’s a party game like Mario Party then you’re writing about how much fun it is to play with a group of people. You just have to experience the game fully then you share your opinion about whether it’s worth players’ time.
Q: What are your favorite video games?
A: My favorite is Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for N64. It’s my favorite video game of all time and it’s the reason I wanted to hyper-analyze video games for a living. That game is what set me on the path to what I do for a living.
I also like Limbo, which is a game by a studio called Playdead, and Portal and Portal 2 from a studio called Valve. I like Valve’s games a lot. The rest of the list is changing all the time.
Q: What new video games should we look out for?
A: Like I mentioned, I like Nintendo a lot and there’s a Nintendo game called Super Smash Bros. coming out that I’m really excited about.
Other than that, I’m not even a big Lord of the Rings fan, but there’s a new Lord of the Rings, Middle-earth Shadow of Mordor game, that just came out that’s really good. There’s also a Halo 2 remake coming soon – I’m really into the Halo series. Those are just a couple I’m looking forward to.
Q: What is your office environment like?
A: It’s really casual. I feel like I’m friends with everyone I work with because we all have an unhealthy obsession with video games. We immediately have that in common. We don’t have cubicles or anything; all our desks are in the same common area. Because we review video games it’s important that we talk a lot and share our opinions about different games.
Working here is a lot of fun. It’s my dream job. I know some people say that about their jobs, but I literally had dreams about working in a video game editorial office before getting the job.
Q: Where do people play and review games?
A: People typically play games they’re reviewing or previewing at their desk. Everybody’s desk has their computer and then they also have a gigantic TV where they play games. We also have a conference room people can go in to play games if it’s a multi-player game. In some cases, for bigger games, people will also just stay home and play a game their working on to avoid distractions. But for the most part everyone plays at his or her desk.
Q: Where is the office?
A: We’re in Minneapolis, Minnesota. My wife and I relocated to Minneapolis when I got this job. People are always surprised that we’re in Minneapolis; they think we are a branch of Game Informer but the whole magazine is based in Minneapolis. I’ve been here for about three years and I haven’t been able to explore the city as much as I’d like to but so far I like it a lot.
Q: How did you find out about this job?
A: I heard about it on Twitter actually. I had followed all the editors as a fan of the magazine and the editor in chief tweeted that they were hiring so that’s how I knew to apply. Before I got this job I was kind of a ‘web guy,’ I helped to get print content for a bunch of newspapers in the Charleston area online.
RELATED: Follow Kyle on Twitter
Q: How do you think the College helped you prepare for this job?
Hilliard and his parents at his spring 2009 graduation.
A: I was a business major for a few years but I realized that I was majoring in business because I wasn’t sure what else I would do. My wife, who was then my girlfriend, asked me why I was a business major and I realized I couldn’t give her a real answer. That got me thinking about what I did want to do. I wanted to write about video games. So I switched to communication with that in mind.
The College of Charleston had courses, like feature writing and other in-depth writing courses, that helped me hone my writing skills a lot. Many of my assignments in those writing courses were pretty open ended, so I would always try to include video games where I could. I feel like the College gave me a lot of opportunities to practice writing, and that was helpful because that’s the bulk of what I do in my job.
Q: What advice would you offer current students who are interested in magazine writing?
A: Well, go to class. Be present. You’re only in college for a few years, and at times it may seem like you’ll be in classes forever but that’s not the case. Enjoy it while you can.
I get a lot of emails from people who say they want to do what I do, and I tell them to practice as much as possible. I wrote for free for a long time. I would email the contact person on any video games blog that had an email address listed and I would ask if I could write for them for free. That gave me the real-world practice I really needed, and I was able to amass a huge collection of writing samples to show off when when I applied for the Game Informer job.
