For this totally awesome blog entry, I scored an interview with Matt Helgeson, a Senior Editor at Game Informer Magazine. He lives in my native land of Minneapolis and was kind enough to answer some questions for me:

How did you go about getting a job in video games? Is this something that you wanted your entire life or was it kind of dumb luck?

It was a combination of both. I always played a lot of games, but growing up I didn’t really think of it as something that could be a career; it seemed so far away from the small town in Minnesota where I grew up. I didn’t enjoy writing, and I ended up being a journalism major at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. Here’s where the luck comes in. I was living in a duplex with some guys and the people that lived next door played in local bands. I had always played bass growing up, but hadn’t really done anything with it. So, they introduced me to some friends of theirs that were looking for a bass player. The band was called Unbelievable Jolly Machine, and I ended up joining the band. The drummer for the band was my now-boss, Andy McNamara, who was running Game Informer. We ended up becoming friends and I asked him if I could intern at the magazine during my last year of college. I was an intern for about a year, which was pretty hard, because I was cooking in a bar and going to school full-time in addition to the interning. But, eventually, things worked out for me to get a full-time position there, and I’ve been there ever since.

I often hear that kids play “too many video games.” Do you think that kids today honestly play more video games than when we were kids? I honestly remember coming home from school and playing Nintendo EVERY NIGHT.

It’s impossible for me to say; I certainly would play all day and night as a kid. I think that games are definitely more prevalent now than they were when I was growing up, I think all kinds of kids play games now. It’s as common as watching television...when I was a kid it was definitely considered more of a “nerd thing” than it is now. Games have become mainstream entertainment.

Do you think that kids who grow up on video games have an advantage in the workforce?

I doubt it. I think that kids today are very computer and technology savvy in general and I would imagine that manifests itself in ways that are good and bad. I think games are perhaps better in some respects than just watching bad television all day, there’s always a degree of problem solving and reasoning that goes into beating a game as opposed to just sitting there and watching “Saved By The Bell” reruns or whatever people used to do.

What was your favorite video game of 2008?

LittleBigPlanet. I was a huge fan of side-scrolling platforming games like Super Mario Bros. and Sonic growing up, so it was nice to see someone make a game that harkened back to that era, but doing it in a totally fresh and really visually stunning way. Also, the ability that the game’s level creator gives to to make your own levels and create objects in the game is just amazing. Some of the things people are doing online with it is really amazing, I think it’s definitely a sign towards a future where the fans take an equal part in creating games along with the programmers.

Your favorite video game of all time?

It has to be Super Mario Bros. I had an Atari when I was very young, but that felt like more of a fad, just because the games were so primitive — and frankly, a lot of them don’t hold up very well by today’s standard. But I still remember playing Super Mario Bros. for the first time. A friend of mine got an NES for Christmas, and it just blew my doors off. The fact that the game was now a linear adventure as compared to just a single screen arcade style experience like Pac-Man was so appealing. There was so much to discover, all the little hidden warp pipes and invisible blocks.

What’s your favorite part of your job?

Writing longer feature or cover stories about a game. It’s nice to be able to give people their first view of a game that’s coming out in the future. I really like talking to developers about the work they do, to learn how they approach their jobs. It’s challenging to try to get all that into an article and make it understandable for the average reader.

What would be your advice to somebody who wanted to get a job in the video game industry?

It depends on what aspect of the industry you want to be in. There’s everything from hard programming to art to public relations and marketing, or obviously the journalism side which is what I do. For the programming side, I would say take as many computer classes as you can in high school and probably pursue a degree in computer science or programming. The great thing is that today there are a lot of PC games that are really easy to “mod,” which is basically using their code to make your own games or your own variations of their game. That’s a great way to get real-world experience without spending a lot of money. I know plenty of developers that did a great mod of a game that ended up getting hired by the company. As far as journalism or PR goes, I would say a college degree in necessary, and just taking every opportunity to write about games. There are a lot of fan sites that you can approach to write for. Often you won’t get paid but it gets your work out there. Or blogging is another great way, since there’s really no barrier to entry.

Thanks, Matt! I really appreciate your time. And for the record, my favorite video game of all time is Super Mario 2 because I like the fact that the Princess can float and I adore the warp in level 4 where you get to go to WHALE WORLD.