Mary Jane Irwin

Current

• specialist at ngmoco:)
• Freelance Writer at Self Employed (Self-employed)

Past

• Technology Reporter at Forbes.com
• Contributor, Valleywag at Gawker Media
• Reporting Intern at Wired Magazine

• Editorial Intern at Business 2.0
• Web Director, Hyperlink Magazine at Medill School of Journalism
• Associate Editor, IGNcube at IGN Entertainment
• Intern at IGN Entertainment

see less...

4 more...

Education

• Northwestern University
• Trinity College-Hartford

Recommended

9 people have recommended Mary Jane

Connections

148 connections

Industry

Writing and Editing

Mary Jane Irwin’s Summary

Mary Jane has jumped the mother devouring shark! (Kids, don't try this at home -- those werewolves of the sea don't discriminate). I have abandoned my post as rapscallion of the games writing world. Now I'm the voice of an entire videogame company. Or so I'm told.

The rest of this stuff? It still applies...
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Have you not heard the tale of Mary Jane Irwin? As a young lass she bullied her way into the media world thanks to her tenacity, sheer will and wit. Mary Jane may also be able to control minds.

She clawed her way from frat house to club house, laying waste to such fine publications as IGN.com, Business 2.0, Valleywag.com, Wired magazine and Forbes.com.

But despite her upward mobility, Mary Jane could never escape her videogame-filled past. For the last six years her dreams have been plagued by mushroom men and space marines–a chilling side effect of writing about the culture, business and wares of the games industry.

Still, she plays on–hoping one day she’ll outlive the zombie horde, nuclear apocalypse, or Piñata garden.

Mary Jane does love other things too. Like bunnies. MJ (as the kids call her) also writes about business, culture, technology and the mighty Internet.

MJI also has a severe snowboarding habit.

She apparently can moderate panels too:

SD Forum: Business of New Media, Gaming the Final Frontier, Dec. 5: Conducted a Fireside chat with Bernard Stolar.
http://venturebeat.com/2008/12/07/game-industry-maverick-bernie-stolar-unplugged-and-worried-about-crappy-games/

Mary Jane Irwin’s Specialties:

She has written everything from blog posts to earnings reports. Has worked with a variety of CMS solutions. Knows HTML and CSS. And is capable of crafting digital things out of Adobe's creative suite. I flex amateur video skills.

Mary Jane Irwin’s Experience

• specialist

  ngmoco:)

  (Computer Games industry)

  May 2009 — Present (7 months)

  I'm a pimp.

• Freelance Writer

  Self Employed (Self-employed)

  (Self-Employed; Writing and Editing industry)

  August 2004 — Present (5 years 4 months)

  Work has appeared in 1UP.com, The Daily Herald (Illinois), Edge-Online.com, Electronic Gaming Monthly, GameBizBlog.com, Games for Windows, GamesIndustry.biz, Gamasutra.com, GigaOm.com, IGN.com, Kotaku.com, MINI International, MSNBC.com, Multifamily Executive, Newtype USA, Next-Gen.biz, PC Magazine, Piq magazine, Wired magazine and Wired.com.

• Technology Reporter

  Forbes.com

  (Privately Held; Online Media industry)

  March 2008 — January 2009 (11 months)

  I covered digital entertainment for the technology channel of Forbes.com. That's everything from videogames and virtual worlds to digital television and music to social networks and Web 2.0 to gizmos and gadgets. In other words, I got to write about all the fun stuff.

• Contributor, Valleywag

  Gawker Media

  (Privately Held; Online Media industry)

  August 2007 — March 2008 (8 months)

  Poured salt in the wounds of Silicon Valley.

• Reporting Intern

  Wired Magazine

  (Privately Held; Writing and Editing industry)

  January 2007 — July 2007 (7 months)

  Wrote articles for print and Web. Contributed to the game blog Game | Life. Researched editorial projects. Performed clerical duties.

• Editorial Intern

  Business 2.0

  (Public Company; Writing and Editing industry)

  September 2006 — January 2007 (5 months)

  Fact checked department and feature stories. Wrote articles for Web and print.

• Web Director, Hyperlink Magazine

  Medill School of Journalism

  (Educational Institution; 11-50 employees; Publishing industry)

  March 2006 — June 2006 (4 months)

  Part of the launch team for a multi-platform publication geared towards Web professionals. Constructed the over-arching vision of the Web platform, including site design, editorial plan, advertising and marketing strategies, and wrote and edited stories for the Web site as part of Medill’s graduate publishing project.

• Associate Editor, IGNcube

  IGN Entertainment

  (Public Company; 51-200 employees; Online Media industry)

  September 2003 — July 2004 (11 months)

  Provided daily written content for the GameCube-specific site of IGN.com, including editorials, interviews, news, previews and reviews. Covered industry events, such as the Electronic Entertainment Expo and Tokyo Game Show, and coordinated and developed coverage plans for exclusive content.

• Intern

  IGN Entertainment

  (Public Company; 51-200 employees; Online Media industry)

  May 2003 — August 2003 (4 months)

  Wrote daily news, previews and reviews for IGN channels and captured video and screenshots.

Mary Jane Irwin’s Education

• Northwestern University

  M.S. , Journalism , 2005 — 2006

• Trinity College-Hartford

  B.A. , Classics , 2001 — 2005

Additional Information

Mary Jane Irwin’s Interests:

Well, I obviously like videogames. I'm also fascinated by shiny gadgets, suffer from Apple lust, and am awaiting our Cylon overlords. I also like to travel, kayak and snowboard.

Mary Jane Irwin’s Groups:

•    Medill Alumni

Mary Jane Irwin’s Contact Settings

Interested In:

• career opportunities
• consulting offers
• job inquiries
• reference requests
• getting back in touch