Meet the ZI Staff: Paul Grzelak

My name is Paul Grzelak and I love video games.

I also play Zelda.

Alright, that’s a bit of an understatement. I grew up with Zelda, namely Ocarina of Time, and I know that’s how a lot of other people got introduced to Zelda as well, but that just so happens to be my story too. I was also bedridden with cancer for a year and a half when I was seven years old and grew up in a neighborhood with few other kids to play with, so maybe that has something to do with why I’m so fond of video games.

Did I mention I mention my cancer was cured and I have plenty of friends now? Don’t worry, this isn’t a sob story, but you might not like this next part.

I’m recently back in the warm embrace of the Nintendo ecosystem after an 11-year break from almost all things related to Nintendo. Sure, I got a Wii (who didn’t?) and used it to thoroughly enjoy Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword, but I’ve never laid hands on a Nintendo handheld beyond the GameBoy Advanced, and I somehow missed out on Minish Cap entirely.

Why did I leave Nintendo?

Well, the untimely death of my GameCube some time in 2004 lead to a timely death of my subscription to Nintendo Power, which didn’t matter too much at the time because of my rising love of blasting aliens in Halo with my brother. I was sucked into the creepy mandibles of Microsoft’s Xbox and even sank to the dark depths of Call of Duty for most of the next few years. There I remained, mostly complacent with what in retrospect was a mediocre gaming experience. Then one glorious day, His Majesty, Gabe Newell, enticed me out of the pits of console gaming with a Mac version of Steam, a free copy of Portal, and the chance to buy every Half-Life 2 game for under 10 bucks.

And so my entrance into the heavenly realm of PC gaming began! Technically I’d dabbled in PC gaming ever since I learned to enjoy (but never master) StarCraft in 2001, but it wasn’t until I discovered Steam, acquired a powerful iMac, and learned how to run Windows 7 through Bootcamp that the world of PC gaming really opened up for me. After somewhere north of 300 hours adventuring in Skyrim, 185 hours crafting and digging in Terraria, well beyond 250 hours kicking ass with the 666th Devil Dogs in PlanetSide 2, and countless other PC games under my belt, I think I can fairly call myself a seasoned PC gamer much more than an avid Nintendo fan.

I also got a PlayStation 3 in 2013. For those of you who don’t know about Sony’s console offering, aside from Journey, The Last of Us, inFamous and some assorted JRPGs, you’re not missing out on much. Sorry, Sony.

Why am I volunteering for Zelda Informer?

Because even sites like this one need to have their articles checked for proper grammar, and copy editing was one of the many skills I learned at Western Washington University while majoring in journalism and minoring in anthropology before I graduated in August around the time of my 25th birthday.

And because, as I said before, I also play Zelda.

I love Zelda. I love this website. I’m deeply thankful to one of my close friends (a lurker on this website who knows who he is) for tipping me off to the fact that Zelda Informer was hiring back in November, and I’ve been happy here ever since.

And like I said earlier, I’m back from my 11-year break from Nintendo now that I’m the proud owner of a Wii U and am re-playing old Zelda games with renewed enthusiasm. Hopefully when Zelda U comes out I’ll have a new Zelda game to enjoy, and that’ll be exciting!

Anyway, that’s me and my background in gaming. I’m happy to be where I am today, and I look forward to serving you as readers with news posts, articles by other writers free of typos, and feature stories that challenge you to think differently.