VGMWatch tonight decided to spill the not-so-breaking news that Matt Casamassina, long-time editor-in-chief of the IGN Nintendo Team, is married to Edie Kissko. This is, in these times of games journalism head-scratching, a bit interesting. Kissko is the vice president of Golin Harris, which also happens to be Nintendo's PR firm.

Neither Casamassina nor Golin Harris have commented on the article, but Casamassina's long-time marriage to Kissko isn't exactly a secret. While his readers might not be aware of it, most in the journalism community and certainly the readers at Neo-Gaf are.

I don't doubt Casamassina's desire to keep his personal and work lives separate, but the problem with conflict of interest is that it's not always about the reality of the situation, but also about appearances.

Both IGN and Golin Harris were contacted for comment, neither have yet responded. We will update this post when and if they do.

IGN Editor Married to Nintendo PR Executive

Update: Golin Harris has responded:
"All GolinHarris employees who work on the Nintendo account sign and adhere to a strict confidentiality agreement."

Update 2: Matt has responded:
"While I would prefer to keep my wife and kids out of the public spotlight, the fact that Edie and I have been happily married for several years is no secret. Nintendo and IGN / FOX have been aware of our relationship since we first started dating. We're professionals. Both of us have signed strict confidentiality agreements with our respective employers and, incidentally, we leave what happens on the job at our home's front door.

The original article makes the suggestion that my marriage to Edie violates the trust of IGN's dedicated readership, but I think my body of work speaks for itself. Over the years, I have remained one of Nintendo's biggest fans and harshest critics and have also developed hundreds of reliable of sources within the industry, none of them Edie."

These aren't entry-level positions, you should have solid PR experience already, you should live in or around these cities and you should be awesome.

Please take note of all these, especially the last one. Non-awesome people need not apply. You can see a complete description of each job and it's requirements after the jump.

LA Job:
GolinHarris is a leading international public relations firm and winner of PRWeek's 2007 Editors' Choice, Large PR Agency of the Year 2007, The Holmes Report, PR Agency of the Year 2007, and numerous PRWeek Awards.

Our Los Angeles office is currently seeking an ambitious PR professional with 3-6 years of PR agency experience to join our Interactive Entertainment practice area as a Senior Account Executive within the Nintendo team, an award-winning group recently acknowledged by PRSA as "The Best PR Team" in Los Angeles, responsible for driving one of today's most successful and popular consumer brands.

This Senior Account Executive will need to quickly develop an intimate level of understanding of the account, its business, products, markets, personnel, outside influences, etc. The Senior Account Executive will perform fundamental PR tasks and serve as a day to day client contact. S/he must also have strong research, writing and editing skills, and the ability to continue developing media contacts/relationships and pitch client's top tier, non-traditional, and new media. S/he must have a solid grasp of all basic public relations' tools and how they affect the client.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES

* Manage multiple projects for Nintendo client from concept to completion on time and within budget
* Proactively generate new ideas and opportunities to ensure client program success
* Conduct and manage the flow of research
* Maintain media contacts/relationships
* Participate in client meetings and presentations as well as proposals
* Contribute to plan development processes and budget management
* Understand industry issues that directly and indirectly affect the client
* Generate creative ideas for PR programs
* Demonstrate sophisticated media pitching and tour scheduling skills
* Proof and edit client related documents as needed
* Serve as a role model to other team members and delegate work appropriately
* Assist with supervision and development of junior team members
* Supervise reports on monthly client billing process
* Contribute to program planning and account management by researching budgets, attending brainstorms, and facilitating the purchase order process
* Track/enter time with precision and on a day-to-day basis

Practice Group/Specialty Area Competencies

Video games, consumer products, consumer technology, entertainment

QUALIFICATIONS
Bachelor's Degree, 3-6 years related professional experience. Candidate must have PR agency experience, be proficient in Microsoft Suite, Internet, on-line services and new media, as well as a defined interest in the video game marketplace. Candidate should possess a complete understanding of all job tasks, an understanding of basic public relations tools, ability to develop strong working relationships with media, ability to solve problems, experience with staff supervision and budgeting, strong desire to progress in day to day responsibilities, and have a track record of consistently meeting deadlines.

We offer a great workplace, culture, competitive salary, health care (medical, dental and vision insurance), 401k and more. Please send resume (IN WORD FORMAT), with cover letter and salary requirements, via email to aweatherbee@golinharris.com

SF Job:
The San Francisco GolinHarris office is currently hiring a Senior Media Specialist or Media Manager to work on the Nintendo team.

The individual is responsible for planning, managing, implementing and measuring ongoing corporate and product media strategies and outreach for Nintendo of America. This person is a proactive thinker who develops strategic and creative pitch angles and story ideas, contributes media-savvy ideas to plans, has experience working with traditional and new media and has an excellent understanding of news, media trends and media opportunities.

The individual is responsible for developing and growing top-level media relationships and for pitching feature, trend, product and corporate stories to these outlets. This person is responsible for prepping Nintendo executives before interviews including contributing to key message development and positioning. This position also is responsible for on-site management of Nintendo executive interviews.

The individual is responsible for developing strategies for dealing with media issues and crises, giving input to media materials (statements, releases, Q&A, etc.) and managing interview requests and information distribution.

The individual plays a key role in managing the team's media outreach — training, mentoring and directing account team members' ongoing proactive outreach. In addition, this position serves as media lead on numerous programs and product launches. Media lead responsibilities include contributing media input to plans as well as planning, managing and implementing media tours. Media lead responsibilities also include managing all of the media outreach for product launch programs and trade shows (media strategy, story placement, event media coverage, interview requests, etc.).

Please submit your cover letter and resume as a Word document to westcoastjobs@cmgrp.com or apply online at the GolinHarris Web site.

GolinHarris is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

GolinHarris' Supervisor of Nintendo Editorial Services (Yes, Super NES) has an ugly little secret actually, he has a whole closet full of them.

Kevin F. Sherry is the man inside those countless ugly sweaters on increasingly famous website BadSweaterGuy.com.

Apparently long, long ago, before Kevin was the SNES, he worked at a Marshalls and couldn't resist their 15 percent discount. The end result was a closet full of ugly sweaters. Then he made the mistake of telling a webhead friend about his desire to get rid of them.

Not so long ago, my friend Kevin cleaned out his wardrobe, which, due to his pack rat nature, was crammed with clothes he hadn't worn in more than a decade. Among the discarded were 25 sweaters that can generously be described as "hideous." Or, as one critic put it, "Bill Cosby would not wear this." Kevin's defense? "I worked at Marshalls in North Olmsted, Ohio, during high school and got a 15 percent discount. It was cold. It was the late '80s." The horror, the horror.

Indeed. The 25 photo spreads lead to a giftshop, readers submitting their own ugly sweaters and a sudden bit of media attention.

BadSweaterGuy was recently named one of the top 50 websites by the Chicago Tribune and it helped land KFS a cameo in the upcoming indie film Long-Term Relationship.

And nary a Mario in sight.

BadSweaterGuy