Reportedly, that's just a persona and he amped it up for the King of Kong film. But I definitely get where you're coming from.
In the movie extras he's seen delivering a Q-Bert machine to a excited senior citizen so she can practice for a tournament. Seemed oddly out of character from the way he was portrayed in the movie.
I don't know him personally, but he keeps showing up at video game events and clearly is enthusiastic about them.