About GamePeople

About Movie Gamer Reviews

Game Reviews
Home | Family Video Game GuidesAbout Movie Gamer Reviews

Movie Gamer - Tom

Tom Dann's Movie Gamer content:

Subscribe

Movie Gamer in your inbox:

Tom's Favourites

Tom's Twitter

Today Tom is:

As a student of Film and a fan of technology, my main area of interest is the intersection of the artistic and technological. I'm fascinated by the latest advances and what they're capable of: new ways to interact with games, new graphics to make the experience as immersive as possible, or simply the culmination of existing techniques. These concepts are unique to video games, but I'm also interested in what games borrow from films and other art forms.

My first gaming memory is of a Commodore 64, passed on to me by a neighbour. Games for that relic came on a cassette tape, of all things. I vaguely recall almost impossible to control racers, addictive platformers and a possibly racist game where you play as a kamikaze pilot.

From there I moved to the Nintendo 64 and PC. While the N64 was useful for multiplayer gaming (GoldenEye kickstarted my fondness for first-person shooters), it was the PC I fell in love with. I think it's the power that the PC gives to it's users: the ability to modify games changes the relationship between gamer and game, while also extending a games lifespan and allowing particularly savvy gamers to express their creativity.

Most importantly, over the years, I've developed an interest in gaming technology, particularly relating to the PC. No other platform grants as much scope for customisation, and I'm always keeping up to date with the latest releases to see what's becoming possible.

While fancy graphics and advanced physics have their place, I'm also interested in what narrative games borrow from the cinema and other art forms. As I studied Film at university, there are many avenues of discussion I can take, from representations of races, genders and ideologies to various elements of mise-en-scen.

Having finished my Film degree, I'm now searching for a way into the videogames industry. I've discovered a passion for writing about games as well as playing them; GamePeople allows me to write about games the way I want to write about them, rather than keeping strictly objective (impossible anyway: why bother?)

I lead a fairly typical life for a 23 year old in a recession: I can't afford things like a home or going out, so myself and my girlfriend have learned to make the most of the free and the cheap. Used games instead of new, TV series rather than the cinema, and the wonderful countryside we're blessed to live near figure heavily into our free time.

Read my reviews here.

© GamePeople 2006-13 | Contact | Huh?

Grown up gaming?

Family Video Game Age Ratings | Home | About | Radio shows | Columnists | Competitions | Contact

RSS | Email | Twitter | Facebook

With so many different perspectives it can be hard to know where to start - a little like walking into a crowded pub. Sorry about that.

But so far we've not found a way to streamline our review output - there's basically too much of it. So, rather than dilute things for newcomers we have decided to live with the hubbub while helping new readers find the columnists they will enjoy.

What sort of gamer are you?

Our columnists each focus on a particular perspective and fall into one of the following types of gamers: