Tom Russo
Tom will give a Keynote Address entitled: Videogames: Entertainment's ongoing revolution, and how to take part in
it.
For 16 years, Tom Russo has served on the front lines of videogame journalism. His career started in 1995, as editor for GamePro magazine reviewing Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo games. During the transition from cartridge 16-bit consoles to the revolutionary disc-based 32-bit system (including the first Sony PlayStation), Tom joined the staff of the ground-breaking publication, Next Generation, where for six years (the last two as editor-in-chief) he was responsible for revealing extraordinary new games and breaking numerous stories -- including the existence of Microsoft’s Xbox console, months before Microsoft’s official announcement.
In 2001, Tom left the print world to join the start-up cable network G4 Television when it was just 16 people. As program director, he was instrumental to launching the 24-hour channel dedicated to interactive entertainment, and bringing viewers the first televised live coverage of E3 and the launches of PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. In his six years with G4 Television, the Comcast-owned channel grew from the idea stage to distribution in 66+ million homes in North America.
Following his run at G4, Tom spent three years as an independent consultant to several top game publishers, independent developers, marketing and PR agencies, and as a contributor to Electronic Gaming Monthly Magazine.
In 2011, Tom hung up his media badge and joined Foundation 9, one of the world's largest independent game developers, as part of the company's business development team.
As an industry expert, he has served as a seven-time judge for the top-ranking media’s “Best of E3 Awards” and has been quoted in publications including Time Magazine, USA Today, The New York Times, Rolling Stone, and The Los Angeles Times. He appears occasionally as a guest on Game Trailer TV's “Bonus Round” and has served as a guest reviewer on G4TV Canada’s Reviews on the Run. He holds an English degree from Plymouth State University, New Hampshire.
Other notables will speak during the expo. See the program for names and times. Jason Mojica will give a talk. He is a Level Designer at Raven Software. He began working in the industry around the age of 19, starting with an internship at Gearbox Software. Moving on to Raven Software, he has worked on 3 shipped titles: Wolverine , Wolfenstein, and Singularity. Jason’s main job is to build out levels and script combat / special events. He also likes to play Super Street Fighter 4 and Portal.