About

Dusty Gamer is a gaming blog run by Joonas Laakso. I was born in 1978. I live in Helsinki, Finland.

The site

There have been numerous incarnations of the Dusty Gamer, originally known as The Meadow. The basic format has been the same: I like to comment on recent developments in the gaming industry and post notes of games I’ve played. I’ve been online since 1996 or so.

Write to Dusty Gamer

You can reach me at joonas dot laakso at gmail dot com.

Contributors are welcome, too. The site does not have a large audience, but then again, my requirements for content aren’t that high, as long as it’s games commentary. Just drop me a line if you’re interested.

Dusty Gamer background

I’ve been all about games all my life.

First there was make-believe, which I incorporated all sorts of rules into to make it more gamey.

Then there was roleplaying, which I came up with on my own. The Finnish edition of red box Dungeons & Dragons was my first commercial game. I’m still into roleplaying a lot, playing and running games every other week.

Games Workshop miniatures captured my imagination like nothing else before it ever since I first saw photographs of miniatures in a roleplaying article. I was into Rogue Trader, Space Marine (now Epic) , Space Hulk and Blood Bowl. I still have miniatures and sometimes get into painting them, but I very rarely have time to play with them.

I was into videogames ever since I saw my first computer. I’m not sure if it was a x86 or an MSX, but my earliest gaming memories are of an MSX, I think. The Commodore 64 (or rather C=128D) was my big love. (I think this is a modestly accurate representation of my childhood.)

I really got into the console scene only circa Xbox. These days I’m into the Microsoft and Sony consoles and PC gaming, with lots of iOS.

Then there’s strategy games, played on a hex map or plain surface, with or without miniatures. I dig Heavy Gear and Lightning Strike a lot. Too bad they take even more time than tabletop roleplaying games do.

Work

After a career in digital advertising and marketing, I’m now working in the game industry.

Currently (2020) I work at Next Games in various production roles, most recently as a development director (2015-). I worked on The Walking Dead: No Man’s Land and Blade Runner Nexus.

I worked as a producer at Remedy Entertainment (2013-2014).

I worked as a producer at Bugbear Entertainment, making car games (2008-2013).

I write features and reviews for the Finnish blog GeekGirls.fi (2012-)

I review videogames for the Finnish gaming TV show and website Tilt (2009-).

I reviewed roleplaying games for the Finnish roleplaying print magazine Roolipelaaja (2007-2009).

I wrote videogame reviews for the Finnish youth print magazine Suosikki (2007-2009).

I wrote for the Finnish roleplaying print magazine Magus (1999-2001).