A Hole in the World

“But I don’t understand! I don’t understand how this all happens, how we go through this. I mean — I knew her, and then she’s… there’s just a body, and I don’t understand why she just can’t get back in it and not be dead anymore! It’s stupid! It’s mortal and stupid! And… and Xander’s crying and not talking, and… and I was having fruit punch, and I thought, ‘Well, Joyce will never have any more fruit punch — ever, and she’ll never have eggs, or yawn, or brush her hair, not ever,’ and no one will explain to me why.”
–Anya Emerson, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Episode 5.16, “The Body”)

It’s a weird feeling when someone you know and talk to on a regular basis passes away. It’s like a giant mental disconnect — this weird, surreal blot that your mind can’t fully process. A hole in the world.

It’s even weirder when the person in question dies a tragically young death, as was the case with Rannie Yoo, who passed away last weekend at the age of 33, after an 11-month battle with cancer. I knew Rannie through Triple Point (previously Kohnke Communications), the San Francisco-based gaming PR firm where she worked. Her funeral was today (well, I guess technically yesterday, at this point), and — between her friends, family, and gaming industry buddies — the room overflowed to the point where the crowd spilled out the door and into the hallway. For nearly two hours, a great many of these people took turns coming to the front of the room and relating stories and memories about Rannie, and how she’d touched their lives.

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What do you want from your games journalists?

The rabid folks who frequent NeoGAF had some pretty interesting reactions to writer N’Gai Croal’s latest column, which deals with realism in games. Croal’s column is an interesting piece that discusses the contrast between art design choices in a few current-gen games, and I recommend giving it a read.

Some of the NeoGAF community members’ responses have me shaking my head, though.

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On Nintendo

Stories like this one mystify me. Just look at the headline: “Nintendo’s Fall.” Now, far be it from me to question the experience and perspective that writer Doug Perry — a fixture in the gaming media for well over a decade — has, but I tend to scratch my head every time one of these “Wow, remember when Nintendo wasn’t doing so well?” pieces pops up.

The fact is, Nintendo’s never done anything but well. It’s as though people remember the years between 1996 and 2006 (AKA the Nintendo 64 and GameCube years) as some sort of Dark Age for the company.

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Rebel FM Ep. 3 and Co-Op Ep. 1

My brothers-in-arms at Eat-Sleep-Game.com have released the third episode of their Rebel FM podcast, and the ex-1UP Show guys over at Area 5 (formerly Talking Orange) have released the debut episode of their new video show, Co-Op. Check ‘em out!

Rebel FM: Episode 2 available now

Head on over to www.eat-sleep-game.com and check out the newest episode of Rebel FM by my buddies Nick Suttner, Anthony Gallegos, Philip Kollar, and Arthur Gies!

Geekbox Radio: Coming this week!

Tune in late this Friday (or possibly early Saturday, depending on how things work out), where you’ll be able to download the first of what will hopefully be many episodes of Geekbox Radio, an all-new gaming audio podcast from some of the talented ex-1UP personalities who brought you shows like GFW Radio, Legendary Thread, and Sports Anomaly (I don’t want to let the cat out of the bag yet as far as who’s appearing — you’ll have to tune in to find out!). With any luck, it might even be good.

You might also notice that I’ve added a PayPal donation button up top. Let me be clear: I am not asking for free handouts here, and I don’t expect my loyal fans to pay my rent or anything crazy like that. The best way to support what I’m doing here is to download the podcast, listen to the podcast, leave comments here about the podcast, and Digg the podcast (this is especially important — if you’re looking forward to this podcast and want it to succeed, please Digg so more people can check it out!). This podcast is only as stable as its fan base, so please show your support and vote with your ears/Diggs. That said, any donations made to the site will — first and foremost — be used to enable a half-decent podcasting setup (I won’t lie — the first episode’s not gonna be very advanced, technology-wise!). In any case, I plan on full transparency; if anyone decides to donate, I will disclose exactly how much I’ve received and exactly where it’s going. Also note that this is a separate venture from Rebel FM and the 1UP Show crew’s new project, so if you’ve donated to them, you’ve done more than enough. We may be separate, but we’re still one big family.

Thanks for all your support and kind words so far, and stay tuned — hopefully we won’t disappoint!

UPDATE (2009-01-13): Thanks to all the support and donations, it’s starting to look like I might be able to record this thang with some decent equipment. I’m completely floored by the response, everyone. This is your podcast as much as it is mine. Now I really hope I don’t let you guys down!