Hey, it's Kevin Deselms (aka Hi-Fi/Postmeister) - this thread and obituary was brought to my attention yesterday, and I reached out to all of the GameFan alumni that I'm still in touch with, all of whom worked with Eric. Naturally, we all wanted more confirmation than a random website post - so one of us who still had connections to his family reached out and confirmed the news, much to all of our great sadness. So I just wanted to make a post here to confirm the veracity of the report, and we're all very shocked and saddened by the news. Over the years, Eric withdrew from pretty much all of us and seemed to want to separate himself from that time in his life, so most of us hadn't been in touch with him for many years. He was, without any doubt in my mind, the most hardcore gamer I've ever known in my life. He took a tremendous amount of pride in skillful video game play, and wasn't satisfied unless he was the best in the office at any given game. I got his respect the moment he learned I'd beaten Chakan: The Forever Man. I'm quite sure that he'd be pleased to know that any obituary regarding his life would draw his gaming skill into SHARP focus.
I feel bad about how we left things...I never got to clear the air with him, and I guess I always felt that someday down the line, when we were all old and reunited for some random gathering in LA, we'd be able to laugh about how things went and how much we'd all changed. Unfortunately, that day will now never come. It brings back memories of another GameFan friend we lost tragically and way too early, in Dan Grannet (Stalker/Darkfact)...a guy I helped get hired there, through my connections to the magazine at the time.
I don't know if any of the other alumni will weigh in with their thoughts, but on Facebook we are all expressing our grief and regrets to each other. This is sad news, indeed. I don't know what he'd gotten into in the years following the GameFan and subsequent GameGo implosions, the reports of some extremely conservative political leanings don't surprise me...but I am sure all the other GameFan folks would join me in expressing regret that we weren't able to remain connected to him in some way, even just to offer support or encouragement. Because of how mysterious and tight-lipped the circumstances of his death are, and the family's unwillingness to elaborate, makes me think the worst...especially given how withdrawn he had apparently become. I don't want to speculate too much though, and I'm sure we'll probably never know all the details. But we got the confirmation we needed and now we'll grieve the loss of one of the gaming industry's better-known veterans.
I can't believe this thread still exists. Who says the internet is impermanent?
Bookmarks