One year ago today, July 3rd. 2013, not only did the gaming community lose an important figure, but everyone lost an amazing man in Ryan Davis, former Gamespot editor and co-founder of the greatest video game website known to man, giantbomb.com.
Now I can't speak of any personal experiences, I never met the man, and that's a huge bummer. Meeting the Giant Bomb guys is already on my bucket list. Hell, I started this blog in the hopes that this can turn into a job in the industry someday, hopefully with Giant Bomb, and I owe my passion for video games, and my desire to cover them, to Jeff, Vinny, Brad, Drew, Alex, Patrick, but mostly Ryan Davis.
Everyone that has ever had the pleasure of spending time with him has said nothing but glowingly positive things. Though, you didn't HAVE to be hanging out with him to feel the effects, just seeing him in videos made you feel like he was your best friend. He made everyone smile and his laugh made you forget all about any hardship or stress you had, you couldn't help but laugh along with him. Every time you saw him, you wanted to give him a huge bear hug.
Especially after seeing things like this:
He was always a big kid and someone we all could relate to. For many of us, he was the voice of gaming (along with Jeff Gerstmann, who I coincidently share a birthday with, albeit with a 10 year difference) and it never felt officially Tuesday until Ryan told us so.
I also found this on YouTube. Since I am no video editor (yet, working on it), I will give credit where credit is due. Ian Minor, thanks for putting this together: (NSFW due to language, Ryan don't care).
(the 6:28 mark is my favorite Ryan Davis laugh of all time)
And of course who could forget this?
Stuff like this kept me laughing for days/weeks/months/years/etc. It's because of him (and Giant Bomb) that I consider myself a well-rounded gamer. Without these guys, I would have missed several awesome titles purely by not knowing they exist. More importantly, I always wanted to know what Ryan thought of the game, cause if HE had fun with it, I knew I had to have it. Also, hearing him (mostly) trash every video game based movie ever made (with his 'This Ain't No Game' segment) gave me endless joy.
I guess I can mention this and claim it as my sole interaction with Ryan. This link should go to a Thursday Night Throwdown of Goldeneye 007 for the Wii. The second match involves a player by the name of J. LongTorso who kind of tears it up (yeah, that's me). The most memorable moment has to be Ryan yelling, "Fuck you LongTorso. I hope you get cancer of the torso". BTW, I never got that Oddjob shirt, maybe Ryan was raging. :)
When I first heard of Ryan's passing, not only was I in complete shock, (especially with it happening right after his wedding), it honestly physically hurt me, I had felt that my best friend had died, that's how much he impacted me. I had to take a break from the site because it hurt to even hear his voice. I can honestly say that was the last day I shed tears, and this is for someone I had never met and someone who didn't even know I existed.
Ryan Davis had a knack for making everyone around him smile and laugh just by being there. He was the voice of the gamers and an inspiration to everyone. My passion for video games and this blog would not exist without the Giant Bomb guys, most notably Ryan Davis. The initial shock of his passing may have gone away, but that doesn't mean we don't continue to think of and celebrate the life of an amazing man taken way too soon.
So let's all play games and drink beer in honor of someone I owe an awful lot to. Mr. Rough, Tough, and Dangerous himself.
Thank you Ryan for everything, we miss you.
RIP
Ryan Davis
1979 - 2013
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