Is Giant Bomb going to PAX Australia? - UPDATE: No.

So we should aim for a venue close to Lord of the Fries then?

Just a quick update - PAX Aus are helping me find a venue, but with Ryan getting married and all, he hasn't got back to me about which night he wants to hold the meetup yet. Will follow him up in a few days.

At this stage, I'm hoping they will go for a Friday night event. A lot of stuff is going on come Saturday night and I want people to be able to go to as many of the activities as they can.

Will keep you posted!

Hot damn, completely missed these last updates. Friday (or otherwise) drinks would be great, nice work getting the ball rolling.

Excellent work. I was worried talk of this hadn't gone anywhere. Great news.

I'm flying across from Perth with my fiancee for this. Very happy we bought our 3-day passes so early.

It will be great to meet everybody else who can't (always) watch US weeknight live shows because we are at work.

Surely we can find a good venue. It's not like PAXA is E3 or SFCC. It will only be setting small corners of Melbourne on fire, not the entire CBD area ala when the Lakers win/lose the Finals.

I just wanted to give you all an update.

Over the past few days I had been trying to contact Ryan to lock in the date. I woke up this morning and read the news, and now I'm absolutely gutted.

Ryan and Jeff are a huge inspiration for me, and were a huge reason for me becoming a games journalist. I was excited to meet all of you at an awesome event, but I was more excited to have the chance to tell them both that they were the reason for my career.

I don't know if Jeff is still coming to PAX Aus, and I don't want to start tweeting him right now hounding him. At this stage the event is on hold. I will try to contact Jeff in a few days.

EDIT: I think the best course of action is to have a non-official event that people can attend if they want to.

A bar, some whiskey, share some stories and remember the good times. If Jeff is coming out still, then we can invite him along. I don't want to put any pressure on to him at the moment, so I think this is the best course of action.

Melbournites - want to recommend a venue that is easy to access for people on public transport from PAX?

@hellerphant: Well put. I think it will be great just to meet other people who love this site. Waking up to this, ugh. Noone I currently know offline is familiar with Ryan and GB, and I cannot wait to meet all of you peeps. We will need good whiskey.

Anyone else making the trip from Perth?

This is a great idea, then next year have the bombcrew come to your venue. Start the tradition yourself.

I'll be there in spirit. I couldn't afford to travel down form Brisbane, unfortunately. I have only a couple of friends, and none of them know anything about Giant Bomb, leaving me with this horrible feeling of deep loneliness today. If this becomes some sort of annual thing, I'll definitely be looking to come down and talk to people who know how I feel right now.

@toastface - sorry to hear you are feeling isolated, I'm sure all of us are here for you. It's pretty devastating news, and many of us never had the opportunity to meet Ryan in person. That doesn't change the fact that he was a huge part of our lives, and we will all miss him dearly.

@izunadrop & @dagbiker - I thought it was the most respectful way to do it. Many people on Twitter expressed that they still wanted to get together and do some kind of memorial. It is not my right to organise anything officially as a memorial, but I think the chance for us all to gather, share our favourite stories, and toast to the man who entertained us for so many years.

It's impossible to explain to my colleagues that I've been fighting back tears over an 'internet personality'. In fact I don't think anyone I know in real life could understand just how devastating this is.

My sincerest condolences go to his wife, family, friends and industry colleagues who share the burden of losing such a unifying companion.

On a more selfish note, the fact that it was just a week until I could finally bask in his presence and awkwardly tell him just how important he and GB have become to me... it's a real gut-punch to next week's gaming pilgrimage.

If there's a way we can be tasteful about it, I'd love to raise a glass to the big guy in Melbourne.

@gutterkisser people who aren't a part of this site, or who don't follow games media just won't understand what he brought to the table.

We'll just catch up for a respectful chance to share our stories about the man, and have a drink.

@hellerphant: "Do some kind of memorial?" Nope, definitely wrong vibe there. Let's get drunk and talk shit about video games, and also celebrate a guy with whom we always wanted to share a night of drinking and talking shit about video games.

No breast milk shots.

@toastface & @gutterkisser: You are not alone. If Giant Bomb has taught me anything, it is that I am never the only one feeling my particular tone of hype, love or loss at any given point in time. Given that PAXA has sold out so quickly and extensively, I am very hopeful this will become an annual thing.

I could really use the chat right now. Breaking Brad COD airplane levels of chat.

Yeah, I agree with the no breast milk shots at the bar idea!

I'll keep you all posted as this develops. I can tell you it will be the Friday night.

yea i dunno if this is gonna happen still as planned.

good on you folks for planning a local thing still though

Sign me up.

Goddamn. I wanted to congratulate Ryan on his marriage when he came down here...

Today I cried infront of my girlfriend because noone I know has spent time on GB. I look forward to meeting with you all and pouring one out for Ryan.

@hellerphant: Screw that, if this thing happens, we gotta respect him right! Full round of breast milk and vodka for everyone! :P Thanks for the update though. I imagine it's gonna be a few days / weeks before things start to get back to 'normal'. God I hate using that word, things will never be normal like it should be, but what other word is there to use? Oi. Cheers!

I'm in. I'm half Serb, half Irish, all Australian, and if there is one thing all three of these cultures can do it's drink and toast the good times of a great man.

Is anyone within this thread from Perth?

Would be comforting to know there's others from the west that are also grieving.

@g6065: Haha don't worry mate, your not the only one in this cold, gloomy town that has shed a few tears over Ryan today.

I've done a terrible job at engaging with the GB community so far, but it's good to know I'm not alone in struggling to process this feeling. And so many local fans, at that.

If I didn't hate dairy+alcohol combinations so much I'd propose an uncredited lactation-themed shot in his honour (using cow milk, of course). Either way I can't think of a pun name befitting of his penchant for genius/terrible wordplay, so whisky sounds fine to me.

@toastface: I'm in the area. Let me know if you'd like to hit up a sushi bar or a bar bar this weekend. We may as well attempt enjoyment, even if we have a terrible reason for getting together now. I'm on the vaguely southern side of the city.

@gutterkisser: Was in the same boat all day. Spent at least part of it with severe misty-eyed "allergies".

@hellerphant: Thanks for your work so far; this can't be an easy time. I'm guessing the Friday night session that'd been reserved for the GB guys will turn into a (perhaps somber) social event, if the guys can't make it. At least, that's my tentative plan until the concerts start.

Whatever happens, it'd be nice to say hi to a folk or two down there. Would be a nice antidote to this feeling.

Been watching the Harmonix stream and made it all the way to the end before Drake dropped an earnest bomb. Man, forget that guy (in a nice way).

I am flying from Perth with a couple of friends.

This.

Having a meet up sounds like a great idea.
Lets get drunk and have a laugh, I can't think of a better way to celebrate the guy.

I'm lucky I guess that I know one person in Sydney (I'm from Melbourne) who listens to Giant Bomb. It's weird that no one else has ever heard of Ryan and you say "Oh man, this guy from a website that I go to literally every day for five years has passed away. He was amazing" and they look at you like "What are you talking about? So what?". Its weirdly comforting that I'm not the only one, and I've found twitter (first time I've used it much) to be really helpful, being able to read about how everyone else is feeling. I found Brad to be the most comforting for some reason that I can't explain.

@shnippie The Twitter response from the broader family (Whiskey, Harmonix, Double Fine, Telltale, Chicago cats and beyond) was equal parts heartwarming and gut-wrenching, but it definitely helped.

The only 'IRL' person I've spoken to about it is my girlfriend - she knows I love the Bomb, but I'd never expect her to understand just how sad this really is.

wherever we have this shindig i am there.

lets get together, drink bourbon, get drunk and have a toast to Ryan, a man that has touched us all in an amazing way.

Hey guys,

Should be locking the venue in tomorrow hopefully. Aiming for the CBD, simply because the tram lines from the festival run into the city and I figure everyone should be able to make it over there.

Yug and the guys at PAX Aus have been great. I've been lucky enough to deal with them quite a bit as I'm hosting a panel, and when I mentioned that Ryan and I wanted to setup a meetup they have been more than happy to help. After the news, Yug and the team still wanted to help me pull it all together, so bravo to those guys!

I'll keep you all posted, just waiting for a few calls to be returned and I should have a time and place for you all.

Jeff just confirmed that he will not be going to PAX Australia:

As expected, Jeff won't be coming to PAX Australia.

@jeffgerstmann: Hey, so I've been getting some questions. Just to clarify and confirm and all that, I'm not going to Australia for PAX.

@jeffgerstmann: But here is a preview of my PAX material: 30 mins on how koalas love eucalyptus leaves, 30 mins spent assuming Australians love Foster's.

Completely understandable given the circumstances

Updated the thread title to avoid confusion.

@zombiepie said:

Jeff just confirmed that he will not be going to PAX Australia:

Totally understandable.

No worries

Perfectly understandable. I actually would have been surprised if he made the trip.

Totally understandable, I wasn't expecting him to come and that's fine.

I'm guessing under 18 year olds won't be able to come for the giant bomb community meet up, right?

The Update should say Officially No, Unofficially Yes.

@g6065: I'm another Sandgroper doing it tough at the moment with the recent news. Gloomy skies aren't helping my mood either.

I bought tickets to PAX the minute they went on sale and was very bummed when a was told a month later I've got my sister in laws wedding on the same weekend (its in Bali so I shouldn't complain). So I've had to give my pass to a friend.

Giantbomb coming over for it was top of my list, been listening to these guys since their Gamespot days and it would have been awesome to meet them in person.

I think Jeff's made the best decision given the circumstances. I think Ryan would have loved Melbourne.

Hey, any word on the meet up venue? I had a Bourbon with 1 ice cube in Ryan's honor tonight, but still keen to celebrate the awesomeness that he brought us.

One of my friends said it beat, we've had Ryan and jeff and brad and vinnie in our lives for atleast 3 hours a week for the past 5 or 6 years, losing one of the crew feels like losing a old and close friend.

Hmm... So... I was lucky enough for a new batch of tickets to come out, so I bought the Friday ones for Giant Bomb... and now that Jeff isn't going, I'm not sure anymore. I've already got tickets for Sunday, but I might consider selling my Friday ones and head to any unofficial drink ups.

Gross.

Hey Guys,

So Ryan liked whiskey, so I thought a whiskey bar would be suitable. I have spoken to a great place in Carlton, which should be accessible by most public transport (it's a short walk from the Number 1 and 8 tram).

They have a bar and booths downstairs, and a function room upstairs. We can get access to the room upstairs if enough of us come along.

It's a nice and cosy little place, which I thought would suit the mood. Does that sound good to you guys? If not I can find a bigger place in the city to go ahead with this.

@hellerphant: Fantastic. Sounds great. See you all in a week :D What time are we looking at for this?

oh no, it's so right

I'm down

Yeah, Carlton sounds great. What time are we talking?

I know zero about Melbourne, but I'm there

Thanks, I should have done that sooner.

That sounds like a winner to me if you're confident there'll be enough capacity. Thanks again for pushing through with the planning, really appreciate it.