I've been following GameSpot, reading and listening to Ryan Davis for more than seven years. I have a lot of respect for Ryan and Jeff, otherwise I wouldn't be here. But I never realized how much Ryan meant to me until July 8, 2013, when I learned that he had passed away.

I’m going to miss Ryan’s stories, his laughter, and his enthusiasm. He loved to do what he did, and we loved him.

Whether you agreed with him or not, it was always fun listening to Ryan talk about... anything, really. Video games, food, drinks, whatever. Even while others were talking, the insight and humour he added to the conversation were always welcome. He was also a talented writer, but alas he didn't get to use that skill much at Giant Bomb.

Back in the GameSpot days I would use wget to download The HotSpot in multiple parts over a dial-up connection. I loved the HotSpot, and I did what I needed to be done to get my weekly fix. But something was messed up either on my end or on GameSpot's end, and the audio file I downloaded would skip, repeat, and do other stuff you don’t expect from an MP3. When Ryan said dumb stuff, my download process would repeat it several times just for me. I appreciate it more now than I did back then.

I’m impressed how much love for Ryan the entire gaming community has shown in response to his passing. Of course he's played a key role in the Giant Bomb crew and matters a lot to us here. And it's not surprising to see Double Fine and Harmonix react. But I’m also seeing responses from old GameSpot friends who aren't members here, Ubisoft, Amazon Video Games, Ouya, and more. Ryan Davis was a trending topic worldwide on Twitter. It's a huge response, and well deserved.

Farewell, Ryan Davis. We'll miss the hell out of you.

Nolan Fucking North and Ed Goddamn Boon both expressed their sadness for his passing. If that wouldn't make him excited, nothing would.

Great writeup, duder.

Good stuff man.

Damn dude, wget-ing the HotSpot in multiple parts? That's insane. So sad to see Ryan go.

I know what you mean. Seeing that post on the frontpage out of nowhere hit me pretty hard. I paused mid-breath and made a strange noise. Couldn't really comprehend it. It's so weird he won't be around anymore... But he lives forever on the internet, and within friends & loved ones. We'll miss you, duder!

I'm really going to miss hearing Ryan's cheerful voice. Good write-up.

It certainly happened all to fast.

God damn it. I have to stop reading all these blogs and threads about Ryan.

It's just too surreal and I'm getting worse and worse about all of this.

I'm not certain whether the culprit was wget or some other aspect of my setup. I never really looked into it.

@mariachimacabre said:

Do you have links for these?

Perfect response.

I think I've listened to every Hotspot up to creation of Giantbomb and every Giantbomb with 1/2 year hiatus a year or so ago when life got busy. Glad so many other people share my sentiment that I feel like I lost a friend, though I've never spoken with him.