Like a lot of people I've been following the adventures of Gaintbomb since the very beginning, I always made sure to check the site daily and make sure I watched the latest dumb video they put out. Every week I download the bombcast and listen to the whole thing, smiling and trying not to laugh while on the bus. Jeff, Vinny, Ryan, and Brad (and everyone else) have become as close to being my friend's as much as someone can without actually meeting the other. These guys are obviously the reason why Giantbomb is such an amazing site, and I always wondered what I would do if one of them happened to die.

I, of course, never thought that I would have to find out so soon. Today on July 8th 2013, we were told that Ryan Davis passed away on July 3rd, just a few short days after getting married.

When I first opened up Giantbomb and saw the new posting, I was on my first break at work. When I first read the title I thought it was going to be some dumb joke, or another posting explaining that another staff member was leaving the site to do something else. Both of these would have been much better than what was actually inside the news story ( http://www.giantbomb.com/articles/ryan-davis-1979-2013/1100-4685/ ). As soon as I read it my heart sank, while still reading the article I immediately grabbed my phone and started txting all my friends who would have known who Ryan Davis was. I was left thinking to my self over and over again "This can't be real", "This has to be some kind of dumb joke" but unfortunately it's not, and it's very real. And it hurts.

Ryan Davis has been with Giantbomb from the start, he was never afraid to share his opinion of something, he knew how to make people laugh, he was by all accounts super nice to everyone in real life, and (at the same time) he was kind of a dick. Anytime Ryan would laugh at something, it would be the most deep laugh I've ever heard and it never failed to bring a smile to my face. I'm sure if I looked at all of my favorite moments with Giantbomb I would find that most of them have Ryan doing his trademark laugh somewhere in the video.

I've had a few important deaths in my life, most notably the death of my Father when I was 11 or so. I didn't really know him too much growing up, but even still the fact it was my Dad, and he was dead...sucked. I haven't been legitimately sad when I heard of a death since that day. The death of Ryan Davis changed that, I knew Ryan was an important part of my life, but now that he's dead I truly realize how much I am going to miss him. Every time I think about all the past memories I have of Ryan, and come to terms that there will be no more new ones, almost bring me to tears. It's amazing how much of an impact he truly had on me. During my day at work today, I would get busy in some work, and forget for a bit, then when I would have a few moments to myself I would reflect on Ryan, I would picture the news article on the front page of Giantbomb, I would hear his voice in my head from the Bombcast, and the rush of emotions would come back...

One of the things I realized with Ryan passing, is how do I explain Ryan to someone who doesn't follow Giantbomb. Saying "Some dude from a video game website" doesn't do Ryan justice, but saying my friend also seems to personal. But when I think back, that's what Ryan was, He was my friend. I may not have been his, but he sure as hell was mine. I will miss him.

Rest In Peace Ryan.

Pre SF4 I the only fighting games I had played were Mk vs DC and Soul Caliber 2 and 4. I enjoyed both, but I never really understood either in terms of what high level play ment and how it was “suppose to be played” as oppose to just button mashing. Then SF4 came out and it clicked, I could understand what was going on even when I got my ass handed too me. I decided I wanted to get seriouse about SF4 so I orderd a Mad Catz SE stick and modded it my self so it wasn’t trash and then a few months later I bought a TE Round 2 because it “Looked better”. I practiced to get better to try to “level up” for the first time ever in a fighting game I could hold my own, I very rearly got destoryed because I didn’t understand what was going on (I still got raped but for different reasons) and I was always having a blast doing it. While I was playing the game I was also watching as many Streams and Videos as I could to try to learn a few things but mostly for the entertainment value. If you asked me to watch a hockey game or Keystone or some other SF4 stream I would pick the stream in a second that shit was like crack. As 2009 winded down I had to start thinking about a GOTY, the choice was obvious SF4 was my GOTY for 2009 not only because of how much fun I had but just because of the overall effect it had on my life. Speaking of which, one late night after playing League of Legends I was informed of “Local SRK threads” and was happy to find a London thread I was only abel to attend a few meetings before school took over but now that summer is here I will be able to go a lot more.

SSF4 is here and   I’m still lovin it, my main right now is Blanka (because I hate my self) and my alt has to be Dee Jay. I look forward to playing a lot more matches in person (instead of online) and just having a good time.

Get Hype.

Is a piece of crap. Anyone who says otherwise is also a piece of crap.
 
I just got a quest done for saying this. HA

I've been playing LoL for a while now and I'm loving it, I finally got fraps working so I recorded 2 matches last night. Also included is the Skype call that I was in with 2 other players ( Specialbuddy (aka Canned) and Annuvis) we use Skype because vent is for hozers.
 
The first match is me playing Jax, hes really fun dps/tank and hes kinda OP so it makes me look good! The second video (which is a 5v4) is me playing Morgana which is a Support char who has also of great spells to help out in team fights. Emebed in playlists for easier viewing.
 
 
 
   

 
http://cartoonoveranalyzations.com/2009/04/09/pokemon-explained/
 
My friend sent me this the other day and it literally blew my mind, its crazy that someone would think about Pokemon so in depth and honestly a lot of what this guy says is very true/plausible.
 
Its a very long read but I encourage everyone to read it. Wait what you still think its too long...SHUT UP AND READ IT FFS.

     A month or so back i found out that there was a Street Fighter 4 scene in my area after posting a bunch on the SRK thread I deiced to go (Really it was 2am when I found it and I had already decided to go). My first time going was less than amazing, I was still playing Balrog at the time and I didn't win a single match it sucked. Also going from Online where you see different characters every other game (and crazy combos) to a group of Sagat, Balrog and Ryu (Guile and Honda also made an appearance) was kinda depressing.  I could not stand for this, so I went home dropped Blarog completely and went back to Blanka. This was due to there already being a Balrog there (2 even) and me not really liking his play style. Anyways I also orderd a glove the next week so that i can take my Blanka game to the next level. 
 
 
     Fast forward 4 weeks and my gloves have been here for a bit and my Blanka is back on top. Last Thursday I went to the meeting and payed the 2$ entry fee to compete in the tournament,  my first match was up against a solid Bison (Bison is a bad match for Blanka) which kinda sucked. But hey that's life. I lost and went to losers, there I went on what I would describe as a rampage (not really) and beat 3 people (one of which doesn't play SF4 a lot) in a row. The last match (be fore finals) was against a very 
 solid Guile but I manged to beat him. Which bring me to the Losers Finals and I had to fight the same Bison. Here's a video.
 
 
 

This is a great 8 part series looking at the History of the Competitive Arcade Scene. very interesting defiantly worth a listen.