Dennis Hopper: 1936 - 2010

Well, this sucks... much like last year's loss of Farrah Fawcett, Ed McMahon, Billy Mays, and Michael Jackson all within days or weeks of each other, so seems to be the case this year. Famed and awesomely brilliant painter Frank Frazetta recently passed, as did metal legend Ronnie James Dio. And just one day after the death of former child star, Gary Coleman, an other great has passed. He was 74.

Dennis Hopper, most notable for directing and starring in the 1969 film, Easy Rider, and most infamous for portraying Bowser in the retched Super Mario Bros. movie, has died due to complications with prostate cancer. While it's been awhile since I've made an obituary post, and for the three recent passings I probably should have, Hopper's passing has the most for me to talk about personally.

For one, Easy Rider is a cinematic classic for its depiction of rebellion culture, and its influence lives on in many films today. Heck, the season one finale of The Venture Bros. perfectly mirrors the ending moments of the film! Hopper, who has been acting since 1955, has appeared in hundreds of films, some fantastic, and some a bit beneath his level of talent, but he was always great in everything did, and I always enjoyed seeing him on screen.

I think I'm going to have to play Gorillaz' "Fire Coming Out of the Monkey's Head" on loop for the rest of the night. For those that don't know, it's the track on Demon Days that Dennis Hopper provided narration on, and can even be seen recording in their documentary, Bananaz. He (and the others I mentioned) will truly be missed.

VFH Classic is dead.

Sad news today, VFH Classic, the place where all of this started, officially went offline today. Sure, we've grown out of it since moving to Google Blogger, but it was still a host to a couple hundred reviews, some of which were even posted during the existence of this version of the site.

Because of of this I'm currently trying to access Google's cached version of VFH Classic and restoring any reviews listed here that were posted there. Sadly, I probably won't be able to recover our huge library of Gamecube, Nintendo DS, GameBoy Advance, PlayStation 2, and Xbox reviews, but I'll see what I can do.

VFH Classic: 2004 - 2010

UPDATE: I did my best to restore all the reviews that were posted on VFH Classic from here, but some reviews were not cached by Google and there for are gone forever. As for reviews that were on VFH Classic before this site (there's quite a lot of them, even by writers no longer with us), most likely they too will be lost, as posting many of them now would be irrelevant.

Billy Mays: 1958 - 2009

Such a sad week, after the recent passings of Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, and Michael Jackson came the sad news this morning that famous infomercial spokesman Billy Mays passed away this morning.

Mays was best known as the pitchman for such products as OxiClean, Kaboom!, Mighty Puddy, amongst other numerous products. More recently, he and fellow pitchman Anthony Sullivan starred in a documentary television series, Pitchmen, which finished its first season last week on the Discovery Channel.

In fact, Mays and Sullivan were just on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien the other night promoting the show, making it Billy Mays' last television appearance, sadly.



Billy Mays was reportedly found by his wife this morning, having passed away in his sleep. He was 50.

Michael Jackson: 1958 - 2009

"The King of Pop is dead", or so was the news I heard when I arrived back home from work today. Despite a steady decline in public image since the 1980s, not to mention his very scandalous lifestyle in recent years, it can't be ignored that Michael Jackson's impact on modern music was a tremendous one.

With hit albums like Off the Wall, Thriller, and Bad, not to mention his signature moonwalk, Michael Jackson rose to stardom after his younger days with his brothers in the Jackson 5. His music is considered timeless, and he now leaves a great legacy behind him.

Jackson, age 50, reportedly collapsed at a rented home Los Angeles, where he was soon taken to UCLA Medical Center. His death is reported to be cause by cardiac arrest. Michael Jackson was planning on making a comeback this summer, having scheduled 50 shows at London's O2 arena, from July 13, 2009 to March 6, 2010.

Say what you about the man in recent years, but I feel that his impact on the music industry can not be ignored, and I feel he will be sorely missed by many.

Ricardo Montalbán: 1920 - 2009

Star Trek fans, it saddens me to say this, but the man responsible for Captain Kirk's famous screams in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan has passed away. Yes, actor and icon, Ricardo Montalbán has died; currently the reasons are unknown.

Khan! You and your chest will be greatly missed.

Other than portraying the infamous Khan Noonien Singh, both in the Star Trek TV series and the second film, Montalbán was also known for playing Mr. Roarke on the TV series Fantasy Island, along with his mini-sidekick, Tattoo (Hervé Villechaize). He was also very famous for his unmistakable voice, often providing voices for such shows a Dora the Explorer, Family Guy, Freakazoid!, and Kim Possible, among many others.

He was 88.

Paul Newman: 1925 - 2008

Legendary actor, Paul Newman, died Friday after a long battle with Lung Cancer. Mostly known for his role in the film Cool Hand Luke, among many others, in fact Newman starred in over 60 films during his career; winning and nominated for numerous awards. His last film role was a voice over part in 2004 for Disney/Pixar's Cars as Doc Hudson, who becomes Lightning McQueen's mentor later in the film. Newman was also recognized for his food brand Newman's Own, which notably gave all of its earnings to charity.

He was 83.


Not to take away from this sad day, but with Cars 2 set for 2011, I'm curious if this has any effect on the film's planning.

Don LaFontaine: 1940 - 2008

Some pretty upsetting that I didn't catch yesterday; you may not know him by name, but you'll certainly know his voice, Don LaFontaine was known for making movie trailers epic. His voice could be heard from movie trailers, TV shows, game trailers (i.e. Resistance 2, Mario & Sonic), even a Geico commercial.

He died on Monday after complications with a collapsed lung. He was 68.

To get an idea of who he was, and his role in the industry, watch this:

Isaac Hayes: 1942 - 2008

After losing Bernie Mac just yesterday, the world has lost another iconic African American.

From Wikipedia:
"Hayes was found dead in his home located just east of Memphis, Tennessee on August 10, 2008 as reported by the Shelby County, Tennessee Sheriff’s Department. A Shelby County Sheriff's deputy responded to Hayes' home after his wife found him on the floor near a still-running treadmill. Hayes was taken to Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis, where he was pronounced dead at 2:08pm."

While primarily a soul singer, Hayes was mostly known for his voice of South Park character, Chef . Hayes had left the show in 2006 after being upset with the show's mocking of Scientology.

May he rest in peace.

Bernie Mac: 1957 - 2008

Some pretty sad news to comedy fans everywhere today, Bernie Mac has passed away. It was reported today that after being entered into the hospital on August 1st for pneumonia, and even after receiving treatment, the illness got the best of him. Bernie Mac was known for his iconic raspy voice and controversial humor, and was part of the The Original Kings of Comedy along side Steve Harvey, D.L. Hughley, and Cedric the Entertainer. He also had his own show on Fox, The Bernie Mac Show, which ran for five seasons. He was 50.

He will be missed.

This comes shortly after the passing of comedy legend, George Carlin, who passed away of heart failure on June 22 at the age of 71.

Developer Murdered By Husband

"Very sad news from Redmond, Wash. Melissa Batten, 36, a software development engineer in Microsoft's Xbox division, was murdered by her estranged husband, who then shot himself to death, earlier this week."

Normally I wouldn't post about this stuff, but the loss of somebody who worked everyday to help give life to the gaming industry is something that should be known by anyone who even generally considers themselves a gamer. Melissa is listed as a development partner on Halo 3, and a Software Development Engineer in Test on Gears of War. So I'm sure most of you can agree with me when I say that while I don't know exactly what she contributed, she was a part of two of the most loved games of this generation, and her work will live on through them.

My condolences go out to her family and friends, losing a loved one is never easy, but they should know that the a large portion of the gaming community was effected by this. The loss of Melissa Batten will be mourned by many, as a person, a developer, and a friend.

R.I.P.