Fuck it.

I spend a lot of time regretting things. Not super-cool consequential things like bungee jumping or quitting my job or going to France for a year or throwing off societal conventions. Dull, awkward, English stuff like making stupids in public or losing good friends. But I am going to write this article, regret be damned. Left-brain, shut the fuck up for a minute. I want to say something.

I came to Destructoid because of Anthony. This article was my introduction to 3 years of immersion in a gaming culture that has immeasurably changed my life. In those 3 years, Anthony has managed to put into words all the things I believe about gaming culture, game design and game writing in a way that I cannot, and that is so indescribably satisfying. Here’s a picture of a duckling I stole from deviantArt to leaven the tone of the article.



With the exception of the Braid HAWP (seriously, what the fuck were you thinking), every article, every video and every podcast that Anthony has made or been involved with I have enjoyed, and in some cases, been genuinely provoked into thinking about or considering the shit that I play for more than 10 seconds. I’ve improved my standards, I’ve started playing indie games and started donating to indie developers because of his words. Half my film collection I own on his recommendation. I am still trying to find a copy of Surf Nazis Must Die.

Podtoid has also been a fucking revelation. I could have 2 hours of the cast bullshitting about their week and be happy. I cannot explain the effect that the show has had, but it suffices to say that the dynamic the show has had for the past year or thereabouts has made me a happy little boy every week, and that's good enough.



Now, as you may have noticed, Anthony isn’t dead, so this will probably continue. If he’s working on a game, chances are that I will buy that game. Nonetheless, there will be a distinct void here, like when someone gets out of prison and they’ve lost that innocent part of their brain and now they can never look at life the same way again. Destructoid has lost an intelligent, eloquent writer, and while I know it’s the same Destructoid, something is going to be very different, and it won't ever feel quite the same. The change is going to be nothing short of profound.



Gonna miss you Burch. Good luck.