This weekend comes with a feeling of great loss for geeks of all associations. Shel Dorf, Comic-Con’s founding father, has died this past Tuesday, he was 76.

Beyond the rift comics and manga have, or any other flavor of geekdom, we should all be grateful for Dorf’s work to the community as a whole. Basically pioneering pop-culture conventions, at least in the western world, is no small feat! He turned a small 300 people convention in 1970 into the behemoth that is Comic-Con nowadays with over 125,000 people in attendance.

Whether you’ve been to Comic-Con or to Otakon, AX, ACEN, or your local anime club’s convention, you owe a lot of that groundwork to Shel Dorf and his team. He was a man that lived for his passions. Let’s take a moment to reflect on that and celebrate all that he brought forth. May he rest in peace.

[Chicago Tribune]

This one slipped by me until Fidgit editor, Tim Chick found the hidden gem from the land down under. Compiled by Australian Adam Mathew, the list includes such gruesome deaths as the chainsaw decapitation in RE4, Jenny’s passing in The Darkness, and my personal favorite, the first scene in Silent Hill. I’ve included some choice picks after the break (possible spoilers).

*note* As some one who now loves survival horror games, Silent Hill was the first to suck me in. I had played Resident Evil before, but playing SH made me scared…I probably shouldn’t have played it at night with the lights off.

Anyone play a game that just gave them the willies or had a lasting impression for months/years that followed?

[Gameplayer.com.au via Fidgit]

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You’ve heard it, you’ve seen it mentioned everywhere on the internet, with your friends, your mom, your grandma and even that nice hobo down the street. Michael Jackson is dead. Now you’ve heard it here too.

Now, child abuse accusations aside Michael was a plastic surgery addict. Ok, ok. Child abuse accusations and bad nose jobs aside Michael was a pretty creepy man. Lets try that again, shall we? Child abuse accusations, bad nose jobs and creepiness aside Michael Jackson was a legendary musician and performer that shaped a great part of pop culture for nearly two decades. Ah there we go that sounded better.

He not only brought us great music but also taught a racism-divided world that color was not an issue and that in fact you could change colors yourself, provided you had millions of dollars and an adventurous doctor.

But that’s not why I want to remember Michael today, no sir, after all we’re all about games and anime. So I want to talk about that other great thing Michael gave us: Moonwalker, The Game.

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Earlier today Gary Gygax, co-creator of Dungeons and Dragons and father of RPGs died of heart failure, he is survived by many sons, grandsons and legions of adoring fans, he was 69.

Today the world lost a great man, he was responsible for the birth of RPGs, from DnD to the latest Final Fantasy or Tales game. MMORPGs would not be if it were not for the boundless imagination of Gary Gygax. He was a kind man who loved games and loved what people made of games and even more, what games made of people.

“It really meant a lot to him to hear from people from over the years about how he helped them become a doctor, a lawyer, a policeman, what he gave them,” His wife, Gail Gygax said. “He really enjoyed that.”

It would be an understatement to say that he has been an influence in our lives, this man is an cultural icon who’s touched millions of lives. His passion for games is something that now more than ever should inspire us to pursue our own passions. On the subject of death he once said:

“I would like the world to remember me as the guy who really enjoyed playing games and sharing his knowledge and his fun pastimes with everybody else.”

And that we will good sir, and that we will. I will be playing some RPGs this following days in his honor. Let us celebrate the fruits of his passion, this true god of gaming shows us that even deities sometimes fail a saving roll. Rest in peace Gary, we geeks of the world salute you!

[Star Tribune]

This is what happens to old Video Game characters when they age and people forget them, they die. This 35cm Pac-Man skeleton was created back in 2002 by Le Gentil Garcon with the aid of paleontologist Francois Escuilie. From the creators:

Study in plaster of a complete skeleton of Pac-man, created by extrapolation from a comparative observation of a human skull and different predatory animal skulls.

How very scientific, yet I dont see a way this skull could have ever collapsed into itself like Pac-Man did.

[Le Gentil Garcon / Via Slashgear]