Gordon Hall has died(bbc.co.uk)
bbc.co.uk
Gordon Hall has died
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-56374535
72 コメント
Sad news. I worked with Gordon at a couple of places back in the 90s, in his pre-Mobius days. He was a good guy, big heart, always positive and motivational. And his sleight of hand with a deck of cards was the best I've ever witnessed. Good memories. RIP
[deleted]
IMHO one of the greatest of all time games, thanks for the memories...
RIP
Thanks for the memories.
I think one of the bad things about getting older that people don't seem to discuss is the increase in death of both those you know or those you know of.
I think one of the bad things about getting older that people don't seem to discuss is the increase in death of both those you know or those you know of.
I think it just seems like most things surrounding death in the U.S. are in an abysmal state.
Mexico/good portion of the East seem to do things much better regarding it. (These are just the places I'm personally familiar with. Sure there's many others that approach death much differently than the U.S. does as well.)
Mexico/good portion of the East seem to do things much better regarding it. (These are just the places I'm personally familiar with. Sure there's many others that approach death much differently than the U.S. does as well.)
Yeah, watch out for Brain Aneurysm if you have high blood pressure. Internal pluming related death is probably the leading cause of early death at that age. Don't clog your pipes people! Don't sit at the computer for too long either. You can get blood clots in your legs. Take care of your heart. Go for a walk everyday
Good advice. Also don’t start doing this tomorrow. Do it today. I know at least three people now who have pushed off everything to next week for years and ended up with irreversible bad health outcomes.
Man I have to lose weight and get healthy. I'm young enough (28) where I probably have enough time for things to recover but I'm out of time and excuses to start doing something.
Need to halve my mass by the time I hit 30. Never had a healthy relationship with food. Parents were always stuck on yoyo diets :(. They're still here, thankfully.
I just, you know, don't want to die before them. My siblings would kill me. I'd also love to fit on rollercoasters again.
Need to halve my mass by the time I hit 30. Never had a healthy relationship with food. Parents were always stuck on yoyo diets :(. They're still here, thankfully.
I just, you know, don't want to die before them. My siblings would kill me. I'd also love to fit on rollercoasters again.
I will echo the replies to your comment. I made a decision to fix myself last August. I switched my diet to lower carb and more protein, drank more water, started getting up earlier, intermittent fasting, plus some other things. I've lost ~23kg (~50lb) since then, and my quality of life has improved. Don't set out to half your mass, just set out to lose a little, then a bit more, and keep going. Don't fail before you start. Drink lots of water, your brain and skin will thank you for it.
100% agree about water and about setting smaller goals that you can celebrate. This thought clicked for me.
If you can lose 10 lbs (4.5 kg), that’s like setting down a bowling ball you are carrying all the time. You will definitely experience a quality of life improvement when you do that. Good luck. Then, do it again.
If you can lose 10 lbs (4.5 kg), that’s like setting down a bowling ball you are carrying all the time. You will definitely experience a quality of life improvement when you do that. Good luck. Then, do it again.
Bit of generic advice:
At the end of the day, it's all "calories in / calories out", but the real trick is figuring out how to change your calorie balance in a way that works for you, long term.
Some people do really well on some sort of rigid "I will eat an exact, precise amount of food each day", be it something like Nutrisystem or Soylent or just very carefully counting calories each day; other people can't stick with it. Some people do better just adding a solid, regular block of exercise each day, be it the gym or just walking; other people have trouble carving out the regular time. Intermittent fasting, eating windows, changing the composition of your diet, eliminating snacks or liquid calories, taking up a sport, becoming a gym rat ... there are a lot of reasonable ways to change how many calories you're consuming or how many you're burning.
The hard part -- besides actually doing it, because that's rarely easy -- is finding one that you can commit to forever, so you aren't, as you say, just trying out yo-yo diets.
At the end of the day, it's all "calories in / calories out", but the real trick is figuring out how to change your calorie balance in a way that works for you, long term.
Some people do really well on some sort of rigid "I will eat an exact, precise amount of food each day", be it something like Nutrisystem or Soylent or just very carefully counting calories each day; other people can't stick with it. Some people do better just adding a solid, regular block of exercise each day, be it the gym or just walking; other people have trouble carving out the regular time. Intermittent fasting, eating windows, changing the composition of your diet, eliminating snacks or liquid calories, taking up a sport, becoming a gym rat ... there are a lot of reasonable ways to change how many calories you're consuming or how many you're burning.
The hard part -- besides actually doing it, because that's rarely easy -- is finding one that you can commit to forever, so you aren't, as you say, just trying out yo-yo diets.
Exercise is great, but you can't out-exercise a bad/high calorie diet. Running a mile on a treadmill (if I believe the computer) burns about 135 calories. A typical Big Mac meal is about 1,100 calories.
Eh, depends on what your calorie surplus is.
If I don't pay attention to what I eat, and am fairly inactive, I tend to eat about 50-100 calories more per day than I burn, amounting to a 5-10 lb/year gain.
That is enough of a gain that it really adds up over time, and once it has added up it is quite daunting to deal with, but as far as maintaining goes, it's very reasonable to just add a small amount of light exercise on a daily basis.
If I don't pay attention to what I eat, and am fairly inactive, I tend to eat about 50-100 calories more per day than I burn, amounting to a 5-10 lb/year gain.
That is enough of a gain that it really adds up over time, and once it has added up it is quite daunting to deal with, but as far as maintaining goes, it's very reasonable to just add a small amount of light exercise on a daily basis.
Genuinely do it. It was the best improvement I made in my life. All I did was eat less crap and walk a lot. Turned out i liked walking so I now walk up mountains and stuff.
I started over 10 years after you so you’re good still :)
If you’ve got a smart phone get a calorie tracker app like Nutracheck and use it. Job done.
I started over 10 years after you so you’re good still :)
If you’ve got a smart phone get a calorie tracker app like Nutracheck and use it. Job done.
If you can afford it, I recommend hiring people to help. Seeing a personal trainer just once a week has been life changing for me. I just have to show up. Just being accountable to someone else has been huge.
Getting a healthy lifestyle I think is important and at any age is a great time to improve. I think of it more of a journey than an endpoint. It will have ups and downs but try to keep it heading generally in the right direction.
I’m much older but try to stay active (bike commuting, regular exercise, yoga, better diet) although not at my ideal weight it’s helped.
I have a coworker who lists exercise as a required “hobby”. I never thought about it like that, but it what helps her keep it up.
I’m much older but try to stay active (bike commuting, regular exercise, yoga, better diet) although not at my ideal weight it’s helped.
I have a coworker who lists exercise as a required “hobby”. I never thought about it like that, but it what helps her keep it up.
Just lift weights 3-5 times a week and walk often (preferably on hilly terrain). You'll be fine. Don't worry too much...that could be worse than lack of exercise.
- efforts
- walking
- eating well
- sleeping regularly
- fun and non toxic people
The top 5 futuristic health tricks from the 4000BC era
- walking
- eating well
- sleeping regularly
- fun and non toxic people
The top 5 futuristic health tricks from the 4000BC era
Or do none of these things and get special front-of-the-line treatment for Government programs, including first access to the COVID vaccine, and preferred parking spaces.
Can confirm. My dad died last year this time due to a huge stroke happened during an endoscopy. Turned out he had a big chunk of cholesterol at the aorta. The endoscopic procedure probably broke it and sent more fragments to the brain. He had an earlier stroke 4 weeks ago and blood thinner didn’t seem to work.
He was very active, though. So mind you, eating well is also a key to go along with exercise!
He was very active, though. So mind you, eating well is also a key to go along with exercise!
If you feel unwell everyday (mainly fatigue and chronic pain) and exercise makes you feel worse how can you force yourself to exercise?
Set small achievable goals? "I will walk to the end of the garden path twice a day?"
> "I will walk to the end of the garden path twice a day?"
Brings to mind how (the late) Captain Sir Tom Moore started his famous walk(s).
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-5232405...
Brings to mind how (the late) Captain Sir Tom Moore started his famous walk(s).
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-5232405...
It might sound as a spoiler, but the slogan of a well know brand it should be motivating: "Keep walking!".
I probably shouldn’t say anything, but I once knew a guy whom had general body pain, and it turns out he was very low on vitamin D. He was basically a very overweight shut-in for years, so it’s not surprising he was low. He ate every animal in sight though, so I didn’t think he was low on vitamin D, but he was. (This is not advice. I know vitamin research is not definitive. My friend could have benefitted from the Placebo Effect from taking supplements. I am not a doctor. I don’t think I forgot any HN science disclaimers? Oh yea, what I love most about you guys here is you jump all over statements I’m making right now.)
Then you must take some rest. Get a good recharge of your batteries and get back on the field only when you got stronger. Enjoy life, eat well and move around a lot.
There's not really an "easy" answer which it seems a lot of people trying to get healthy want.
Exercising sucks.
Eventually you get good enough at it that you start to enjoy it-- I LOVE running now--but it's not without a fairly long period of pain and discomfort.
It's EXPONENTIALLY easier to gain the weight than it is to lose it. You can lose the weight through diet alone but that's itself incredibly difficult especially with a life of bad habits.
Exercising sucks.
Eventually you get good enough at it that you start to enjoy it-- I LOVE running now--but it's not without a fairly long period of pain and discomfort.
It's EXPONENTIALLY easier to gain the weight than it is to lose it. You can lose the weight through diet alone but that's itself incredibly difficult especially with a life of bad habits.
One problem is that I find exercise extremely boring. I need constant stimulation to keep attention away from pain. For some time I actually could get by with podcasts but after listening to few hundreds I started finding the same patterns and it was just boring again. In the end I had to listen to them at 4x speed to keep myself away from pain. Other "trick" was to exercise once pain killers kicked in, but they work so short periods now that I have to do work instead. Medical cannabis also helps but exercise does not feel comfortable. Still researching... wherever I sit I have weights within reach so I try to lift at least once but after a while I became blind to them and forget they exist.
> Exercising sucks.
Running sucks, rowing a little as well. Lifting weights, swimming, walking are all great almost from the get go.
Lifting weights is by far the best. You can keep a leisurely pace, have plenty of time to talk to people, listen to a podcast, or just fiddle with your phone between sets, so it's psychologically easier. You become stronger so you feel the benefits all the time. And you gain muscle which means your base metabolic rate goes up, you have much more latitude in your diet and room for lapses.
Most importantly (yes), you look better in the mirror. Both instantly thanks to the pump and in the long term. Which is by far the best motivation to show up again.
Running sucks, rowing a little as well. Lifting weights, swimming, walking are all great almost from the get go.
Lifting weights is by far the best. You can keep a leisurely pace, have plenty of time to talk to people, listen to a podcast, or just fiddle with your phone between sets, so it's psychologically easier. You become stronger so you feel the benefits all the time. And you gain muscle which means your base metabolic rate goes up, you have much more latitude in your diet and room for lapses.
Most importantly (yes), you look better in the mirror. Both instantly thanks to the pump and in the long term. Which is by far the best motivation to show up again.
I used to think running sucked until I took up soccer, apparently the 2 hours a week every summer and winter (not that I played the whole time, I was overweight and out of shape, maybe 20-30 minutes total) plus practices caused my form to improve. Shinsplints disappeared, and as I lost weight my knee pain disappeared. It's not for everyone, but working on form can make it a much more tolerable exercise if not enjoyable.
Rowing requires you to focus on form as well. If you can get the form down (legs, hips, arms, reverse) the motion becomes very smooth and the pain that remains isn't pain, just soreness and discomfort from the effort. It's still damned exhausting, but it's a great cardio and full body workout. Back pain is still possible, I have sciatica and it's occasionally triggered/made worse by my rowing, but on days when I let my form slack or when I've upped the difficulty for myself (changed resistance, added time, added intensity). But the strengthening of core muscles has overall reduced the frequency of my sciatica problems. Like with lifting (which I need to get back into) it builds up a good bit of muscle and helps raise the base metabolic rate, though not as dramatically. I also don't think I've ever had a more significant improvement in my cardio endurance than when using rowing as a frequent/key part of my routine (other than swimming, but shoulder issues have forced me to avoid that as a regular exercise, I can go 1-2 times a week for moderate distance and pace with breaks, but not the 3+ times of continuous swimming for 30-45 minutes I used to do; take care of your shoulders people).
You didn't mention cycling, but it's another good exercise that's very unlikely to cause issues for most people. Also nice if you can find a good cycling route/trail near your home or office, or find a cycling group in your area. Riding as a pack can help with safety and discovering routes (this is my plan for the spring this year, once I get my bike tuned up, since I'm still new-ish to this area). Cost is an issue, but there are a lot of people that buy nice bikes that never get ridden and sell them a couple years later. Clean it, tune it, and you've got a great bike at a discount. Keep it clean and tuned and it'll last you years. A good indoor trainer isn't expensive (though not cheap either) and can turn it into a nice year piece of exercise equipment (if you live in an area where winter riding is untenable for you, or with frequent summer rains).
Rowing requires you to focus on form as well. If you can get the form down (legs, hips, arms, reverse) the motion becomes very smooth and the pain that remains isn't pain, just soreness and discomfort from the effort. It's still damned exhausting, but it's a great cardio and full body workout. Back pain is still possible, I have sciatica and it's occasionally triggered/made worse by my rowing, but on days when I let my form slack or when I've upped the difficulty for myself (changed resistance, added time, added intensity). But the strengthening of core muscles has overall reduced the frequency of my sciatica problems. Like with lifting (which I need to get back into) it builds up a good bit of muscle and helps raise the base metabolic rate, though not as dramatically. I also don't think I've ever had a more significant improvement in my cardio endurance than when using rowing as a frequent/key part of my routine (other than swimming, but shoulder issues have forced me to avoid that as a regular exercise, I can go 1-2 times a week for moderate distance and pace with breaks, but not the 3+ times of continuous swimming for 30-45 minutes I used to do; take care of your shoulders people).
You didn't mention cycling, but it's another good exercise that's very unlikely to cause issues for most people. Also nice if you can find a good cycling route/trail near your home or office, or find a cycling group in your area. Riding as a pack can help with safety and discovering routes (this is my plan for the spring this year, once I get my bike tuned up, since I'm still new-ish to this area). Cost is an issue, but there are a lot of people that buy nice bikes that never get ridden and sell them a couple years later. Clean it, tune it, and you've got a great bike at a discount. Keep it clean and tuned and it'll last you years. A good indoor trainer isn't expensive (though not cheap either) and can turn it into a nice year piece of exercise equipment (if you live in an area where winter riding is untenable for you, or with frequent summer rains).
I guess it depends on the person.
I hate swimming more than running.
I love lifting weights but hated it for the first long while.
Walking, sure but I never considered that exercise, again depends on the person.
I hate swimming more than running.
I love lifting weights but hated it for the first long while.
Walking, sure but I never considered that exercise, again depends on the person.
That's extremely subjective. I for one hate anything stationary. They couldn't be anything worse than lifting.
This really depends on the issue. If, for example, you have a mobility issue, and walking directly hurt the mobility issue, then the solution is physio or massage to resolve the mobility issue.
But for your more garden variety “I am tired and my joints hurt” then exercise tends to be a virtuous circle. You push yourself to do a little, and it is rough, but it improves the body’s capacity. Then you feel a bit better later and can do more.
Being unhealthy is an equilibrium, and you can push yourself into a better equilibrium with exercise, food and sleep.
For 90% of people reading this what I wrote will be true. But you may be in the 10% where you have an underlying issue to fix first, so check with a physio and a doctor.
But for your more garden variety “I am tired and my joints hurt” then exercise tends to be a virtuous circle. You push yourself to do a little, and it is rough, but it improves the body’s capacity. Then you feel a bit better later and can do more.
Being unhealthy is an equilibrium, and you can push yourself into a better equilibrium with exercise, food and sleep.
For 90% of people reading this what I wrote will be true. But you may be in the 10% where you have an underlying issue to fix first, so check with a physio and a doctor.
Unless your physician is of the opinion that your particular issues would benefit from more rest, you first have to believe that exercise will (eventually) make your life better. And it's not a wild stretch, because all evidence points in that direction.
If you don't really believe that, man, it's super fucking hard and the first step has to be a psychological shift. I would wholeheartedly recommend a professional, if that is in the books for you.
If you do however believe that exercise will eventually improve your life, then make it harder to say no: Join a club, any club, that involves moving your body. Hire somebody, depending on where you live maybe insurance coverage will get you going for cheap/free.
The gains in the beginning are hard but boy do they come quick.
If you don't really believe that, man, it's super fucking hard and the first step has to be a psychological shift. I would wholeheartedly recommend a professional, if that is in the books for you.
If you do however believe that exercise will eventually improve your life, then make it harder to say no: Join a club, any club, that involves moving your body. Hire somebody, depending on where you live maybe insurance coverage will get you going for cheap/free.
The gains in the beginning are hard but boy do they come quick.
Ebike. Doesn’t feel like hard work but it’s so easy to do every day.
Have you tried changing your diet? Keto helped me a lot.
And then when you get to my late parent's age - mid 90s when they died, basically all your peers are dead. Al those people with shared memories of childhood and youth. No one to reminisce with.
They coped with it well, but it must be so weird.
They coped with it well, but it must be so weird.
Vice city had the best cast.
Apparently Vice City was a turning point for the franchise when it came to hiring big name cast members since apparently many of them were kinda full of themselves and hard to work with.
Not that this is really related.
Not that this is really related.
William Shatner - you say sabotage. I say sabotage.
They say the brightest rockstars die the quickest, but are the most beautiful. Rest in peace, it was a life not wasted.
I have spent many years of my life playing GTA. Starting from GTA1 all the way to GTA5. Definitely a generation defining series. Are they ever going to release GTA6?
RIP. Thanks for all the entertainment and joy you have brought me and my friends.
RIP. Thanks for all the entertainment and joy you have brought me and my friends.
Gordon Hall worked specifically on the mobile versions of GTA (like Chinatown wars) not the other canonical episodes in the series. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Theft_Auto:_Chinatown_Wa...)
The original GTA was from by David Jones and Mike Dailly, and the series were led by Rockstar North (ex-DMA design), not Rockstar Leeds.
The original GTA was from by David Jones and Mike Dailly, and the series were led by Rockstar North (ex-DMA design), not Rockstar Leeds.
There seems to be some confusion in the comments here. Rockstar Leeds [1] worked on mobile games (like the excellent GTA: Chinatown Wars) and ports of games from other Rockstar studios. It was founded as Möbius Entertainment and rebranded as Rockstar Leeds when Take Two acquired it for Rockstar. It is not the same studio that made GTA 1 - 5.
Still an enviable legacy - the studio made some of the best PSP games.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockstar_Leeds
Still an enviable legacy - the studio made some of the best PSP games.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockstar_Leeds
I listen to the Chinatown Wars remix track that MF Doom did with Ghostface Killah.
I also have the radio stations playing as I work sometimes. What a fantastic game.
I also have the radio stations playing as I work sometimes. What a fantastic game.
Most GTA games were developed by Rockstar North.
This reminds me of how the release of another confusion... when the release of Pokemon Go affected Nintendo's stock price. https://time.com/4421450/pokemon-go-nintendo-shares-tokyo/
This reminds me of how the release of another confusion... when the release of Pokemon Go affected Nintendo's stock price. https://time.com/4421450/pokemon-go-nintendo-shares-tokyo/
I played Chinatown Wars on iPhone, and it was the only ever GTA series game which I didn't get bored of after half an hour. I finished the whole thing, and went back for more. Great game.
I remember watching this video (initially posted in 2009) with Gordon Hall discussing what R* was looking for programmer wise:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7G15hTiOZWw&ab_channel=ATM
wasted... j/k.
Not appropriate.
Really? This is literally the death screen game message. And I think the head of a bunch of studios that was pushing the limits about R rated gaming content would appreciate it as a tribute, not take offense.
I understand what is is. I don't think it's appropriate.
Nes afe doacae picwss.
51? WTF?! What was the cause of death?
Has not been made public, as far as I can tell.
Buried by the so-called British Broadcasting Corporation in the UK regional news section, yet if he'd been some random US 'rapper' his death would've been on the front page.
That's because it isn't worthy of anything beyond the regional news at this time? It might make it onto the national TV news as a short segment, but currently the the Everard case is taking up a lot of space and the obit slot is taken up by Murray Walker who sadly recently died.
Taylor Swift’s Tweets are front page at this point.
No they aren't?
Currently the BBC news front page is dominated by reporting of a very dramatic murder case, for example.
https://snipboard.io/1YdnX8.jpg
Currently the BBC news front page is dominated by reporting of a very dramatic murder case, for example.
https://snipboard.io/1YdnX8.jpg
Yes, "at this point" doesn't mean "literally this second". "This point" just means "this far past the threshold of lazy, shallow journalism". Not a point in time.
Her Tweet about Netflix was on the BBC front page a few days ago, on a day I'm sure many other murders happened.
Even if you didn't see that one, surely you saw a ton of space dedicated to the minutiae of silly Royal drama worthy of the tabloid press. Every minor comment received a brand new front page bump.
Her Tweet about Netflix was on the BBC front page a few days ago, on a day I'm sure many other murders happened.
Even if you didn't see that one, surely you saw a ton of space dedicated to the minutiae of silly Royal drama worthy of the tabloid press. Every minor comment received a brand new front page bump.
Those other murders weren't committed by a police officer.
What does that have to do with anything? That story wasn't even known at the time of the Tweet. I'm comparing the prominence that the Tweet was given with that of any other murder in the period it was on the front page.
Unless your ranking goes police officer murder > Taylor Swift Tweet > regular murder?
Even now, the front page is tracking Twitter rather than reality. There are multiple articles about women being unsafe on the streets of the UK, and how no-one cares about their plight. Women aren't even close to the most at-risk demographic for violent attacks. But that hashtag isn't trending, so who cares, I suppose.
That's what news = engagement gets you. You can't use the BBC or most modern news to get any sense of the relative magnitudes of society's issues. Rather, you get a feedback loop of the same topics that social media algos push.
Unless your ranking goes police officer murder > Taylor Swift Tweet > regular murder?
Even now, the front page is tracking Twitter rather than reality. There are multiple articles about women being unsafe on the streets of the UK, and how no-one cares about their plight. Women aren't even close to the most at-risk demographic for violent attacks. But that hashtag isn't trending, so who cares, I suppose.
That's what news = engagement gets you. You can't use the BBC or most modern news to get any sense of the relative magnitudes of society's issues. Rather, you get a feedback loop of the same topics that social media algos push.
Twitter itself also being heavily promoted by the BBC, on almost every page
https://i.ibb.co/fMVXY2n/image.png
https://i.ibb.co/fMVXY2n/image.png
Yeah, a not-insignificant number of their articles are also just an embedded Tweet with some archive text about the people involved. I wonder if they're generating some 'articles' algorithmically.
After years of lurking & a few throwaways, this is my first comment on HN as myself.
Few people we meet stand out in such a way as Gordon did for me. Unfortunately it too often takes tragic life updates to have these fleeting connections return to the surface of your daily thoughts.
Gordon was just some guy I met who was a) in the games industry and b) hosting a (killer btw) party at SIGGRAPH 2009 in New Orleans. I had shown up looking for a job in gfx like a year too early - and got this party invite instead. Foreign concept to my engineer brain that those two were actually not only related but often on the same path... which Gordon took the time to explain to me over shots of “I don’t even know what” while overlooking Bourbon St & the still ongoing party shenanigans inside. After another half hour of “but seriously though how does one make games for a living” crash course, I left that party lighter than air.
Fast forward more than a decade and I still qualify that as one of my favorite days ever.
A few minutes given freely can make a seriously outsized difference. Take the time. Pay it forward. You’re already a mentor to more people than you think.
Thanks Gordon. Rest easy.
Few people we meet stand out in such a way as Gordon did for me. Unfortunately it too often takes tragic life updates to have these fleeting connections return to the surface of your daily thoughts.
Gordon was just some guy I met who was a) in the games industry and b) hosting a (killer btw) party at SIGGRAPH 2009 in New Orleans. I had shown up looking for a job in gfx like a year too early - and got this party invite instead. Foreign concept to my engineer brain that those two were actually not only related but often on the same path... which Gordon took the time to explain to me over shots of “I don’t even know what” while overlooking Bourbon St & the still ongoing party shenanigans inside. After another half hour of “but seriously though how does one make games for a living” crash course, I left that party lighter than air.
Fast forward more than a decade and I still qualify that as one of my favorite days ever.
A few minutes given freely can make a seriously outsized difference. Take the time. Pay it forward. You’re already a mentor to more people than you think.
Thanks Gordon. Rest easy.