R.I.P. Billy "Wicked" Wilson - Dead at 33 :-(

Thing is, VoodooExtreme and Billy's unique style were part of what made the scene great back in the day.

These days (with the notable exceptions) gaming / tech news websites are bland and corporate on a good day and an absolute bore fest at their worst. Between everyone being scared they're going to offend someone else and corporate entities being unwilling to stray from a cookie cutter web presence, there's nothing really like VoodooExtreme anymore. Kyle and his up front no BS style of reporting are the only thing that really remains of that heydey and it's why [H] is the first and last site I still visit every day.

Sometimes I really would like to just go back twenty years and re-live those glory days. Half-Life DM, Action Half-Life, Q2DM, endless hours on IRC trading files and barbs, the [H]ardForums before we all got old and less risque. Steve in a bra, Lenanna in her Twister dress, Kyle Bannit photochop contests with me and mark24, lantec's 10k desk, AYBABTU, and so many more memories.... good times. :)
 
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NoxTek said:
Thing is, VoodooExtreme and Billy's unique style were part of what made the scene great back in the day.

These days (with the notable exceptions) gaming / tech news websites are bland and corporate on a good day and an absolute bore fest at their worst. Between everyone being scared they're going to offend someone else and corporate entities being unwilling to stray from a cookie cutter web presence, there's nothing really like VoodooExtreme anymore. Kyle and his up front no BS style of reporting are the only thing that really remains of that heydey and it's why [H] is the first and last site I still visit every day.

Sometimes I really would like to just go back twenty years and re-live those glory days. Half-Life DM, Action Half-Life, Q2DM, endless hours on IRC trading files and barbs, the [H]ardForums before we all got old and less risque. Steve in a bra, Lenanna in her Twister dress, Kyle Bannit photochop contests with me and mark24, lantec's 10k desk, AYBABTU, and so many more memories.... good times. :)
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Man, I definitely agree. Nowadays, 90 percent of gaming and tech news is so fucking stale and boring. It's all the same shit. I mean, obviously I was too young to comprehend that type of stuff when i was a kid. But thinking about it now, I really wish that some how. I could go back in time, but still have the mentality of 21 year old me. I would have loved to see the glory days. My father was a unique person forsure. He was the funniest, wittiest man I've ever known. I remember being a kid, laughing my ass off just from my father simply speaking about trivial things. I feel like he'd be proud though, I'm a massive PC gamer. With honestly my dream PC. Funny story. My father would make me sit there for hours on end, typing on the computer. I was like 4 years old keep in mind. Maybe 5 when this started. I would be required to type a certain amount of WPM. He wanted me to be faster than anyone my age. And it worked, even at that age I loved doing it. In 4th grade I could type 110 wpm. Due to my legendary father.
 
I very specifically remember how proud your Dad was of you, the light shined through all the posts he spoke of you. He was a great guy, a pioneer, a leader and unique person. All this is especially more apparent in hindsight, as the net has changed and I've matured.

I was a little argumentative asshole over at VE3D, but damn I enjoyed those days.
 
Dr. Righteous said:
Wow! Did he drink?
Even if not sometimes it can be a congenital condition.
Life is Soooooo Short. :(
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He died from acetaminophen (tylenol) poisoning. It basicly caused his liver to stop functioning. He was taking it for tension headaches, and it eventually caused liver failure which left toxins in his system. This created a build up of fluid in his brain which led to brain swelling and eventually brain damage. The plug was pulled after it was determined all brain function has ceased.
 
Kinsaras said:
He died from acetaminophen (tylenol) poisoning. It basicly caused his liver to stop functioning. He was taking it for tension headaches, and it eventually caused liver failure which left toxins in his system. This created a build up of fluid in his brain which led to brain swelling and eventually brain damage. The plug was pulled after it was determined all brain function has ceased.
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Holy shit that is terrible-I saw this thread in the newsfeed and I was like WTF-then was reminded of the good ole VE days back almost 20 years ago!
 
Billy was super cool. I too frequented the website back in the day. I remember I noticed one day that on my browser, the icon for VE was the VE binky icon (think that's what he called the little voodoo doll). I sent him an email asking him about it and he was super cool and told me how he added the icon to the browser via html and how exactly to do it. Was one of the first sites that I noticed did it and the binky icon rotated regularly.
 
Kinsaras said:
He died from acetaminophen (tylenol) poisoning. It basicly caused his liver to stop functioning. He was taking it for tension headaches, and it eventually caused liver failure which left toxins in his system. This created a build up of fluid in his brain which led to brain swelling and eventually brain damage. The plug was pulled after it was determined all brain function has ceased.
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maybe a bit more tact at the end there...


Verge said:
is this necro? or a newcro
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this is a special case where the necro is cool.
 
Wow I feel old after seeing this again. VE was one of the first internet sites on hw I visited along with hardocp back in the late 90s. It was thanks to the [H] and VE that I got a job at nvidia back in the day. Your dad was interesting and inspiration to a ton of us.
 
Thanks for posting in this thread Dax. Your dad ran a nice site that I hit up quite a few times.
 
DaxWickedWilson said:
Haha I figured it would definitely bring back some memories for the guys who were around during the voodoo extreme golden age.
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Yeah, I am glad this thread was necro'd, I followed VE back in the day as well. Like many others, it was one of my favorite stops while Billy was involved. And like many others, I stopped following when Billy left. I count it a blessing that we can count his son among the members here and some part of him is still reflected in this world.
 
Slade said:
Wow I feel old after seeing this again. VE was one of the first internet sites on hw I visited along with hardocp back in the late 90s. It was thanks to the [H] and VE that I got a job at nvidia back in the day. Your dad was interesting and inspiration to a ton of us.
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It's so badass knowing how much of an interesting and Inspirational figure he was!
 
Kinsaras said:
He died from acetaminophen (tylenol) poisoning. It basicly caused his liver to stop functioning. He was taking it for tension headaches, and it eventually caused liver failure which left toxins in his system. This created a build up of fluid in his brain which led to brain swelling and eventually brain damage. The plug was pulled after it was determined all brain function has ceased.
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Kinsaras said:
He died from acetaminophen (tylenol) poisoning. It basicly caused his liver to stop functioning. He was taking it for tension headaches, and it eventually caused liver failure which left toxins in his system. This created a build up of fluid in his brain which led to brain swelling and eventually brain damage. The plug was pulled after it was determined all brain function has ceased.
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Yep. That's right. He had a huge problem with painkillers for years. After many attempts at treatment. He finally got sober. He was living with his brother in an apartment. I had just seen him maybe 3 days before. He took some tylenol for a headache. And just went directly into a coma. The years of drug abuse really destroyed his liver. And that final tylonal just did it. Unfortunately. He was in a a coma for quite some time. Until eventually we had to pull the plug.
 
merlin704 said:
Seeing Billy's son posting in this thread and talking about his dad got me all teary eyed.
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It does feel pretty surreal (in a damn good way). Its just cool knowing how well known he was. I didnt know how massive his site was until I was older. Man, if I was my age now, only back then. I would have helped on that site.
 
Man, thanks for the forgotten memories ...

Had totally forgotten about Voodooextreme .... my favorite gaming site from way way back in the day.

I even went back to the wayback machine to see some old screen shots and nothing ....
 
SixFootDuo said:
Man, thanks for the forgotten memories ...

Had totally forgotten about Voodooextreme .... my favorite gaming site from way way back in the day.

I even went back to the wayback machine to see some old screen shots and nothing ....
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Ya it was my pleasure man!
 
Have to re-necro this thread. I am sorry to say I never realized until today that Billy had passed away. I remember VE fondly and visited the site regularly. I have great respect for him and other 'first gen' gaming sites because people like Billy did what they did out of love. Yes, some of the guys from that era ended up selling out for $$$ (their prerogative), but the mid to late 90's was a time I look back on fondly as a more pure Internet full of passion before so much of it became soulless and commercialized.

Anyhow, sorry for being very very late to this but wanted to pay my respects.
 
Came across this thread and wanted to remark. I visited Voodoo Extreme daily for years, amongst several other sites (slashdot, riva128, rage3d.com [still exists actually]). The closing of VE3D severed a connection with gaming for me, not that I stopped gaming, but the elements of interviews with people like Brian Hook and details on development and 3D rendering technologies I lost track of. People have commented, but a few things were notable about VE3D. The humor from Mr. Wilson and others at the site was a nice way to deliver what could be dry content. The little abstract summaries were quickly digestible and the mix of reviews of hardware and software along with coverage of major events was fairly comprehensive. There was definitely a lot of talent involved in the development and implementation of that site. The melding and eventual dissolution into IGN was disappointing. In any case, I miss Voodoo Extreme and that era of gaming.
 
kohl said:
Have to re-necro this thread. I am sorry to say I never realized until today that Billy had passed away. I remember VE fondly and visited the site regularly. I have great respect for him and other 'first gen' gaming sites because people like Billy did what they did out of love. Yes, some of the guys from that era ended up selling out for $$$ (their prerogative), but the mid to late 90's was a time I look back on fondly as a more pure Internet full of passion before so much of it became soulless and commercialized.

Anyhow, sorry for being very very late to this but wanted to pay my respects.
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Yes. Gaming was still nerds then. Political correctness has also infected everything today. Annoying world.
 
Eyeball Kid said:
One of his staff managed to snatch the domain name as far as I can, full details never really came out. There was a bit of mud throwing on the site from the snatcher, claiming he couldn't work under the conditions anymore, and I believe he had gone to IGN behind Billy's back - all in the name of keeping a quality site, of course. Now look at the corporate crap it's become. Anyway, Billy still had the url ve3d.com so he shared his thoughts for a while, but the whole thing was never fully explained.
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Exactly what happened to deviantART back in the day. The main owner, Scott, got the entire site swiped by one of the lead programmers, Angelo. Literally a hostile takeover. They banned a bunch of the old, original members when it happened too, including me.
 
I ran the Sims side of Voodoo Extreme for a while - then the shenanigans happened, first with Sharky, then the rest. I ended up running my own site for a little bit but my full time job ended up me just spinning it into a gaming clan and being done with reviews. The community in general had changed - it was no longer the snarky individuals like Billy, but the corporate whitewashed bullshit for advertising.

Billy was a lot of fun. One of the things that caused the split was his refusal to give a thumbs up to a 3dfx-based video card. I was trading emails with him one night and man, he was spitting nails over [redacted] being insistent we say the card was top notch to not lose review samples and ad dollars. Billy - rightfully - was arguing that doing so would lose the trust of the community. Alas... those days are over.

I was thinking about him yesterday. I had lost touch with him when my job just started eating more and more of my time, and hadn't talked to him in a while when I found out about his passing. It really caught me - I knew he had some health issues but having lost touch with him, it was out of the blue. Really made me think about just how much life I had invested in corp life - financially rewarding, emotionally empty.

Hard to believe that was nearly two decades ago. RIP, Billy.

- Mindflayer
ExtremeSIMS
 
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