Mike Fahey’s bio on Kotaku read, “Lover of video games, keyboards, toys, snacks and other unsavory things.” All of this is true, as any of his legion of commited readers could tell you. But in one of the all time great Fahey pieces, he offered an even better description: “I am a 6’6” man with a vivid imagination and strange thought processes.”
This is the Fahey that his readers truly knew – a gentle, sweet-natured giant with a brilliant mind and an eye for the angle that nobody else had thought of – a willingness to monitor a situation and just see where it went.
Fahey died last week at 49 after a long illness. He was a generous, ingenious, and kind writer whose posts always left you feeling happier – and more curious about things – than you had felt when you started reading them. He did indeed love snacks and toys and keyboards, of which he reviewed plenty. He loved video games, which he covered with perceptiveness, originality, and great care.
There are too many great Fahey pieces to choose from – and if you’re like us, you can spend happy hours just paging through his work. For newcomers, though, and old fans alike, if we had to select one piece to remember him by, it’s the legendary article we quoted above, which sets out to explain how he ended up with an Xbox One game box stuck to his ceiling.
Thanks for everything, Mike Fahey.
Mike Fahey is survived by his partner and two children. There’s a Gofundme page to assist the family here.
www.eurogamer.net
