14 DAY TRIAL // Sad day over at Rockstar's development studio, as Joseph J.M. Howell, who carried out a lot of work on the company's most popular titles including the Grand Theft Auto series and Manhunt, has recently passed away, with no cause of death established so far.
There's really no room for comments here... The man had a wife and two kids (which he probably loved very much and from whom he was loved back), had a great job within one of the biggest video games producing companies in the world, and just died one day, under strange circumstances (or so we deduce) as no cause of death has been established for the time being. Had the man suffered from any illness, or had he been in an accident, the news would have mentioned it, but just as we're reporting it to you, Rockstar's Joseph J.M. Howell, age 35, simply passed away.
Here's what the obituary reads in part:
"Joseph enjoyed a successful career as creative associate for video game developer Rockstar Games, a division of Take Two Interactive. he was a staunch defender of Civil Rights and Liberties especially for the underprivileged. Funeral Mass Saturday, September 29, 11:00 A.M., at St. Patrick's Church, Glen Cove. Interment private. In lieu of flowers donations may be made to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention www.afsp.org or the American Civil Liberties Union www.aclu.org."
And just as spong.com mentions, "the anti-violent video games lobby" should really be able to show equal respect for the passing away of a person who worked on some of the world's most famous video games, (at least the GTA series if not Manhunt). It's not Rockstar's problem that people get the wrong idea from video games that are more than just soap bubbles to pop and bugs to squash.