Well, I hate days like this. The New York Times reports that Tom Clancy died yesterday after being ill for a brief period of time.

If you don't know who Tom Clancy is, then you're clearly not a fan of tactical military games. You can't honestly be much of a gamer at all, really. His name is plastered on just about every shooter published by Ubisoft these days.

The man was more than just a name on a game cover, though. During his time, he wrote a whole bunch of successful novels that mostly involved espionage, counter-terrorism and other military themes. Many of these novels have since been adapted to movies and games. Clancy even helped found a game studio along with a British submarine captain; Red Storm Entertainment. One of my favorite developers back in the day, Red Storm made the original Ghost Recon and Rainbow Six games before the acquisition by Ubisoft.

I honestly don't know what more to say. Tom Clancy, one of my great inspirations during my teenage years, has abruptly passed away. It just sucks. It really, really sucks.