Memorial fund set-up for Relic dev

By Robert Purchese Published 10 September, 2010

Donations welcomed by pregnant widow.

A memorial fund has been set-up for Brian Wood, the Relic developer who died in a tragic car crash late last week.

Donations will go to Wood's pregnant widow Erin, who's due to give birth on 5th November.

Brian Wood, 33, was killed when an SUV veered into his path because the driver - 21-year-old Jordyn Weichert - was changing out of her sweater. She was also thought to have been on drugs.

Wood apparently slammed on the breaks and swerved so as to protect his pregnant wife and baby. Erin Wood suffered a non-life threatening injury and is recovering.

Weichert, also alive and well, is being held in custody and awaits formal charges of three counts of vehicular manslaughter (two male passengers in her SUV died) and one count of vehicular assault.

Brian Wood worked for Relic Entertainment on Company of Heroes Online.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (63) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Haloboy #1 1 year ago

    Here we go again.

  • djed #2 1 year ago

    jesus christ

  • Benno #3 1 year ago

    Everybody, take a deep breath and calm down.

  • MiniAmin #4 1 year ago

    Thanks for posting this EG. I don't care hysteria or insensitive posters or meaningless criticism. I'll donate.

  • dfua #5 1 year ago

    It's a nice gesture and good to see Eurogamer letting people know about it.

    Just remove the mistake please! - "Brain Wood, 33"
    Edited by 1 at 10/09/10 @ 16:09

  • Haloboy #6 1 year ago

    Donated.

    Not to make myself look big or overly compassionate but because Relic are one of my favourite devs and have brought me a lot of gaming related joy and happiness over the years. This is me recognising that plain and simple fact. Thanks Brian and co.

  • Bertie Verified Senior Staff Writer, Eurogamer.net #7 1 year ago

    Typo edited, apologies.

  • coolbritannia #8 1 year ago

    Guess I'll start then. You'd have been better giving the money to the Pakistan flood appeal, the dead cannot be helped, the living however need your support to survive. When I die, I want contributions to charity.

    Other than that, no further comment from me apart from if you want to neg me, donate £1 to Pakistan.

    edit: don't plus me you cheap bastards :-)
    Edited by 1 at 10/09/10 @ 16:41

  • BabyJesus #9 1 year ago

    Kudos to EG for posting this, the more people that know about this the better. I've donated what little I could.

  • Haloboy #10 1 year ago

    Of course there are more deserving causes our money can go towards. But as of right now I'm not sat browsing a world news website relating to Pakistan, I'm on a gaming news website relating to a developer who lost his life at a very early age and was survived by his wife and daughter in a horrible car accident.

    Forgive me if I don't donate money to every single needy cause currently in existence. I couldn't even if I tried.

  • onezeonx #11 1 year ago

    tbh it was really sad to hear this news but THIS IS TO MUCH NOW

    Reporting his death on a gaming site was just about acceptable but funds??
    A little to much IMO

    Wonder will we get updates on baby scans etc

    RIP all the same

  • Haloboy #12 1 year ago

    @ onezeonx

    I think you'll find if anything was a bit too much it was your comment concerning baby scans.

  • onezeonx #13 1 year ago

    @EB

    lol yeah nice comeback hunny
    go "care" about other things that people tell you to.....chump

  • captainrentboy #14 1 year ago

    Wow, this is a lovely little comments section considering the story itself. Good job guys :/

  • mumblyjoe #15 1 year ago

    I know it's sad and all but there a far worthier causes to donate money too. If other sites around the interwebs are to be believed anyway this guy wasn't exactly short of a few quid.

  • dwalker109 #16 1 year ago

    This is one of the few things which I feel it is best to keep quiet on if you have a dissenting opinion, as it is a pretty emotional (not sensitive, emotional) subject.

    You don't have to donate, and there isn't a scale of relative worth when it comes to where you choose to donate.

    And poorer people don't have a monopoly on fundraising. How affluent the man was is just irrelevant.
    Edited by 3 at 10/09/10 @ 17:36

  • Retroid #17 1 year ago

    Can I just remind people to have a bit of sense and decorum?

    Cheers.

  • mumblyjoe #18 1 year ago

    You can't seriously expect this place to have more than 2 nice comments in a row? Can you?

  • Retroid #19 1 year ago

    I can hope!

  • ExplodingClown #20 1 year ago

    Also please correct - cars have 'brakes', not 'breaks'.

  • Bahumet #21 1 year ago

    @retroid

    Well done. Personally I'd hate for his widow to read some of the comments on this page. Donate or not, its your choice - just remember that at the end of all this, a man died in tragic circumstances and there is a child that will grow up without a father.

  • Golgo #22 1 year ago

    A very close colleague's son died of cancer (actually not of cancer, but of the chemotherapy: chemo killed the cancer and the man) this week, likewise with an 8 month pregnant girlfriend. Unfortunately neither we as a company, nor they as a family, are rich enough to set up a memorial fund.

  • LazyNinjaUk #23 1 year ago

    This is the first I have read about this, I haven't been to up on gaming news lately but I was really saddened to read this. Being involved in the games industry makes this all the more prominent, as you know how much hard work, creativity and dedication everyone puts in to their work every day.

    Reading that the last thing Brian did was to do everything he could to save his family really got me choked up, I can only hope that this Jordyn Weichert realises the gravity of her actions.

  • chrisola #24 1 year ago

    Remember kids, go out with a bang that people can write great news headlines about and you will get money for your family and lots of people you never met saying how tragic your death was.

    But go quietly without a fuss and you may not even get a goodbye from the community you were part of.

  • coolbritannia #25 1 year ago

    I'm inviting musicians and artists from the 'community' to perform on the charity single. Seriously, get a grip, again! A lad I used to babysit for died in a car crash at 17. He had no unborn baby to carry on his family line, and his mother got hit by the news of his death about 2 hours after her husband said he was leaving her, and about an hour before she was told her Cancer was terminal. I attended 2 funerals in very close succession and she died a very miserable person. Stories like this are replicated every day throughout the world, and none of you give a shit unless it's spoon fed to you by the media who only latch on to the story as there's an 'angle' they can use to generate page hits and ultimately make them more money.

  • Retroid #26 1 year ago

    Yes, people die all the time. The world is not filled with happy double rainbows (all the way) etc. but FFS, why piss on someone else's bad news?

    Why not just leave it alone and read other stories on this site and others?

  • coolbritannia #27 1 year ago

    To be honest if you put me on ignore due to my last post you're proving my point...

  • MiniAmin #28 1 year ago

    Stories like this are replicated every day throughout the world, and none of you give a shit unless it's spoon fed to you by the media who only latch on to the story as there's an 'angle' they can use to generate page hits and ultimately make them more money.

    People show empathy (or "give a shit";) when the person who's died has some relationship with a given community. We wouldn't be able to operate with we showed compassion towards every single person who dies in tragic circumstances. What we can do is be compassionate to those immediately close to us, or figureheads which we respect in our community.

  • SheffieldSteel #29 1 year ago

    You'd have been better giving the money to the Pakistan flood appeal, the dead cannot be helped, the living however need your support to survive.

    The money is going to go to his widow and child, who are alive, and also without their family breadwinner. I honestly don't think that these causes are in competition with one another - who has donated to this appeal money that they would otherwise have sent to Pakistan? - and I don't think it's very productive to try to suggest that there is, or ought to be, such a competition.

    Just let people give money, if that seems like a good deed to them. Rather like religion and gay marriage, the life choices that other people make do not in fact threaten or invalidate your own choices.

  • riceNpea #30 1 year ago

    coolbritannia really can't help himself can he? just like the other article about Brian dying he just has to be contrary to the tone for effect. who he's trying to impress? i don't know the guy but he makes it easy for me to believe that i wouldn't like him.

    are you really that desperate for attention? what's it like to be you?

  • el_pollo_diablo #31 1 year ago

    Well people can donate to whatever they want, and given the press inches that the terrible flooding in Pakistan is getting, I'm sure you'll agree that mentioning this on a games website is both appropriate and unlikely to prevent people from donating to both if they so feel inclined.

    What a prat.

  • Lovemoose #32 1 year ago

    Comments on stories like this should be turned off. It's too much to hope these days that people can be trusted to make
    understanding, empathetic and reasonable comments, so it's best not to give them the opportunity.

    Except for one reason: for every hateful comment, I've added a bit more to my donation.

  • HistoryTeller #33 1 year ago

    @ Sheffieldstel

    You have a very good point. Hope more people would Think like you do.

    To the rest: I feel bad being a human and reading the things you say. Hope Your families stays well and happy.

  • TheNinkyNonk #34 1 year ago

    I'm assuming EG will donate proceeds generated from the number of clicks they're had on pages related to this article?

  • coolbritannia #35 1 year ago

    SheffieldSteel, we're in the same city. That dev was pretty well off, his life insurance must be paying a pretty penny too. The narcissism displayed by the community in this thread is what I find tasteless.

  • Sweefyt #36 1 year ago

    Are you serious? Millions of people are dying from poverty, oppressive regimes, hunger and diseases that have been cured for several decades, and people actually believe donating to this upper middle class white broad is something to advertise in a comment on a Eurogamer article?

    What the Jesus fuck is wrong with you? If ever I again want to argue that philanthropy is masturbation, I'll just point them to this sorry pile of self-indulgent critters.

    Oh, and to the Moderators that believe censoring individuals calling out the stupidity of this article is appropriate: Wow. Just. Wow.
    Edited by 1 at 11/09/10 @ 08:04

  • Lovemoose #37 1 year ago

    Approximately 5% of my monthly incoming goes out charitable giving. I reserve the right to give it to whomever I choose.

    The only reason I'll mention I've donated to this is to annoy you ignorant, arrogant fucks who purport to have any semblance of care for other causes.

    One can only hope that if you or yours need similar help one day that people in a position to help you aren't quite so fucking judgemental.

  • Sweefyt #38 1 year ago

    I have enough character and self-respect to not want random strangers to masturbate all over me under a pretense of charity.

    And I reserve the right to call you a douche for trying to make me give a shit about what you do with your money.
    Edited by 1 at 11/09/10 @ 08:22

  • Lovemoose #39 1 year ago

    "And I reserve the right to call you a douche for trying to make me give a shit about what you do with your money"

    And I, you.

  • Kanselier #40 1 year ago

    @Sweefyt

    What have those oppressed, dying, starving from hunger people done for me lately?

    Sounds harsh? Perhaps but I try to make a point. Brian Wood (33) gave me and the community some of the best RTS games ever created. I can not shake his hand anymore, I do not earn enough to take care of his wife and unborn child for him. The least I can do is support the/his foundation. I have yet to receive a reply to my mail asking what te foundation is all about but I imagine it is something "good".

    So, again. What have those oppressed, dying, starving from hunger people done for me lately? Nothing, and therefor I do not care.

  • Goodfella #41 1 year ago

    That's even worse, the fact that you think they have to have done something worthy enough to 'earn' your donation.

  • SilverInfinity #42 1 year ago

    @chrisola

    "Remember kids, go out with a bang that people can write great news headlines about and you will get money for your family and lots of people you never met saying how tragic your death was.

    But go quietly without a fuss and you may not even get a goodbye from the community you were part of. "

    TBH when I read this it sickened me to the stomach :( I have no opinion either way but am saddened when reading about any tragic loss of life like this.
    Edited by 1 at 11/09/10 @ 13:13

  • coolbritannia #43 1 year ago

    Kanselier, you are truly an abhorrent human being.

  • alcides #44 1 year ago

    "memorial fund"?

    What the heck is that? My husband died, give me money now?

    edit: that was a genuine question! Also, people die everyday. Sorry I'm not familiar with the concept, but you should expect that such a broad readership as EUROPEANS may not be accustomed to the practice. Even so, why should WE care.
    Edited by 1 at 11/09/10 @ 16:03

  • coolbritannia #45 1 year ago

    Yeah, to help us all remember the guy we never met....

  • Retroid #46 1 year ago

    So many people doing such a good job of helping the social reputation of gamers everywhere.

    You must be very proud.

  • riceNpea #47 1 year ago

    coolbritannia - " The narcissism displayed by the community in this thread is what I find tasteless. "

    and yet you think this is a 'tasteful' comment...

    coolbritannia - " Yeah, to help us all remember the guy we never met...."


    you say people here are dispalying narcissism? who here has been showing an inordinate fascination with them self as narcissism would suggest? let's see...

    coolbritannia - " I'm inviting musicians and artists from the 'community' to perform on the charity single. Seriously, get a grip, again!"

    coolbritannia - " When I die, I want contributions to charity....Other than that, no further comment from me apart from if you want to neg me "

    coolbritannia - " A lad I used to babysit for died in a car crash at 17....I attended 2 funerals in very close succession "

    coolbritannia - " SheffieldSteel, we're in the same city. "


    why do you pollute this thread? you try to pass yourself of as the disaffected voice of those who find this article sensationalist and yet you do it in such a way that exposes you as immature and preposterous. you're inconsistent, obnoxious, antipathetic, unpleasant and conceited.

    it sucks to be you.

  • TitusCrow #48 1 year ago

    Maybe we should take some time to think about everybody that needs help, yes its awe inspiring isn't it. We realise of course that without changes to the very system that the world will essentially stay the same today as it was yesterday, or if anything get a little worse.

    This is no reason to choose to ignore the one part of the human spirit that is worth extolling or venerating; the altruism for our fellow man, for no other reason that it is the right thing to do. Charity when truly given, sometimes has far reaching ripples. It promotes the idea that man is a being who managed to raise himself beyond his fellow animals, up from the mire of "nature red in tooth and claw" to become self aware and understand the dream of community.

    By helping those in need we make it a little bit more difficult to perpetrate the lie that social Darwinism is humans natural state and that by being uncaring to your fellow man you are merely following some ingrained nature. Rubbish! - we are people and we care about one another, its good for us to care, its good for there to be the idea of caring and its certainly good for those in need to be cared for.

    Do not make this a issue of complexity, it does not need to be. You either wish to help or do not, if you wish to help and have finite moneys you must make a choice on who you help. No amount of help is either useless, or less meaningful that other forms and it is not lessened because you can't help all good causes.

  • Kanselier #49 1 year ago

    @coolbritannia

    "Kanselier, you are truly an abhorrent human being."

    Why? Because you do not agree with what I said? After this one post all of a sudden you feel you have the knowledge to conclude I am a truly abhorrent human being.

    Bit fast with the judgment there.

  • qwertymz #50 1 year ago

    Worst. Tagline. Ever.

  • coolbritannia #51 1 year ago

    'So many people doing such a good job of helping the social reputation of gamers everywhere.

    You must be very proud.'

    I think you're missing my point Retroid. Gaming is often vilified in the press for not having a social conscience, a la hot coffee and no Russian. Here we have gamers being encouraged to make donations to a relatively wealthy widow as the deceased was part of 'the community'. You cannot deny that there are hundreds of thousands of more deserving causes here. By all means be socially responsible, see the bigger picture. The world does not revolve around gaming, it is a trivial pastime.

  • Retroid #52 1 year ago

    @coolbritannia

    I disagree with your point on repeatedly stating your opposition to these articles, but at least you're putting your point decently.

  • coolbritannia #53 1 year ago

    Yeah Retroid likewise, I don't agree with your point of view, but I respect how you say it. I enjoy debating with you sir.

  • Vroom #54 1 year ago

    I'm embarrassed by some of the responses here. Embarrassed that I am in some very small way associated with them.

    R.I.P. Well done for posting.

  • lockload #55 1 year ago

    The fund is there becuase the wife probably has no income since her husband is now dead

    RIP
    Edited by 1 at 12/09/10 @ 15:07

  • Plewt #56 1 year ago

    'Cause women don't work amirite?

  • coolbritannia #57 1 year ago

    That's what life insurance is for...

  • FWB #58 1 year ago

    RIP. Enjoyed your games.

  • kosigan #59 1 year ago

    Typos in the article: "set-up" should be "set up" and "breaks" should be "brakes".

  • shen #60 1 year ago

    I am sad for Brian Wood, his wife and baby to be (like everyone else on this thread, I have lost people I love).

    These stories are completely inappropriate for this site.

  • FWB #61 1 year ago

    Why is it inappropriate? A musician dies, the NME covers it. A footballer dies, you can rest assured a footie site will cover it. The guy was a game designer and this is a games site.

  • shen #62 1 year ago

    @FWB
    That is a fair question, well put. I think the difference is that we identify with footballers and musicians as personalities, where as except for a select few (Miyamoto, Molyneux etc) most people, even if they are interested in games know little about the people behind the games we play.
    Whether that is right or not could be argued, and it may change in the future. But for the moment far more people know something about Lady Gaga and Ryan Giggs than almost any of the hundreds thousands of individuals in the gaming industry.
    Football and pop music promote personalities, and as a result people identify with those personalities.

  • eiocreative #63 1 year ago

    The comments here are in large part a disgrace and it's a poor reflection on our industry when a leading gaming website can't post a single story with an adult, human angle without the childish and insensitive comments that followed. I am 32 and my girlfriend is pregnant. If you don't have the decency to comment respectfully then don't bother as your opinions are neither welcome or relevant.

    My thoughts are with his wife and child.