Tango Down! Tom Clancy dies at 66

[KaOTiK]

http://www.businessinsider.com/tom-clancy-dead-celebrated-thriller-author-dies-at-age-66-2013-10

While he is most known for his books too most of the world, many of us here think of Rainbow Six, Ghost Recon, and Splinter Cell when we see his name. Granted he pretty much had nothing to do with the games for awhile now and Ubisoft ran them into the ground for the most part, but they were among if not the best of their genres when they first came out.

 

[Red Storm]

My AT handle came from Red Storm Entertainment, before they were swallowed under the Ubisoft name.

 

[PowerYoga]

His books were always an entertaining read, RIP.

 

[smackababy]

The first Rainbow Six and the expansions were pretty good. After Ghost Recon, the series went down hill though.

 

[Aikouka]

Back in the day, I was definitely part of the Rainbow Six camp, and I never really understood the point of Counter Strike. If I wanted tactical, I played Rainbow Six, and if I wanted faster-paced action, I would play Quake III Arena or Unreal Tournament. I didn't play the games much past Raven Shield though.

My AT handle came from Red Storm Entertainment, before they were swallowed under the Ubisoft name.

Ahh, good ol' Red Storm. Did you play their RTS, Dominant Species?

 

[Barfo]

He wasn't that old

 

[smackababy]

I didn't play the games much past Raven Shield though.

I played quite a bit of Rainbow Six 3 on Xbox, but it wasn't the same as a real Rainbow Six game.

 

[Red Storm]

Ahh, good ol' Red Storm. Did you play their RTS, Dominant Species?

I was about ten years old at the time. The only RTS game I played then was Starcraft.

 

[Dankk]

Heard about his death on the radio this morning. All I could think was, "Man, I hope Steam has a sale on Tom Clancy games to commemorate him."


...JK (partially). But seriously though, RIP. He wrote some awesome stuff.

 

[acheron]

RIP.

If you never played the 1988 game of Red Storm Rising (designed by Sid Meier), you missed out. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Storm_Rising_(video_game)

 

[ThinClient]

 

[Via]

Ghost recon is still on of the games I'd like to try to learn how to play one day. I have the original and the desert Island (or whatever that was called) discs.

 

[power_hour]

RIP Mr. Tom Clancy. I had fun playing games with his name on it. Condolences to the family.

 

[Anteaus]

Putting the games aside, he was to military fiction/non-fiction what Stephen King is to horror. He was one of those writers who said that "writer's block" was something that applied only to lazy people.

It's crazy that Michael Crichton and Tom Clancy died at the same age (66) and Robert Jordan died almost 10 years younger. We are losing too many giants in such a short period of time.

 

[Skott]

He wasn't that old

That was my first thought too when they mentioned his age. I've never read his books but I recognize his standing in the literature world. RIP Tom.

 

[Revolution 11]

As a gamer, I always enjoyed the older Tom Clancy-branded games. As a reader, I have mixed feelings.

His books always felt too much like military/sociopolitical fanfiction. The reader will always have a clear sense of what America should be doing and how the world will react to those decisons. His visions of a strong, decisive, commanding America seem kind of outdated in the current multinational era. I could also detect whispers of jingoism in his novels. And I have never seen more dry writing in a modern novel.

On the other hand, the books always had solid believable spycraft, amazing considering Mr. Clancy never was a spy. And many of the political enemies he came up with turned out to be correct. In the Sum of All Fears (1991), Arab terrorists detonate a nuke during a Super Bowl. That is eerily close to what happened a decade later.

RIP Tom Clancy.