R.I.P. Billy "Wicked" Wilson - Dead at 33 :-(

NoxTek

The Geek Redneck
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Figured I'd post this in the Gaming section since that's the area Billy was best known for. (Well, doing game previews and reviews).

I've learned that Billy "Wicked" Wilson passed away last night after being rushed to the hospital yesterday afternoon. :(

For those of you who aren't old skool enough to know or remember Billy, he was about the coolest dude you could have known. Billy founded, owned, and operated VoodooExtreme.com (until it was stolen from him) and was well known for his pimptastic style of news and reviews. I totally fucking idolized this guy and even had the chance to speak with him on a few occasions back in the hayday of VoodooExtreme. I can't believe he's gone. :(

Billy, wherever you are.... rock on bro. :(



http://www.gaminggroove.com/blah.php?id=228
 
Very sad news :( ........ I visited his site on many occasions, I loved his humor and cool web site design.

only 33 years old, was he sick ?
 
Very sad, he will indeed be missed. VoodooExtreme was one of the first gaming sites I ever visited and one of my favorites up till the time Billy left. GamingGroove was one of my daily sites that I would visit for industry news. Damn, what a bummer... :(
 
Voodooextreme used to be the first site I'd hit everyday until that young bitch (Anybody remember his name?) robbed it from him. In fact, I first heard about Hardocp through v.e. My sympathies to his family.
 
My sincerest condonlences to his family and friends.

I might be too young to know who he was, but out of curiousity, how does one steal voodooextreme? It's a website, so do people mean someone hacked it and stole it?

I typed in voodooextreme.com and got taken to some IGN crap. Then I read the headline and it linked gaminggroove.com
 
Billy kicked much ass, I still can't believe it. VE used to be my #1 site until he left.

This is a sad day... :(
 
VoodooExtreme was co-founded by Billy, but as usually happens in partnerships, things go bad and its usually the good guy who gets shafted (I don't know the specifics, this is just IMO). Billy then started GamingGroove. VE sold out to IGN, but I never visited them anyway after Billy left.
 
Harkamus said:
My sincerest condonlences to his family and friends.

I might be too young to know who he was, but out of curiousity, how does one steal voodooextreme? It's a website, so do people mean someone hacked it and stole it?

I typed in voodooextreme.com and got taken to some IGN crap. Then I read the headline and it linked gaminggroove.com

One of his staff managed to snatch the domain name as far as I can, full details never really came out. There was a bit of mud throwing on the site from the snatcher, claiming he couldn't work under the conditions anymore, and I believe he had gone to IGN behind Billy's back - all in the name of keeping a quality site, of course. Now look at the corporate crap it's become. Anyway, Billy still had the url ve3d.com so he shared his thoughts for a while, but the whole thing was never fully explained.
 
Billy gave me the incentive to start Hypothermia back in 1999. Matter o' fact, one of the very first interviews I did was with Billy. As Kyle mentioned on the front page, the first link [H]ardOCP recieved from another website was from Voodoo Extreme.

My condolences to Billy's family.
 
For the hardcore gamers back in the day there was Blues, Redwood, sCary, and then VoodooExteme. Voodoo always had a ton of news with great attitude. It was my 5 or 6 time daily stop until Billy left. He was one of the greats in that world of games and game news. Can't believe he passed at 33. Too sad.

For those who want to time travel to see what Voodooextreme was like or to just freak out over old stuff go here:

http://web.archive.org/web/19971210212459/http://www.voodooextreme.com/

I specifically like the mention that Starcraft isn't completed yet and that Everquest was just about to go into beta testing and the Voodoo 2 was the fastest card anyone had ever seen. Wow, seems like 100 years ago.
 
Wow.

I too am in the "I visited VE until Billy left" crowd.

He was awesome. It's sad to hear he died so young. :(
 
God Speed Billy.

Regardless of how VE and later GG went down, I feel that a piece of my internet died with the wicked-one
 
Billy seemed to turn into the prototype for the great game and hardware editors like Kyle. He was very witty and I went to VE every chance I got.

He was never too busy to answer email or tell us about is family.

So sorry to hear he passed. 33 is too damn young. If anyone finds out about a fund for Aimee and his kid please post it here.

Play on young Billy.

Gator
 
really sucks. ive read ve3d for a while now

his comments and sense of humor always brightened up my day.
 
Im really curious as to what happend at such a young age :(

I vaguely remember the site at the time, I dont think I ever really went to it.
 
Absolute shock... For the longest time Billy and I would email back and forth and helped me with my video game trivia project. During one QuakeCon, I took him on a personal tour of Ensemble Studios and hung out just playing games. He had Dax around the same time I had my first child, his wife and I share some common background so we made a connection.

He and I fell out of touch after he left VE and I left Ensemble Studios. Often thought about him and what he was doing. I know that he was struggling with many issues in his life: faith, health and family. His addictions were starting to overtake him, but I always held out hope that he could overcome them.

My thoughts and prayers are with his family. Billy will be missed.
 
Damn, I was just remembering a few days ago how much I missed VoodooExtreme. It was one of the few sites I checked multiple times a day. I stayed with VE right until they sold out to IGN. Haven't been back since.


:(
 
Anybody remember Ask Hook and Ask Sweeney? I was always so proud of the fact I got questions up on both, because until the whole IGN thing, VE was THE site. I'd read it more for Billy's comments than actual game news. I know I've already posted at the beginning of this thread, but I'm truly shocked by this, I'm 32 with a daughter about the same age as Billy's son. Makes all our "Artifacts when I push my 6800GT - any advice" or "My computer won't boot anymore - HELP!" complaints seem a bit trivial. On the bright side though, I can only imagine what kind of bandwidth he must be getting up there - put it to good use, Billy!
 
Billy accomplished a lot of great things, and in his prime was the best and had the best gaming page. I spent way to much time at VE throughout Billy's tenure there. I started in 8th grade or so, I'm now a good 7 or 8 years older and I have since been through so many things its hard to believe VE was with me for most of it, and if it wasn't for Billy and what he did there that wouldn't be the case.

This really isn't the time for this, just a few corrections, since a lot of people are talking out of their asses as far as VE is concerned. In Billy's last year at VE, he didn't contribute anything at all, making an appearance 1 or 2 days every few months (I'm sure he had a lot of personal issues going on at the time). That, and a mutiny by the majority of the other members of the VE team caused him to get fired and Apache promoted to his place(though he had already been doing all the work for along time). Apache is not the owner, Apache did not sell to IGN. There was no domain jacking or other bullshit. VE at the end was a business, Billy was a victim, and in the end the whole site was.

The owner was a corporate big wig(it would seem) who never made a public appearance and who no one really knows, hoa tran or something is his name. He sold it to IGN and there was nothing the team could do about it.
 
Taco said:
Billy accomplished a lot of great things, and in his prime was the best and had the best gaming page. I spent way to much time at VE throughout Billy's tenure there. I started in 8th grade or so, I'm now a good 7 or 8 years older and I have since been through so many things its hard to believe VE was with me for most of it, and if it wasn't for Billy and what he did there that wouldn't be the case.

This really isn't the time for this, just a few corrections, since a lot of people are talking out of their asses as far as VE is concerned. In Billy's last year at VE, he didn't contribute anything at all, (I'm sure he had a lot of personal issues going on at the time). That, and a mutiny by the majority of the other members of the VE team caused him to get fired and Apache promoted to his place(though he had already been doing all the work for along time). Apache is not the owner, Apache did not sell to IGN. There was no domain jacking or other bullshit. VE at the end was a business, Billy was a victim, and in the end the whole site was.

The owner was a corporate big wig(it would seem) who never made a public appearance and who no one really knows, hoa tran or something is his name. He sold it to IGN and there was nothing the team could do about it.

I guess it's 'human nature' to look for the True Hollywood Story at times like these, I thank you for pointing out the true nature of some of the scandal
 
this is such a shock to me, like a lot of you VE used to be the first and last page i would read everyday. i found the [H] because of VE. Billy and VE were like pb and jam two things that were ment for each other.

it was sad day when he and VE parted ways and a sad when VE went corprate, but today is the saddest, Billy you will be missed.

Mac.
 
Billy, if you are listening. I'll go back and play this old game of quake on my old machine with voodoo2 installed in your honor.

As a fellow martial artist, and a gamer, i bid you farewell brother and see you in due time in heaven.
 
No sign of his obit in the Tribune or News. I'll post a link when it's up. It'll have an online guestbook that everyone can sign.
 
voodooextreme.jpg



back in '99 i bought a utra cool T-Shirt from that awesome site :-(
my prays to this family .
 
The other day my friend and I were discussing how much we missed Voodoo Extreme and Billy Wilson. We both have fond memories of his "faster than a midget..." "some 'x' lovin" or how when his hair got too long, he needed a "'fro snip." We reminisced on how the man would never sleep and told me one time in an email that "sleep is for women." I can truly say that I would not be a gaming addict if it werent for Billy Wilson. I used to visit his site like 20x a day and my friend and I used to idolize Billy. I truly feel like a part of me died with Billy. This really came as a shock to me...I would not know of this website if it werent for VE.

My friend and I are going to cremate a Monster 3D in his honor.

RIP Billy....Get some sleep pimpin'

P.S. - How was his financial situation? Do we need to start a donation drive for his wife and son? I hope they're ok :( :( :(
 
Yes, I wonder that too. Ah, VoodooExtreme. it brings back memories. I even modeled my own personal website (for a while) after his. I love the little voodoo doll on this "logo."

Staples said:
Sad.

I wonder what happened to him. 33 is very young to die.
 
This site: http://www.novasio.com/, looks to be that of his mom and step-dad. Information is being kept up-to-date there.

"I used to visit his site like 20x a day and my friend and I used to idolize Billy. I truly feel like a part of me died with Billy."

QFT - That's exactly my feelings towards that crazy midget lover :)
 
Many of you have asked about how you can help Billy's son Dax so we have established a trust fund in Billy's memory to which donations can be made to help with Dax's college education. Donations can be sent to Zions Bank, c/o The Billy G. Wilson Donation Fund For Dax, 845 East 4500 South, Murray, UT 84107.

*breaking out check book*
 
it gave me a good feeling when i checked ve3d and saw the name 'wicked' dotted along the web page in each news post. not to dog on the other ve3d guys, but when i knew billy was handling the news, it was simply a treat to read! sometimes i would even skip the news posts if i didn't see that he was around. its hard to explain really. i only wish i wouldn't have been just a lurker back then.
 
Figured I'd post this in the Gaming section since that's the area Billy was best known for. (Well, doing game previews and reviews).

I've learned that Billy "Wicked" Wilson passed away last night after being rushed to the hospital yesterday afternoon. :(

For those of you who aren't old skool enough to know or remember Billy, he was about the coolest dude you could have known. Billy founded, owned, and operated VoodooExtreme.com (until it was stolen from him) and was well known for his pimptastic style of news and reviews. I totally fucking idolized this guy and even had the chance to speak with him on a few occasions back in the hayday of VoodooExtreme. I can't believe he's gone. :(

Billy, wherever you are.... rock on bro. :(



http://www.gaminggroove.com/blah.php?id=228
Damn this is an old thread. I must have been like 7 or 8 when you posted this. I appreciate your all of your admiration for my father. Sometimes I go back and read old forums about him. It's crazy to me that my father was this kind of witty, internet celebrity. With quite the fanbase! This shit is pretty cool to read through. I doubt anyone in this thread will even see this message. But I thought, "eh, fuck it". Billy was a great father. I have thousands of fond memories with him. I'm 21 now, living downtown, but man. I still remember some of the days where I would play endless amounts of Unreal Tournament, Doom, RE1,2, and countless others. I actually still have a custom made Unreal Tournament Leather Jacket that was my father's. It never leaves my apartment. Anyways, I'll still be here, lurking the forums. Thanks for reading this if any of you get the chance.
 
Damn this is an old thread. I must have been like 7 or 8 when you posted this. I appreciate your all of your admiration for my father. Sometimes I go back and read old forums about him. It's crazy to me that my father was this kind of witty, internet celebrity. With quite the fanbase! This shit is pretty cool to read through. I doubt anyone in this thread will even see this message. But I thought, "eh, fuck it". Billy was a great father. I have thousands of fond memories with him. I'm 21 now, living downtown, but man. I still remember some of the days where I would play endless amounts of Unreal Tournament, Doom, RE1,2, and countless others. I actually still have a custom made Unreal Tournament Leather Jacket that was my father's. It never leaves my apartment. Anyways, I'll still be here, lurking the forums. Thanks for reading this if any of you get the chance.
I visited his website just about every day back then.
 
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