It tastes like vacation. It tastes like a change of pace. It tastes like a new horizon filled with endless possibilities, where the best of the best share top notch leadership ideas to rise up and meet the A+ challenge. Yeah, it kinda tastes like a drunk motivational speaker.

 

I am, of course, tangentially referring to my joyous, tearful departure from Game Revolution. Which is effective at about 5 pm today.

 

*Waits for standing ovation.*

 

*Only hears crickets.*

 

Alas, my run as the editor of GR had to end sooner or later, and believe you me, I chose “later.” It was a hard decision, a very tough call, but one that came more naturally to me than I would have imagined. This is not an ugly break-up, this is an amicable sayonara.

 

I hope I get the house.

 

Even if I don’t, I leave GR with more fond memories than an alpha zombie. From humble beginnings smashed in the corner of a mortgage company's office to our Metallica-like sellout act to Bolt, Inc. in 2004 to our neverending beta database redesign, it has been an absolutely insane, exciting, frustrating, thrilling and, in the end, rewarding experience.

 

But that’s not just because of my awesome partner Duke, or old partner Colin, or talented protégé Joe, or fantastic co-workers Tim, Mike and Dallas, or OG staffers Shawn and Brian, or kickass writers Johnny, April, Paul and everyone’s best friend, Tom Anderson. It goes without saying that those folks have been incredibly important and have helped shaped every weird curve of the wobbly GR landscape, even if Tom failed to buy us before going public and thereby make me and Duke wealthy beyond our wildest fantasies.

 

What’s REALLY made this website work is you. No, not you, you little prick, I mean the other people. The ones who live and breathe this site, who give us hell when we fake the facts and give us props when we make them laugh anyway. The ones who appreciate our retarded obsession with Belgium and zombies while loathing our Final Fantasy VII review. The ones who try to make it into the mailbag with absurd statements about girls and the ones who actually make absurd statements about girls, like, for real. The ones who understand that all we’re trying to do here is get it absolutely right while keeping it marginally entertaining.

 

You bizarre readers - all of you - have made Game Revolution the shockingly successful site it is today. I might have come up with lots of lame tag lines and a few sweet links, but your clicks have been the real backbone of this behemoth. Without your unbelievable dedication to our often questionable cause, this Revolution - and in many ways, my career - would have stopped spinning ages ago.

 

And just because I’m getting the hell out doesn’t mean the game ends. Duke, Joe, Mike, Tim and Dallas will be picking up my slack with a renewed dedication and a heartfelt desire to make GR bigger, better and traffickier than ever. At least that’s what their brutal contracts stipulate. Suckers!

 

My immediate future shall remain an elusive mystery. This much I can tell you: I will not be playing video games for a few days. I can also tell you that I will be getting into a good, healthy bar fight this weekend, and thanks to my newfound burst of bravado, I suspect I will win. Or at least not die.

 

Just like GR.

 

Viva la Revolution!

 

- Ben Silverman

- Sal Magicpants
- Dr. Moo