Jake and Rob boot up an Xbox One disc with the 1.0 version of Cyberpunk 2077, and attempt to power through the bugs and jankiness— Can you finish Cyberpunk in it’s worst possible condition?In a post on his Twitter, Ora Media shared the message of his passing.
“With profound sadness, Ora Media announces the death of our co-founder, host, and friend Larry King, who passed away this morning at age 87 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
“For 63 years and across the platforms of radio, television, and digital media, Larry’s many thousands of interviews, awards, and global acclaim stand as a testament to his unique and lasting talent as a broadcaster. Additionally, while it was his name appearing in the shows’ titles, Larry always viewed his interview subjects as the true stars of his programs, and himself as merely an unbiased conduit between the guest and audience. Whether he was interviewing a U.S. president, foreign leader, celebrity, scandal-ridden personage, or an everyman, Larry liked to ask short, direct, and uncomplicated questions. He believed concise questions usually provided the best answers, and he was not wrong in that belief.
“Larry’s interviews from his 25-year run on CNN’s “Larry King Live,” and his Ora Media programs “Larry King Now,” and “Politicking with Larry King” are consistently referenced by media outlets around the world and remain part of the historical record of the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
“Ora Media sends our condolences to his surviving children Larry, Jr., Chance, Cannon and the entire King family.
“Funeral arrangements and a memorial service will be announced later in coordination with the King family, who as for their privacy at this time.”
CNN president Jeff Zucker also shared a message honoring King.
“We mourn the passing of our colleague Larry King,” Zucker said in a statement on CNN. “The scrappy young man from Brooklyn had a history-making career spanning radio and television. His curiosity about the world propelled his award-winning career in broadcasting, but it was his generosity of spirit that drew the world to him. We are so proud of the 25 years he spent with CNN, where his newsmaker interviews truly put the network on the international stage. From our CNN family to Larry’s, we send our thoughts and prayers, and a promise to carry on his curiosity for the world in our work.”
While no cause of death was given, a source close to the King family previously said that King was hospitalized with COVID-19 in early January.
King also had certain health problems, including several heart attacks, and had quintuple bypass surgery and also another surgery to treat lung cancer.
Born Lawrence Harvey Zeiger on November 19, 1933, in Brooklyn, New York, to Jewish immigrant parents, King grew up a huge fan of the Brooklyn Dodgers and remained loyal following their move to Los Angeles, where he eventually became a staple at their home games.
King truly began his media career in 1957 when he became a disc jockey at WAHR-AM in Miami, and that was when he dropped the surname Zeiger for King.
“You can’t use Larry Zeiger,” he recalled his boss at the station saying and as he wrote in his biography from 2009. “It’s too ethnic. People won’t be able to spell it or remember it. You need a better name. There was no time to think about whether this was good or bad or what my mother would say. I was going on the air in five minutes. The Miami Herald was spread out on his desk. Face-up was a full-page ad for King’s Wholesale Liquors. The general manager looked down and said, ‘King! How about Larry King?”
The rest, as they say, is history.
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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.
Jonathan Ferguson, a weapons expert and Keeper of Firearms & Artillery at the Royal Armouries, breaks down the weaponry of Hitman 3, including Agent 47’s iconic Silverballer pistol, the legendary Sieger 300 sniper rifle, and the Krugermeier pistol.Talk show host Larry King, whose career spanned several decades and included a number of cameo appearances as himself in movies and TV shows, has died at 87. King had been treated for COVID-19 and had previously been in the ICU.
“For 63 years and across the platforms of radio, television, and digital media, Larry’s many thousands of interviews, awards, and global acclaim stand as a testament to his unique and lasting talent as a broadcaster,” said Ora Media in a post on King’s Twitter. “Additionally, while it was his name appearing in the shows’ titles, Larry always viewed his interview subjects as the true stars of his programs, and himself as merely an unbiased conduit between the guest and the audience.”
— Larry King (@kingsthings) January 23, 2021
King didn’t take himself seriously in interviews, leading to some pretty hilarious moments when his guests were allowed to steer the conversation. For example, Ben Schwartz spoke to him about the then-upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog film, prompting King to attempt a hedgehog voice that he thought would fit the movie.
Activision Blizzard recently made the surprising decision to merge Vicarious Visions–the studio behind Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2–into Blizzard to support other projects. One of those projects is, at least reportedly, a Diablo 2 remake while others at Blizzard continue working on Diablo 4.
According to Bloomberg, issues with the development of Warcraft III: Reforged made Blizzard reconsider the teams it had developing games moving forward, with its classic games “Team 1” being pulled off the project and replaced by a division that is also handling Diablo 4. Among the developers also working on that project includes the Vicarious Visions team. It’s the second time a Tony Hawk developer has been absorbed into another studio, with Neversoft joining Infinity Ward in 2014.
That Diablo 2 remake hasn’t been formally announced by Blizzard, but it could be a stopgap release to make the wait for Diablo 4 a little easier. What won’t be easy is dealing with the studio behind one of 2020’s best games getting pulled off its own projects to assist with it. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 not only managed to replicate what made the original games great, such as the level design and sound, but also delivered a core skating experience that felt like it was made today. Nearly every song from the original two games was kept for the remake, as well.