The gaming industry lost an influential mind and well-loved creator, as Oculus VR co-founder Andrew Reisse was tragically struck down as the victim of a high-speed police chase.
According to ABC, police in Santa Ana, California, began a chase, Thursday, when they found two vehicles containing people performing gang-related activities. There was a shooting on the scene, after which a 21-year-old man named Victor Sanchez and two other suspects took off in a car. Reisse was crossing a street when the speeding Dodge Charger hit and killed him on the spot. All suspects were taken into custody, and police are performing an investigation on the gang behind the activity.
Oculus VR, the company that Reisse helped start up in Irvine, CA, issued an official statement on his death:
"Andrew was a brilliant computer graphics engineer, an avid photographer and hiker who loved nature, a true loyal friend, and a founding member of our close-knit Oculus family," said the statement.
Before co-founding the Oculus VR company, Reisse was responsible for creating software that became implemented in a wide variety of PC games. He helped create the Scaleform UI company when he was just 19, and his Scaleform GFx software went from powering Civilization IV to being used in thousands of other games. It's hard to load up a modern video game and not see the Scaleform logo in the opening credits, and Reisse was one of the main minds that allowed the UI software to become a useable reality.
Reisse is survived by his Oculus VR team, which includes founder Palmer Luckey and CEO Brendan Iribe. They are still working on the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset, which will allow gamers to have a completely immersive playing experience. Before Reisse's tragic death, the company's most recent blog post recaps their time at the Game Developers Conference as well as showing off their overall plans for E3.
Developer or not, no one should ever be taken from the world before their time. Reisse will be sorely missed by all of those he influenced across the industry, and his legacy lives on through decades of innovative software and ideas. RIP.