Rebecca Heineman, one of the co-founders of Fallout and Baldur's Gate publisher Interplay, has passed away aged just 62.
As reported by Rock Paper Shotgun, Heineman's death was confirmed by close friend Heidi McDonald and former colleague Brian Fargo on social media yesterday. McDonald described her as a "trailblazing game industry bad-ass", while Fargo called Heineman "one of the most brilliant programmers around".
Previously, Heineman had set up a GoFundMe page to help pay for treatment for her recently-diagnosed adenocarcinoma, but yesterday, she said further treatments would be "pointless" according to her doctors, urging donors to give so that her funeral can help her "make a worthy entrance for reuniting" with spouse Jennell Jaquays.
Heineman was one of the first major video game championship winners, having bagged a prize for her performance during a Space Invaders tournament all the way back in 1980.
Following her victory during that tournament, she co-founded Interplay Productions, the studio that went on to publish iconic and influential games like survival horror classic Alone in the Dark, CRPGs Baldur's Gate and Fallout, and the European version of the original Warcraft.
As well as being a major industry figure, Heineman was also...
