brian-wood posts

The legacy of Brian Wood, the lead designer of Company of Heroes Online who died tragicaly in a car crash in September, continues to be felt by Wood's employer Relic Entertainment. This week the developer announced plans to establish the Brian Wood Memorial Game Design Internship.

The internship will give one graduate of the Vancouver Film School' Game Design Program a chance to get a four month internship at Relic, working directly with one of the developer's teams. The first internship will be awarded in February and Relic plans to offer paid internships to three graduate students each year.

Earlier this week we reported on the tragic car collision in Washington State last Friday that took the life of of Brian Wood. He was the 33 year old lead developer at Relic Entertainment of the upcoming free-to-play RTS game Company of Heroes Online. His wife Erin, who was six month pregnant with their first child, was also in the car but survived and in news reports said that Brian turned the wheel just before the collision so that his side of the car took took the full brunt of the hit.

Now comes word that a memorial fund has been established to assist Erin and her family. You can contribute to the fund via its official web site. Developer Relic has also issued an official statement on Brian Wood's passing on its official web site. It states, "Everyone here has a tremendous amount of respect for Brian and he will be greatly missed. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Brian's family during this difficult time."