Gary Coleman, best known for his role as Arnold in the 1970s-80s sitcom Diff'rent Strokes, died today of injuries he suffered in a fall at his Utah home. Coleman, who also appeared in 2003's Postal 2, was 42.

TMZ reported Coleman's death just past 12:30 p.m. U.S. Mountain time. He had been in a Provo, Utah hospital since Wednesday, admitted in critical condition with unspecified injuries. TMZ reported Coleman died of a brain hemorrhage associated with falling and hitting his head.

Coleman (pictured above at Video Games Live in 2005) shot to stardom on Diff'rent Strokes as a child actor, popularizing it with his outsize personality and many catch phrases. He found success after the show much more difficult to sustain. Coleman later accepted many roles, promotional appearances and cameos that traded on the ironic appeal of both the show and his character, Arnold Jackson, as well as the failings of the series' three principal child stars.

In addition to his Postal 2 cameo and promotional work, Coleman was also the voice of Kenny Falmouth in The Curse of Monkey Island.

This is a video of Coleman in better days, at the height of Diff'rent Strokes' popularity its fifth season, when the show looked at the new video game craze and tackled the subject of video game addiction.

Gary Coleman, Feb. 8 1968 - May 28, 2010.

Gary Coleman Dies [TMZ; image by Getty]

Jack Friedman, the founder of publisher THQ - the guys behind UFC, Dawn of War & Company Of Heroes - passed away yesterday at the age of 70.

Friedman had been involved in the game business for decades, first by forming toy company (and later video game publisher) LJN in 1970, and then by founding THQ in 1989, where he remained until 1995 when he left to form another company, Jakks Pacific, which among other things is known for those "plug and play" TV games and for getting itself in one hell of a lawsuit with, of all companies, THQ.

THQ, Jakks Founder Jack Friedman Passes Away At 70 [Gamasutra]

Keith Elam, a hip-hop artist who performed under the name Guru, died Monday after ending a long battle with cancer. Elam voiced 8-Ball, the demolitions artist with whom the protagonist escapes at the very beginning of Grand Theft Auto III.

Rockstar Games noted Elam's passing in a brief obituary on its newswire today. "Guru was truly a hip-hop legend, one of the genre's greatest voices, and we are eternally grateful for his contributions to the Grand Theft Auto series as the character 8-Ball," the studio said. "Our condolences to the entire Elam family, to our good friend and his long-time Gang Starr collaborator DJ Premier, and to everyone else who had the pleasure of knowing or working with the man."

In the game, Elam's character is the first associate of Claude, the main character, although their partnership presumably ends when it's revealed that 8-Ball rigs with explosives a vehicle Claude is meant to drive, as part of a trap devised by mob boss Salvatore Leone. 8-Ball later appears in Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories

As Guru, Elam was one half of the rap duo Gang Starr, and made eight albums between 1993 and 2009.

In Memory of Keith Elam aka Guru [Rockstar, thanks James H.]

In the mid-1990s Daryl Gates was like the John Madden of law enforcement. His name appeared above PC games made by Sierra. Better known as the Los Angeles police chief during the Rodney King crisis, Gates died Friday at 83.

Police Quest: Open Season of 1993 was the fourth game of that series and the first to feature Gates' name on the box. It was also the first set in Los Angeles, instead of the fictional city of Lytton, and for it Gates replaced a former California Highway Patrol officer as the series' designer. Gates' name also ran above Police Quest: SWAT of 1995. Both games were considered disappointments.

Under Gates, Police Quest dealt less with law enforcement procedure and more with storyline, and also more mature themes than their predecessors.

In the mainstream, Gates was known as the chief of police during the King beatings, which led to harsh criticism and calls for his resignation. He was depicted as out of touch during the April 1992 rioting that followed a not guilty verdict for the officers involved in the assault. Three months later he resigned, moving into other ventures including game consultation and design.

Gates is survived by a son, two daughters and a brother.

In 1975, Popular Electronics featured on its January cover a computer kit built for home enthusiasts, touted to cost at least $1,000 less than anything else. It was the Altair 8800. Its creator, Dr. Ed Roberts, died Thursday.

Roberts' creation is widely credited with kicking off the microcomputing boom of the latter quarter of the 20th century, and he is considered The Father of the PC. His computer kit sold thousands in its first month of availability, and so excited two young men that they hatched a scheme to write a programming language for it, called BASIC. Their names were Paul Allen and Bill Gates.

Thursday, the Microsoft cofounders were among many industry giants paying their respects to Roberts.

"Ed was willing to take a chance on us - two young guys interested in computers long before they were commonplace - and we have always been grateful to him," the two said in a joint statement. "The day our first untested software worked on his Altair was the start of a lot of great things. We will always have many fond memories of working with Ed."

Roberts later had a falling out with Allen and Gates when the company created by the two, then called Micro-Soft, began selling versions of BASIC to Altair's competitors. Roberts' son said the three later patched up their differences, and Roberts remained an influence in both Allen and Gates' lives.

Roberts later got his medical degree, becoming an internist. His son said Roberts remained interested in modern technology, and up until his death was asking about the Apple iPad. "He was interested to see one," said David Roberts.

Dr. Henry Edward Roberts was a veteran of the U.S. Air Force, a 1968 graduate of Oklahoma State University, and a 1986 graduate of Mercer University's medical school. He died in a hospital Thursday after an extended battle against pneumonia. He is survived by his wife, mother, daughter, six sons - and millions of personal computing users and enthusiasts the world over.

Dr. Henry Edward Roberts, Developer of Early PC that Inspired Microsoft, Dies in Ga. at Age 68 [Los Angeles Times via Gizmodo]