Seamus Blackley, one of the key men involved in the creation of the original Xbox console, was going through some old stuff the other day when he came across an adorable piece of fan mail written 17 years ago by little Mitchell Riley. Realising he’d never replied, Blackley decided to track him down and make amends.
First though, the letter itself, which is infinitely more wholesome than any of the correspondence developers must receive in 2019:
I found this heartbreakingly adorable letter in a old box of my Microsoft desk rubble. To my horror, I had obviously never responded to it, leaving the clearly wonderful little Mitchell Riley hanging for 17 years. This week I asked you all on Twitter to help me find him. AND… pic.twitter.com/jZ9cRUHd6o
— Seamus Blackley (@SeamusBlackley) August 23, 2019
And now for the amends! With a little bit of detective work from fans, it turns out Mitchell wasn’t just still into his Xbox games, he was still such a Halo fan that last week he was at Halo Outpost Discovery, a show in Houston where he met the voices behind master Chief and Cortana:
…HERE HE IS as an adult — and I could never make this up — hanging out with Master Chief (@SteveDownes117) and Cortana (@jentaylortown)! pic.twitter.com/drS2U9xQhc
— Seamus Blackley (@SeamusBlackley) August 23, 2019
That must be pretty cool for original Xbox/Halo developers to see something like this and realise that their console and game series are old enough for childhood fans to have become grown-arse adults in a way we normally only associate with companies like Nintendo and Sega.
As for Mitchell, his wholesome online adventures may soon be coming to an end. He only made a Twitter account to respond to Blackley’s search, and so is sure to find things are all downhill from here.
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