This is one of the hardest things I've had to write in a long time: I've decided to leave GameSpot.

Actually, I decided a while back, and my last day was the Friday right after E3. This has been a difficult, emotional decision, but that's not the reason it's been hard to write this post. I've taken way longer than I should have to put this together because of my next gig; I'm going to be a stay-at-home dad. Unfortunately, my infant son has also taken up a new job as an insomniac singer in a death metal band.

If I'd known that he'd find his dream career at four months, would I have made this same decision? Would I have given up access to an endless library of games; an office full of witty, fun people to talk to; and bottomless cups of free coffee?

As sleep-deprived and occasionally cranky as I may be right now, I wouldn't trade the time with my newborn son for anything. And I know I'm incredibly lucky to be in a position where I can take on the responsibility of a full-time caregiver.

But that doesn't make it any easier to say goodbye. I wanted to work with the GameSpot team through E3, partially for the selfish reason that E3 is such an explosive, exciting event. But also because, I wouldn't have wanted our staff to be down a person going into the most important week in the gaming world.

And E3 was a record-setting period for GameSpot. This site is currently the number one destination in the world to read about games, and I'm happy to leave GameSpot in a more organized and widely read place than when I started five years ago. But I was a very small part of that massive growth in readership and team organization--it truly comes down to having the best group of content creators and back-end support teams that I could have ever hoped to work with.

But that would be nothing without you, the person sitting here reading this overlong post from someone who worked primarily behind-the-scenes. GameSpot's readers and commenters are sometimes colorful and terrible, and other times they're warm and welcoming. But they are the lifeblood of a website, and GameSpot wouldn't exist without the support of both its fans and the bored-at-work web-surfers who are just looking to learn more about their favorite games.

There's a lot I'm going to miss about GameSpot. But being a stay-at-home dad doesn't mean that I've given up on games, writing, or other projects. I have a few things I'm not ready to announce that I hope to talk about publicly soon, and once my kid figures out this sleep thing again, I might even show up as a freelancer back on the site every now and then. If you want to keep up with me in the meantime, there's always my Twitter account.

But, truly thanks for reading this and supporting both my work and the work of the excellent GameSpot team. It's been almost five years since I joined GameSpot as a writer and then managing editor. Now, I can't wait to sit back and enjoy it as a fan.