Ten years ago today, a game launched that would have a huge impact on my life in more ways that I can count. It was a big, beautiful, maddeningly imperfect game that would become an obsession. But more than anything, it gave me countless hours of fun.

Thanks to everyone who has been a part of the franchise over the last decade and more. Being a small part of the magic has been one of the great honors of my life.

I don’t ask for much from you, gentle readers. Really, I don’t, especially compared to the amount of  joy I bring to your lives.

So I hope you will take the following request seriously.

I need you to go here and sign this petition. Don’t ask questions. You don’t need to know why. Just do this for me.

If the total hits 50,000, we’ll call it even.

Happy Holidays, whichever you may celebrate. I’ll go ahead and call out Christmas because, well, it’s Christmas.

I do plan to write about games again at some point, as soon as I can figure out something worthwhile to say. Honestly, despite some relatively big news in the latter months of this year, I can’t think of all that much to talk about that hasn’t been said already or wouldn’t be in bad taste for me to comment on.

Before the year is out I’ll be posting my picks for the best music of 2008. Until then, please keep me in you thoughts as I’m currently freezing my nethers off visiting my homeland of Minnesota.

This shake from Baskin-Robbins is a real time saver. It gives you three days worth of saturated fat in a single cup!

As a bonus, you even get trans fat. Delicious trans fat!

For most of the time since I accepted the EQ2 community manager position at SOE, my old Mobhunter site has been in the capable hands of Mike Shea, a.k.a. Loral Ciriclight. Mike did a fantastic job keeping the spirit of the site alive, and over the years helped inspire many positive changes to good old EverQuest.

Recent changes to his life and gaming habits have caused Mr. Shea to decide that it’s time for him to step down as the writer for Mobhunter. Mike will continue to write for his own site, so his fans should be sure to bookmark the address noted above. I’d like to personally thank Mike for his dedication and great work over the years. It always filled me with pride that the Mobhunter tradition continued on long after I was gone. (You can fumble through both my and Loral’s articles on the new Mobhunter Archives page).

Rather than turn the old site over to another writer or let the domain drift away into the nether, I’ve decided to take up the Mobhunter mantle for this blog. Moorgard.com is being re-branded as Mobhunter, which will become the primary domain in about a week. I have to admit, even though it’s just a cosmetic change, I’m very excited about writing under the Mobhunter banner once again! Continue Reading »

I was scheduled to fly out to San Diego this afternoon, but the flight was cancelled due to mechanical failure. My alternative is to take a long stopover flight leaving early tomorrow, which isn’t exactly appealing.

So unfortunately, I won’t be attending Comic-Con this year. Ah well. You stay classy, San Diego.

Let me preface this by saying I am a huge Joss Whedon fan. I think he’s one of the best character/dialogue writers in the business, and I have admired his work since the first days of Buffy. He’s also a great comic book author, bringing back Buffy and Angel, breathing new life into the X-Men, and much more.

So I was very interested when I heard about his plans to launch a web-only musical extravaganza called Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. I must admit, though, I was a bit put off as the hype started to build. There was a bit of a Snakes on a Plane vibe to the whole thing, with even non-browncoats talking about how great it was going to be.

Released last week, the three episodes featured a great cast, catchy songs, and some big laughs–but I think the ending totally missed the mark. Spoilers after the break. Continue Reading »

Iron Man is pretty much everything you’d want in a superhero movie. Great action, cool hero, hot babe, and really smart humor that doesn’t get stupid or campy.

It’s not perfect, but most people will be able to look past the script’s logical flaws thanks to the sheer amount of fun eye candy the movie provides. It ranks right up there with Spider-Man 2 in terms of great translations of comic book characters to film.

I’ve never been all that fond of Tony Stark, but Robert Downey Jr. changes all that. You can’t help but like him, even when he’s being a self-involved prick. Favreau did an awesome job with this movie and better damn well come back to direct the sequel. Clearly this film was made by a true fan, packed with smart inside references that would make any geek smile.

Oh, by the way, DON’T LEAVE THE THEATER UNTIL THE CREDITS ARE DONE! Great cameo at the end which sets up the future of Marvel moviedom.

Was the collective gasp of New England as the Patriots lost to the Giants.

Ah well, it was an exciting game toward the end. There weren’t a ton of highlights suitable for ESPN, at least until Eli somehow escaped a sack and Tyree came up with an incredible catch.

And now begins the lull before baseball season starts to distract me until next fall. Until then, I get to pretend once more that the Vikings are going to win it all.

Dear Ryan, I’m writing this post from my compound in Siberia, having just read your lie-filled post about me, which many of my good friends pointed out to me and begged me to reply to (plus, I saw the pingback). I really never thought we’d rehash the old days again, or that they’d still trouble you years later. Then again, I guess you live in the memories of your early twenties as much as you can, given the reality of your early-mid twenties. Glad to know I’m still the main dude in your thoughts.

I enjoyed your comments very much, but a bunch of my friends (of which I have tons, let me tell you!) didn’t laugh nearly as much as I did. While I don’t want to relive those days, nor will I let you rewrite history. I mean, it should be obvious to everyone that your new blog theme is just a shallow ripoff of mine, which is both completely original and superior in every way to your own.

Oh yeah, about those old days. While my job title was indeed “He Who Owns Blackguard’s Ass,” I made about 1/3 of what hotshots like you did. Nor did I get the $250k signing bonus Smed himself handed to you. About the only bright spot for me in those days was being able to trademark my very own catchphrase, the unforgettable “Suck it sideways!” I remind you of those days only to remind you to remind me to remind you that nothing, including your famous “bitch” ad, was done without your full approval.

My friends (of which, I’m not sure I mentioned, I have TONS AND TONS) also reminded me to remind you about the trail of ex-wives, bastard children, collarless puppies, untied shoelaces, and unrewound VHS tapes you left behind in your drug-fueled wunderkind days back when you actually designed websites with talent.

It’s been great catching up, but I’m off to dinner with friends (did I mention I have, like, HUNDREDS of them?) that I have known for more than fifty years. You take care now, and remember just because McDonalds, Burger King, Wendy’s, KFC, Subway, Taco Bell, Carl’s Jr., Taco John’s, and Sonic fired you doesn’t mean you’re not awesome!