[The posts for this month are reposts from the site www.honotogroabemo.org, on which a host of hirsute individuals including yours truly would grow beards to raise money for breast cancer research. The site is defunct, but I thought I’d resurrect the game-related posts. This was originally posted on 2011-12-01.]

(We three, we happy three, we band of bearded brothers)

It is over. The beards have been grown, the money has been collected, another HoNoToGroABeMo is over. And now, time for some congratulations and some thank yous and some final business.

First, congratulations to Cmar (Cmaaaaarrrr!) for pulling out a traditional last-minute win. And also to Pete, for raising a ridiculous amount of money. And to all of us, really, for meeting and surpassing our goal. It didn’t look like it would happen, but we pulled it off.

Secondly, a big thank you to all who donated to my cause. I think this year I might have raised the most in the three years I’ve been doing this, and it’s all because of you.

And the final business: yesterday’s game was of course Ratchet & Clank. The original was developed by Insomniac Games, led by design director Brian Allgeier, and first released for the PlayStation 2 in 2002. Ratchet & Clank led to numerous sequels, the latest of which, Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One, I had the honor of working on [and Ratchet & Clank: Full Frontal Assault as well – Ed.].

Hey, the month is over, so I can be a little self-serving, right?