M.U.L.E. was *the* game of choice at my buddy Mark's house.  He had a giant TV for the standards of the day, so four of us would gather around and ruthlessly contend for the best scores.  (Sometimes we even cooperated.  But not usually.)

This game more than any other showed me that video games could be serious business.  I came to learn that Dan Bunten's games were always a good bet.  Modem Wars opened up the world of multiplayer, Global Conquest was a kick, and Command HQ had a stoic charm of its own.

I still think about M.U.L.E. to this day.  A few weeks ago I included a graphic of Irata in an article I wrote about video games and graphic detail -- video games from this era put the art mostly inside the player's head, but it was usually evocative in its own right.

Thank you for bringing M.U.L.E. into the 21st century with panache!  I really look forward to playing this game -- and reviewing it for my site, Long Tail Gamer!