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Morgan Ailis Webb (born October 5, 1978) is a former co-host and senior segment producer of the G4 show ''
X-Play ''Xplay'' (previously ''GameSpot TV'', ''Extended Play'', and ''X-Play'') was a television program about video games. The program, known for its reviews and comedy skits, aired on G4 in the United States and has aired on '' G4 Canada'' in Canada ...
''. She was previously the host of the podcast ''WebbAlert'' and a monthly columnist for the United States edition of ''
FHM ''FHM'' (For Him Magazine) was a printed British multinational men's lifestyle magazine that was published in several countries. It contained features such as the ''FHM'' 100 Sexiest Women in the World. The final printed issue of British ''F ...
'', where she contributed a monthly
video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...
column titled "Tips from the Gaming Goddess". She began working at independent game studio
Bonfire Studios Bonfire Studios is a video game development studio located in Orange County, California. It was co-founded in 2016 by former Blizzard Entertainment Chief Creative Officer Rob Pardo. History After leaving Blizzard Entertainment in 2014, whe ...
in March 2017 in a production role.


Career

Raised in Los Angeles, Webb attended
UC Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkele ...
from 1996 to 2000. She developed computer skills in her free time there, and after graduating from college worked for a
dot-com company A dot-com company, or simply a dot-com (alternatively rendered dot.com, dot com, dotcom or .com), is a company that conducts most of its businesses on the Internet, usually through a website on the World Wide Web that uses the popular top-level dom ...
as a
website A website (also written as a web site) is any web page whose content is identified by a common domain name and is published on at least one web server. Websites are typically dedicated to a particular topic or purpose, such as news, educatio ...
administrator. After the company went under during the
dot-com bubble The dot-com bubble (or dot-com boom) was a stock market bubble that ballooned during the late-1990s and peaked on Friday, March 10, 2000. This period of market growth coincided with the widespread adoption of the World Wide Web and the Interne ...
burst of 2000, her friend Catherine Schwartz got her hired at
TechTV TechTV was an American cable television channel with a focus on technology. It was launched as ZDTV on May 11, 1998, by computer magazine publisher Ziff Davis, Ziff-Davis following two short-lived technology-based programs by the company. Init ...
in 2001, and Webb became employed as the associate producer and web researcher for ''
The Screen Savers ''The Screen Savers'' is an American TV show that aired on TechTV from 1998 to 2005. The show launched concurrently with the channel ZDTV (later known as TechTV) on May 11, 1998. ''The Screen Savers'' originally centered on computers, new techn ...
''. Throughout 2002 and 2003, she also regularly co-hosted TechTV's ''Call for Help'' with
Chris Pirillo Chris Pirillo is an American entrepreneur and former television personality. He is the founder and former CEO of LockerGnome, Inc., a network of technology-focused blogs, web forums, mailing lists, and online communities that operated from 199 ...
. In April 2003, Webb left ''The Screen Savers'' to co-host ''
X-Play ''Xplay'' (previously ''GameSpot TV'', ''Extended Play'', and ''X-Play'') was a television program about video games. The program, known for its reviews and comedy skits, aired on G4 in the United States and has aired on '' G4 Canada'' in Canada ...
'' with
Adam Sessler Adam Donovan Sessler (born August 29, 1973) is an American video game journalist, television personality and consultant. He is best known as the host for the video game review series ''Xplay'' and the editor-in-chief for G4's video game section. ...
. Webb is one of the six TechTV personalities to survive the massive
layoffs A layoff or downsizing is the temporary suspension or permanent termination of employment of an employee or, more commonly, a group of employees (collective layoff) for business reasons, such as personnel management or downsizing an organization ...
resulting from the May 2004
merger Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of a company, business organization, or one of their operating units is transferred to or consolidated with another entity. They may happen through direct absorpt ...
of G4 and TechTV. Only Adam Sessler and Webb remained with the network after G4's change in format. After Sessler's employment was terminated in April 2012, Webb was the only original TechTV personality remaining on the network. In August 2005, Webb became a contributing game columnist for ''
FHM ''FHM'' (For Him Magazine) was a printed British multinational men's lifestyle magazine that was published in several countries. It contained features such as the ''FHM'' 100 Sexiest Women in the World. The final printed issue of British ''F ...
'', alongside her regular hosting duties on ''X-Play''. Her monthly column was titled "Tips from the Gaming Goddess". Readers were encouraged to email Webb their video-game-related inquiries; she would then answer one question each month. In February 2007, Webb wrote her final column for the magazine, which discontinued its U.S. publication in March. She also hosted the short-lived '' Free Stuff'' on G4. From August 2, 2007, to January 25, 2009, Webb had a daily video
blogging A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...
initiative called ''WebbAlert''. These videos were 5 to 6 minutes in length, and each consisted of a recap of popular technology news of the day. On occasion, Webb departed from the regular news format in favor of an episode on one particular topic of interest. Examples included a recap of the annual
TED Conference TED Conferences, LLC (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an American-Canadian non-profit media organization that posts international talks online for free distribution under the slogan "Ideas Change Everything" (previously "Ideas Worth Sprea ...
, a
viral video Viral videos are video, videos that become popular through viral phenomenon, a viral process of Internet sharing, primarily through video sharing websites such as YouTube as well as social media and email.Lu Jiang, Yajie Miao, Yi Yang, ZhenZhon ...
special showcasing "future ' Darwin Award' winners", and tech-centric "Holiday Buyer's Guides". In January 2009, Webb suspended ''WebbAlert'' indefinitely due to issues with maintaining it on a daily basis concurrently with her hosting duties on ''X-Play''. On February 25, 2009, G4 announced that Webb would be the host of their new show ''
G4 Underground ''G4 Underground'' is a cable television newsmagazine program that aired on G4 and was hosted by Morgan Webb. G4 Underground was described as having a similar format of ABC's ''20/20'', except it takes a look at many topics that most major news p ...
'', a weekly series that profiles a wide range of people and topics that are of interest to the "internet generation". It premiered March 29, 2009. After airing more than 1300 episodes, ''X-Play'' aired its final episode on January 23, 2013. From June 11, 2013, through June 13, 2013, Morgan co-anchored Microsoft's nightly ''Xbox @ E3 Live'' streaming event coverage on Xbox Live, reuniting her with former G4 personalities
Kevin Pereira Kevin Elder Pereira (born December 28, 1982) is an American television personality and host. Early life At 14, Pereira hosted ''Pointless Audio'' under the pseudonym Captain Immy.Stephen A. Johnson (April 15, 2006)AOTS hosts Kevin Pereira and O ...
,
Blair Herter Blair Joseph Herter (born June 23, 1980) is an American television personality, known for his appearances on TV series such as '' Road Rules: The Quest'', '' Real World/Road Rules Challenge'', '' Attack of the Show!'', '' X-Play'' and ''America ...
,
Jessica Chobot Jessica Chobot (born Jessica Lynn Horn; July 7, 1977) is an American on-camera host and writer. She has hosted the IGN shows ''IGN Strategize'' and ''Weekly Wood'', which also runs on Xbox Live; she previously worked as presenter of the ''IGN D ...
,
Blair Butler Blair Butler (born June 28, 1977) is an American stand-up comic, television host and screenwriter, known for her work on the "Fresh Ink" and other segments on the G4 program ''Attack of the Show!''. Career Butler's father is Robert Butler, longt ...
and Tina Summerford. Morgan worked as a consultant and creative advisor for
Activision Blizzard Activision Blizzard, Inc. is an American video game holding company based in Santa Monica, California. Activision Blizzard currently includes three operating units: Activision, Blizzard Entertainment and King (company), King. Founded in July 2 ...
, where she also produced and hosted Blizzard's now-defunct monthly
World of Warcraft ''World of Warcraft'' (''WoW'') is a 2004 massively multiplayer online role-playing (MMORPG) video game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment for Windows and Mac OS X. Set in the '' Warcraft'' fantasy universe, ''World of War ...
discussion program ''WoW Source''. In September 2017, Morgan announced her employment at
Bonfire Studios Bonfire Studios is a video game development studio located in Orange County, California. It was co-founded in 2016 by former Blizzard Entertainment Chief Creative Officer Rob Pardo. History After leaving Blizzard Entertainment in 2014, whe ...
where she helps organize the community and other various functions.


Personal life

As an infant and small child, Webb appeared in advertisements for Gerber baby food,
Kenner Kenner Products, known simply as Kenner, was an American toy brand owned by Hasbro. Kenner Products began as a toy company founded in 1946, going on to produce several highly recognizable toys and merchandise lines including action figures for t ...
Toys, and an ad for McDonald's, where she recited the ingredients of the
Big Mac The Big Mac is a brand of hamburger sold by the international fast food restaurant chain McDonald's. It was introduced by a Greater Pittsburgh Region, Greater Pittsburgh area Franchising, franchisee in 1967 and expanded nationwide in 1968, and ...
to a game of
Pat-a-cake "Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker's man", "Pat-a-Cake", "Patty-cake" or "Pattycake" is an English nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 6486. Verse :Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker's man. :Bake me a cake as fast as you can :Pat ...
. Though Webb's parents refused to let her watch television, she made up for it by playing video games. She began with an
Atari Atari () is a brand name that has been owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by French holding company Atari SA (formerly Infogrames) and its focus is on "video games, consumer hardware, licensing and bl ...
, primarily the game ''
Combat Combat (French language, French for ''fight'') is a purposeful violent Conflict (process), conflict between multiple combatants with the intent to harm the opposition. Combat may be armed (using weapons) or unarmed (Hand-to-hand combat, not usin ...
''; however, as technology progressed, ''
The Legend of Zelda is a media franchise, video game series created by the Japanese game designers Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka. It is primarily developed and published by Nintendo; some portable installments and re-releases have been outsourced to Flags ...
'' and ''
Phantasy Star is a series of console role-playing video games and other supplementary media created by Sega. The series debuted in 1987 on the Master System with '' Phantasy Star'', and continues into the present with ''Phantasy Star Online 2'' and other ex ...
'' became two of her favorite games. After Webb graduated from high school, she left home to attend UC Berkeley. There, she earned a
bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...
in
rhetoric Rhetoric is the art of persuasion. It is one of the three ancient arts of discourse ( trivium) along with grammar and logic/ dialectic. As an academic discipline within the humanities, rhetoric aims to study the techniques that speakers or w ...
(with a minor in Italian) in 2000. On August 19, 2006, Webb married Rob Reid in a service at
City Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...
in
San Francisco, California San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
.A VC: Webb Alert
(August 2, 2007). (Blog in which Morgan Webb's husband's name is stated). Accessed 2007-08-02. --> Webb has joined the web-series Acquisitions Incorporated in playing several
Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) originally created and designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical ...
games at live events like
PAX West PAX (originally known as Penny Arcade Expo) is a series of gaming culture festivals involving tabletop, arcade, and video gaming. PAX is held annually in Seattle, Boston, Philadelphia, and Melbourne. Previously, it was also held in San Antonio. ...
.


Media appearances

Throughout 2004 and beyond, Webb was featured in numerous issues of print publications. ''
Maxim Maxim or Maksim may refer to: Entertainment *Maxim (magazine), ''Maxim'' (magazine), an international men's magazine ** Maxim (Australia), ''Maxim'' (Australia), the Australian edition ** Maxim (India), ''Maxim'' (India), the Indian edition *Maxim ...
'' magazine spotlighted her in their July 2004 issue. ''FHM'' featured a five-page article in their November 2004 issue, and also had her listed in three consecutive years for their annual ''The 100 Sexiest Women in the World'' article: #73 in 2005, #62 in 2006, and #51 in 2007. Other magazines have featured her as well, voted "Hottest Woman of the Year" in RTD's 2006 Top 10 countdown and in an article in the fall 2006 edition of ''Colleges.com U Magazine''. In April 2004, Webb was in "TechTV's Sexiest Techie" poll sponsored by ''
Playboy ''Playboy'' (stylized in all caps) is an American men's Lifestyle journalism, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, available both online and in print. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, funded in part by a $ ...
'' magazine. TechTV viewers could vote for their favorite girl via the ''Playboy'' website. Webb won the poll and was offered a nude photo shoot, but she refused, despite being "very flattered", citing her own personal reasons and her parents' objection to the idea. Webb appeared in the music video "Strange New Element" from the band Low Water. She makes her appearance near the end of the video alongside other fellow TechTV personalities, including Catherine Schwartz, Sarah Lane, Laura Swisher, Chi-Lan Lieu, and Sumi Das. In addition to appearing in Low Water's music video, Webb is featured in the artwork of the band's album ''Hard Words in a Speakeasy''. She additionally provided her own vocals for ''X-Play: The Musical'', which aired in February 2007. She is a frequent guest on various talk shows, including ''
The Tyra Banks Show ''The Tyra Banks Show'', also known as and shortened to ''Tyra'' or ''The Tyra Show'', is an American talk show hosted by Tyra Banks that aired from 2005 to 2010. While Banks's show covered a variety of topics, there was a sensationalized focus ...
'' (in February 2008), ''
Chelsea Lately ''Chelsea Lately'' is an American late-night comedy talk show created by Brody Stevens and hosted by comedian Chelsea Handler. The show was produced by Handler's production company (Borderline Amazing Productions), and taped its later years a ...
'' (in early 2009), and ''
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon ''Late Night with Jimmy Fallon'' is an American television talk show broadcast by NBC. The show was the third installment of the '' Late Night'' franchise. Hosted by Jimmy Fallon,
'' (on April 15, 2009). She was also a frequent co-host on G4's ''
Attack of the Show! ''Attack of the Show!'' (''AOTS'') is an American live television program that aired on G4. AOTS features segments on pop culture, video games, and movies. After an initial run from 2005 to 2013 (which originally aired from 2005 until 2013, we ...
''. On June 17, 2009, Webb appeared on
KCRW KCRW (89.9 FM broadcasting, FM) is an NPR member station broadcasting from the campus of Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California, where the station is licensed. KCRW airs original news and music programming in addition to programming ...
Radio, as part of the station's ''Guest DJ Project''. On June 21, 2008, Webb along with her ''X-Play'' co-host Adam Sessler, participated in the 50th annual ''Hollywood Stars Celebrity
Softball Softball is a Variations of baseball, variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches (where the ball is released while the hand is primarily below the ball) ...
'' game at
Dodger Stadium Dodger Stadium is a ballpark in the Elysian Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. It is the home of the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball (MLB). Opened in 1962, it was constructed in less than three years at a ...
. A YouTube video was posted on October 7, 2013, with Webb as the well-versed host of a "Patch 5.4 Developer Round Table" discussion with Blizzard Entertainment employees J. Allen Brack, Ion Hazzikostas, and Tom Chilton. Webb played a minor role as Neely Lamm on the CBS TV Drama series
Bull A bull is an intact (i.e., not Castration, castrated) adult male of the species ''Bos taurus'' (cattle). More muscular and aggressive than the females of the same species (i.e. cows proper), bulls have long been an important symbol cattle in r ...
on an episode titled, "The Fall" which aired on February 7, 2017.


References


External links

* *
Morgan Webb's X-Play Bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Webb, Morgan 1978 births Living people TechTV people X-Play University of California, Berkeley alumni American women critics Video game critics Women video game critics Mass media people from the San Francisco Bay Area Mass media people from Los Angeles