HALO: LOVE IT OR HATE IT, IT’S STILL KING

The year: 2001. The town: Palm Desert, California. The store: Bestbuy. The mission: buy a Playstation 2. The outcome? Well, I can now claim that this day was the day that set off a chain of events that have made video games a very important part of my life, and hopefully a full fledged career. I’ve narrowed it down to this one day. Let me explain…

Gran Turismo in high school was my game of choice and the game all of my friends were playing. I was really into the import car racing scene in So. Cal and Gran Turismo was something all of us got into because we could relate to it. We challenged each other to see who could create the better car, who could beat who in a race. We would bet who would win, Imports vs Domestics. (Imports always won of course.) Anyway, this is the game I really wanted the most and the only way I could get my own instead of using my friends was to purchase a Playstation 2. So off to Bestbuy we go.

I was not prepared at all for the sales person on the floor at Bestbuy that day. I came in to buy a Playstation 2 and just like when I shop anywhere else, I wanted to get the hell out of there before I bought anything else, or sign up for a stupid Bestbuy credit card. (I did anyway, such a sucker!) But the damn guy wouldn’t let me buy the damn Playstation! I swear I could have been there for more than an hour with this sales guy trying to talk me into buying an Xbox. An Xbox? Why the hell would I want to buy an Xbox? I don’t even know what it is! So the guy explained.

I couldn’t comprehend why this random person was being so aggressive with this sale. I had money in my hands, I told him what I wanted and the fricken‘ dude refused. He said I needed to buy an Xbox because there were so many games being developed for it and the games were actually better than anything the PS2 had. Then he mentioned the one reason why I needed to walk out of that store, with an Xbox in my hands… Halo. That’s it. Just one word is all you need to know when purchasing the new Xbox. HALO.

So after a few moments (more like 30-40 minutes) of sitting down, contemplating my big game console purchase, and after the guy called me “stubborn” and “thick headed”, the guy actually won me over. I walked out with a console I did not want to buy when I walked into the store that day. How the hell did that happen?

Needless to say, I don’t regret my purchase. AT ALL. That day, that console, that game.. that’s where the addiction started for me. Little did I know back then, what doors would open for me later on in life based off of my love for games, and well.. Halo itself.

We’ve gone through the whole Halo trilogy now and I can definitely say there were some ups and downs along the way. Halo: Combat Evolved was a game I could never get bored with. CE didn’t even have online multiplayer and I was still addicted, playing the campaign over and over. As always, split screen made the game last longer as I could play with my buddy or my girlfriend. It wasn’t until a LAN party (didn’t know what a LAN party was back then) that I truly saw where Bungie was taking Halo multiplayer. The LAN party set up a big projector screen and we played, honestly.. until I was sick.

Then along comes Halo 2 and all hell broke loose. I spent so much time and energy on this game playing multiplayer online. Sometimes I would get so into it, I would become a different person. If any ladies are reading this, please write this down. DO NOT try to have a conversation with your guy friend, boyfriend, fiance, husband… whatever, while he is playing Halo online with his friends. The testosterone levels are sky high and remember on many occasions, snapping at my girlfriend when she dared to interrupt me as I’m trying to “no-scope noobs“. Long story short, it got to a point where I needed to walk away from the game and pay more attention to other important matters in my life. But isn’t that crazy? How can a game do this to people? I guess I understand more why some dude at a Korean internet cafe can die from exhaustion by playing StarCraft or World of Warcraft for hours on end. This game really grabbed a hold of me but I was fortunate enough to realize this and adjust my attitude accordingly.

Finally, Halo 3 approached release day while I was up in Canada. I walked the streets of Downtown Vancouver around 11pm to wait in line at EB Games for my first ever Midnight Launch. I had already experienced the beta thanks to an awesome game called Crackdown. Playing the 3 maps they had released for the beta was more than enough proof I needed to warrant yet another Halo purchase. I knew more good times were ahead as evident in this old beta footage I’ve posted below. This video was recorded on a small camera while sitting in front of my TV so I apologize for the quality, however I hope you enjoy what happens in the video.

Halo 3 is a great game. No doubt about it. I find myself playing H3 in phases though. A lot of my friends got sick of it. Got sick of the cheating, bridging, lagging, standbying.. all of those “ing” words that people accuse other players of. So once my friends get sick of it, I do as well. If I don’t have my friends to play Halo 3 with online, I’m not going to play it by myself. I need to know I have a decent team to back me up because let’s face it, guys don’t like to lose. We play games because it’s challenging and when we lose, we get pissed. (no not drunk pissed, angry pissed.. although now that I think about it, some might get pissed drunk as well, to each his own)

As reported by Major Nelson the other day, Halo 3 is King of Xbox Live… again. (Halo 3 and Halo 2 on the original Xbox) It seems people do what I do; we go through phases of playing other games besides Halo 3, but once you’re finished with that game, (which is usually pretty quick for those of us with mild to severe A.D.D.) we always fall back on Halo 3 to get our FPS fix. So whether you hate Halo or not, there’s no argument that can be made to reduce the importance and the influence Halo has had on me, the Xbox, Microsoft and online gaming. Unless your argument of course is, ” I stopped playing because Bungie fixed the rocket/sword flying in Halo 2″. Then I would say you have an argument. Why the hell did they take that out anyway? That was so much fun! Bring it back Bungie! That was the one glitch worth turning into an actual playlist. haha.. could you imagine scrolling down the Halo 3 playlists.. Team Slayer, Team Skirmish, Team rocket-sword lunge flying glitch playground. Who knows, maybe Bungie is listening. With or without that, Halo is still King. Will there ever be a Halo killer? There have been many games that claim to be the next Halo killer, but none have really succeeded, and I doubt they ever will. Leave your comments below and let me know your thoughts.