Left 4 Dead

Halo - 10 years

Yesterday was the ten year anniversary of the announcement of Halo: Combat Evolved, the first in a series of games that has revolutionized the first person shooter genre of games.


I was living abroad at the time and didn't hear about Halo until I moved back to the states. Needless to say, Halo is what got me back into gaming. I had casually played games, but once my friends got me to try Halo:CE, I was hooked. I went out and sold my Playstation 2 and all the games I had for it and went out and purchased my original Xbox console (which I still have now and hasn't given me any problems like the RROD on the 360).

First there was Halo:CE on the original Xbox. Then there was the PC version. By the time Halo 2 released in 2004, I was hooked to the point I was waiting in line for the midnight release with my friend Nate (and mistaken by a few in the local Wal-Mart for waiting in line for the new Brittney Spears album that released the same day). Halo 2 was the game that spurred me to get onto Xbox Live and move into online gaming. Halo 2 consumed many hours of my time. Halo 2 is the game that got me in touch with almost all my current online gaming friends through online clans, tournaments, etc. We played the game so much that every little glitch was well known and easily exploited, everything from superbouncing to getting outside the maps.

In 2006 I purchased my Xbox 360 in anticipation of Halo 3, only the biggest game release ever up to that point. Halo 3 introduced four player cooperative campaign play, something new to the FPS genre (at least, done properly). The game is still as great as ever and worth many more hours of gameplay, but suffers now only from competition as other gaming studios have caught up to Bungie in terms of game quality. Needless to say, the Halo franchise is my foundation in gaming. Without it, I really have to wonder if I ever would have started gaming again. Whenever anyone plays a first person shooter now, it's always compared to Halo. Bungie really did reinvent the genre with their multiplayer netcode, party system, game lobby, campaign co-op mode. Sure, other games had these features, but Bungie just seems to be the company that finally got them right. Other game studios really should just rip off Bungie when it comes to design. After all, isn't imitation the highest form of flattery?

With the lackluster games out right now I think I may just go back and replay the Halo franchise start to finish. That should hold me off until the next Halo game comes out, Halo ODST.

Mass Effect 2 Dev Diary

For those of you looking forward to Mass Effect 2 and really worried about spoilers, be warned, this video contains some. That said, it's a great video. Can't emphasize enough how excited I am for this game that will take many hours of my time away from reality.