I loved Frank O’Connor and his work at Official Xbox Magazine while you were still a baby. He was so funny. He was larger than life and a really cool dude. The best day of the month was the day a magazine arrived on the doorstep of our home in the woods of Alabama. Even a quarter page snippet about what was coming in Halo 2 would have me excited for weeks. Each new gun they announced had me dreaming. I cut out screenshots of Elites and Master Chief and taped them inside my high school locker. I didn’t care that they had been super enlarged beyond their native resolution so they could cover a magazine page, and now they looked all pixely. I didn’t even know what resolution was back then.
I loved your forefather, Bungie, and his beautiful works of art. I still remember the day that I played Halo for the very first time. I went over to my Aunt’s house, and my cousin showed me his new Xbox. He started a new Halo co-op campaign, and we played for hours. Halo was the sole reason I ended my near 10 year gaming relationship with Nintendo and bought an Xbox instead of a Gamecube. We started a weekly LAN party at my house, and we played Halo splitscreen multiplayer every Thursday night. I still remember Tower of Power on Ascension. We had custom names for all our custom game modes. We made SWAT before SWAT was a thing. We called it Realistic. My dad loved the Scorpion tanks on Blood Gulch. He couldn’t run and look around as fast as my brother and I, but if he got in a tank, he was happy. Mom would even play sometimes too. Her name was “EvilMomlady”, lovingly given in honor of Calvin and Hobbes’ Mom.
Back when I was a cool kid creating all my usernames on the Internets, I chose usernames that declared my love and dedication to halo. Its kinda embarrassing now, and I’ve tried to change most of them to be more “professional”. Earlier this year, a software client wanted to use Skype for a group meeting. When we had setup the chat room, apparently my old Skype handle came through instead of my current Microsoft account name, and the client asked, who is “dude4halo”? I had to sheepishly own that one.
I bought every single Halo soundtrack that Marty O’Donnell made. They were incredible. They showed me how awesome orchestral and classical music can be. Another cousin and I would listen to them every time we rode in his car. He built a subwoofer in his trunk, and when we listened to Covenant Dance we almost peed our pants. The music was peaceful and beautiful, stirring and exciting.
I read every Halo book for a long time. They were my favorite science fiction for years. Eric Nylund’s storytelling was amazing.
Starting with Halo 2, we began a tradition of picking up each new Halo game at midnight as soon as it was released. Our goal was to get as many people together as we could to huddle around and play the co-op on Legendary. We tried to beat the game before sunrise. We’ve continued the tradition to this day.
But now, I’m afraid that this good thing must come to an end. It appears that so many things are changing. So many of the things I loved about Halo are just… dust and echoes. There is certainly a chance for a reclaimer, but now, I feel that I must look elsewhere. Farewell Halo. I hope we meet again someday. Maybe we can relive the glorious times of our past.