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Editor's note: Andrew's never played Halo. It took him a while to join the HD console generation, but he finally managed to acquire a Xbox 360. Did he finally decide to play Halo? Read on to find out. -Jason.
Fall 2001 was a scary point in my life. It was my first semester of college. I had my first "real" relationship with a girl (I was a late bloomer), and to top things off, the world was coming to an end. It was a very stressful time for an 18-year-old with no money to his name. At the time gaming was the last thing on my mind.
So when Sony and Microsoft announced the PlayStation 2 and the Xbox, I was totally bummed that they were way out of my reach. My parents would never buy these systems for me, either; these were toys, after all, and I was a young adult in college. At least that's how they viewed it. I did have a killer new PC, though, and I was enjoying Quake 3 Arena online and, a year later, Neverwinter Nights. But I really wanted to check out this game everyone was nutty for: Halo.
I didn't understand what the big deal was at the time. All I saw in screenshots were a dude in green with a gun turning aliens into goo. I'm pretty sure I played this game before; it's called Doom. At least the blood is red in Doom!
Well, 2 years passed, and my interest in video games wound down a bit. I didn't have the money to buy any of the consoles out at the time 'cause, being a musician and a student, the money I had went to guitar strings, books, and equipment. It wasn't until years later, when I was working in the real world, that video games and I would mend our relationship.
Halo 2 came and went. I still didn't understand why it was so popular. It was just a first-person shooter. Why were the guys from Good Charlotte on MTV talking about it like it was the greatest thing ever (aside from getting a fat check from Microsoft)?
It's 2004, and I hadn't even so much as watched a friend play the game. At this point, I shamefully admit that I became a hater. I got so sick of kids talking about "owning noobs" and how amazing this game was that I'd had enough and decided I never wanted to play a game that was nothing more than a fancy Doom clone.
I bought my first new video-game system in 2005. It was a Nintendo DS, and it made me love games again. I had just started listening to a funny thing called a "podcast," an Internet radio show you downloaded to your MP3 player. It was called 1UP Yours. I loved it. They talked about games, drinking, and games.
I realized I had missed out a so much for the past 5 years, so I decided I'd wait for the PlayStation 3 to come out and get one of those. That way I'd be in with the new console generation, and I could start gaming again. The Xbox 360 had just come out, but it had so many problems right out the box that I didn't see how I could justify the purchase.
In spring 2006 the PS3 price came out. I immediately bought a used PS2 for a hundred bucks.
I had a lot of fun with that system: Bully, Final Fantasy 12, and a bunch of other games. Stil, no Halo due to my undeserved hatred for it. The PS3 was so expensive that everyone I knew couldn't afford one, so I felt like I had plenty of time to catch up. Then last summer, after three wonderful years, my used PS2 died.
I was playing Gun, and the game froze. I heard a click, then a snap, and then the system restarted. The laser track had apparently snapped off while reading the disc. It wasn't even worth fixing. To make matters worse, this same week I was fired from my job.
By this time I didn't hate Halo anymore. Halo 3 had already been out almost 2 years, and I was crazy about gaming again. All I had, though, was a Nintendo DS, a broken PS2, and no job. At this time I was also in a band and paid $200 a month in rent and car insurance for a van we bought to drive to gigs. Yeah, being a musician was -- and still is -- my passion, so gaming had to take a backseat again. Not for too long, though.
In January I was still jobless and falling into a major depression. No work meant no games. I had my DS still, so that was helping keep my hobby afloat. The depression helped with song writing, as being in a metal band requires one to be very angry, and I was pretty pissed off at life. My grandfather had passed away that November, and every job interview I got never bothered to call back. The only good news was that the band was about to sign a record deal with an indie label, and we were working on an album.
My friend and fellow metal guitarist, Jandro, had a 360 with which we regularly enjoyed playing Rock Band. One night we're all at our rehearsal studio, and he walks in and tells me, "Dude my 360 died today." I couldn't believe it. I asked him if it had red-ringed. He said, "No, it won't read discs. Doesn't matter -- I bought a new one already."
I was shocked. Why didn't he ask me to take a look at it. I'm the handy one in the band. If a pickup comes loose or a guitar neck gets misaligned, they come to me to get it fixed. I had also become quite friendly with the family who owned and operated the local Play 'N' Trade near my house, so if I couldn't fix it, they could. I asked him what he had done with the broken system, and he said, "Oh dude, if you can fix it, it's yours. You just have to buy a controller and the cables for it."
Finally! I had a current-generation video-game system. The only catch? I had to fix it.
One night and I figured out the problem, it was a bad optical drive. This was an easy fix according to a YouTube video, and after finally getting a job this past spring, I got it fixed.
So what have I been doing since getting a job and having the money for games again? I went and bought an 8.5-year-old game called Halo. I never played Halo until three weeks ago. What do I think of it?
I think it's awesome. Can't wait to finish and play the rest of them.
