[quasi-narcissistic informal self centered disorganized rambling blog-type-thing]You see, while these are some completely asinine assumptions, I have to say that whenever someone who knows me in #Gaming thinks of me, they usually think of one of these three things: "Well he's Godzilla." "some kind of fgt that likes halol 4 lynch him" "artistic integrity" I can see exactly where you're coming from if you think of this stuff when my name is brought up. But there's another set of people who know me on here. And they think of me not as Godzilla, which I am; a Halo 4 supporter, which I can't say I'm not; or a deliverer of artistic integrity, which I often do with my friend Damien Sandow. They think of me as that one guy who still supports a certain game that has largely been dismissed in the wake of its sequels. And that game is Halo Combat Evolved. Today is November 15th, 2013. It's been 12 entire years since Halo CE's original birthday in 2001. I admittedly can't remember that because, well, I was sort of a (stupid) kid at the time (and now I'm a stupid teenager :P). I started Halo with Halo 2, in 2006. Soon after, I played CE. I realized, very quickly into my playthrough with CE, that it was a far, [i]far[/i] more enjoyable experience than Halo 2. I basically fell in love with the game. I couldn't stop playing it, and I wouldn't stop playing it either; I still play the game today. It's not the quintessential Halo game for me, as Halo has veered [i]far[/i] off of the path that CE set it on (thanks, Halo 2/3/Reach/4... :/) It's the quintessential sci fi shooter. Everything about the game had an odd sense of laid back charm to it. Until recently, I couldn't put my finger on what it is. Is it the music? The art style? The enemy AI? The lack of hand holding gameplay mechanics? The marines' feet sliding around in that first cutscene? No. Instead, it has something to do with the very core of the game design philosophy itself. Halo CE isn't an epic space opera like the sequels. Halo CE is a true, honest to goodness [i]adventure[/i] story. It's got action, heart, and with 343's contributions (specifically, from Silentium and the new Halo 4 Chief/Cortana dynamic) the game also takes on a whole new level of depth. And in my opinion, Halo games are at their best when it [i]doesn't[/i] focus on the epic bombast of large scale war. It's why CE, ODST, and 4 are among my favorites of the series: they forgo the "epic war" and instead focus on something else entirely. CE's focus was adventure. ODST's focus was mystery. 4's focus was a relationship. All three stories are incredible, in my opinion, but it's CE's that feels most like Halo to me. I don't know why, but CE's emotional tone [i]perfectly[/i] reflects everything I've come to love about Halo at its best. An atmospheric adventure which is laid back while also possessing a hidden layer of depth (which makes analysis so fun). Of course, I've probably lost 85% of the community here by praising Halo 4 and Silentium (see ya around? XD), but whatever.[/quasi-narcissistic informal self centered disorganized rambling blog-type-thing] So yeah. Halo CE's 12th birthday. <3 [spoiler]What about Halo CE PC? Sure, the netcode is like Halo 3 meets Bad Company 2, but the population remains at a consistent 500-3000 players. Hell, in a few years, CE will have a higher population than 2, 3, Reach, and 4 [i]combined.[/i] If that isn't flat out bada$$ then I don't know what is. Basically, get it. What about Halo Custom Edition? Again, horrid netcode, but the mods that you can download are splendid at times. And no, I have no idea what the hell is going on with SPV3 (typical CMT *rolls eyes* [j/k i wuv u masterz <3]). Basically, get it. What about getting novel fun out of the campaign? A la BadCyborg's megabattles? ZealotSG's "Halo done pro" series? Warthog jumps? etc.[/spoiler] A lot of stuff happened on November 15th. But even in spite of console launches and other titles, I prefer to remember the day as something different; not as the day Xbox/PS4 began; not even as the day Halo began; but as the day Combat Evolved. So yeah there's my rambling incoherence of a post. [spoiler]forgive me for grammatical errors and random diction inconsistencies and sh1t i'm writing this up on my phone in an attempt to not fall asleep on the bus :/[/spoiler]