I was introduced to Halo CE when a friend bought an Xbox, many years ago. I was told it involved "funny talking midgety ewok things" and zombies and the multiplayer was fantastic. From there, my love affair with the Halo fiction, and with Bungie was sealed. Countless hours were spent playing LAN in his basement, our two systems and a spare TV ravaging away. So when I heard a sequel was on the spoke, I was thrilled. I followed all the media. Caught the very few commercials with glee. (somehow missed out on Ilovebees) but as soon as cam-corder copies of the E3 demo made their way to the internet. I was floored. The cinematic quality and overall jump forward in appearance.... I was falling over myself with anticipation. I still remember, I was unable to pre-order but went at midnight to pick up a special edition copy of the game. However, sophomore year of high school demanded I wait until the next day to play it. I can't say I loved everything about it. It was the next logical step, but not much more. After Halo CE's apparent perfection. Halo 2, just seemed, lacking. It would be a very long time, before I found confirmation that the overwhelming sadness I felt for the game in contrast to it's potential was mirrored so closely by Bungie's experience making the game. Bungie really gave their soul to make this work, both in losing it's independence to Microsoft and in the amount that had to be sliced to make way for reality. All was not lost, gleams of sunshine from what the game's original intent had been poked through, and where it did. A lightly melancholy but uplifting moment occurred. Moments like leaving Cortana at that platform, hear Truth annunciate "Some said this day would never come...." over High Charity's PA system as you chased them, always a step behind. Truly this game was of a beautiful vision that was quashed by limitations. Multiplayer though, was a lot of fun, and I enjoyed it greatly. Hours were racked up on a slew of good maps and returning favorites. My friends and I clung to the mast of our sinking Halo CE, throwing LAN parties as often as possible, but I definitely enjoyed many a time on Halo 2's multiplayer. Live brought something unseen to console based gamers. In fact, it was this meeting of the gamer minds that really made the game for me. The ability for players from all over to communicate, play, and create was really what kept me coming back. From attempts at machinima, to exploring the outer reaches of maps thanks to a combination of sword/rockets. To, my personal favorite, the honesty-based game of zombies, the dynamics of which are closely paralleled, but in my opinion not quite matched by Halo 3's infection gametype. This creativity kept me coming back. It sounds like for Bungie's staff this was an obstacle that brought about growth, learning, realization of priorities and development of tools that allowed later games to be that much better. In parallel, I can remember cracking open that case on Nov 8th, 2004. Since then, I've graduated high school, am attending college in computer science and thanks to you folks at Bungie have selected a career path to become a video game developer..... hopefully ;-) So long Halo 2, Here's looking to the future, Charlie