Jared Rea

One year ago, I made the following statements in regards to Halo 3-

“Halo 3 is an extremely solid, impeccably paced adventure that never seems to tire itself out.”

“If the original Halo was “Combat Evolved,” this is ‘Combat Perfected.’”

“Halo 3 is a perfect example of why art is more important than tech.”

“It’s a shame that a title so brilliantly crafted is so perfectly situated to become the polarizing icon of the console wars.”

I finished the fight and went on to grant it game of the year status for my employers at the time. Over Bioshock, over Rock Band, Super Mario Galaxy, The Orange Box, Mass Effect, Call of Duty 4 … you name it. I made the argument that, if anything, Halo 3 was the most underrated game of the year in a world that considers it the complete opposite.

Looking back, I stand by every single bit of it. Buying two cat helmets was definitely overkill, though. Happy Anniversary Bungie and here’s to another year of the best damn shooter around.

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I swore that I’d never change my Marty O’Donnell gamerpic, but after both yesterday’s video and a rousing speech by Senator Kennedy, I felt inspired to stand a bit taller. May the brilliance of his mullet shine upon those whose Xbox’s are deemed noble. Good night, sweet prince. And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.

The avatar swap was made as a show of support for Microsoft and MTV’s recent Rock the Vote collaboration (even if I still prefer the wonderfully ludicrous “Vote or Die”) which will not only provide streaming election coverage to Xbox 360 owners but more importantly, allow them to register to vote. Not that I enjoy the idea of your average Xbox Live citizen being enabled with the power of the vote, but I do appreciate the advocacy.

Whether these new voters go on to cast their ballot for Barack Obama, John McCain, or hell, even Bob Barr, I can only hope that this somewhat risky team-up inspires the youth of Xbox Live take a serious look at the issues and realize just how important this election is. I guess I have a somewhat selfish reason for wanting this, as I recall standing outside the voting booth in 2004, realizing that I was the only person under the age of 30 at my station. My generation simply can not afford to remain ignorant to the ever changing world around them.

I loved Race mode in Halo: Combat Evolved. Many a nights were spent in Blood Gulch, chasing down friends and ramming them off the ledges of the infamous canyon. So you can only imagine how bummed I was to find out that not only was it removed from Halo 2, but it didn’t return in Halo 3, either. And while the latter came with the Forge creation tool, I never felt particularly inspired to create my own race track, though plenty of others did.

I wasn’t inspired, that is, until I got my pre-release code for the Legendary Map Pack and with it, Avalanche. With little to no experience under my belt, I dove into Forge and through plenty of experimentation, came my first creation: Overdriftacular.

Map: Overdrift 2.0 (09.25.08)
Gametype: Overdriftacular (09.25.08)

“Everyone on Installation 04 drifted. It was impossible to drive straight.”

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