I’ve been playing video games for a long time. In fact, I can’t really remember a time without video games considering we had an Atari 2600 that was probably purchased when I was an infant. Some people grow out of the hobby, but for me it’s never lost its charm. For the longest time games were a kid’s thing, and even then if you were over 12 and played games you were usually labeled a nerd (and that was before being a nerd was trés geek chic). That hasn’t completely changed, but video games have really come into their own. Whether it’s the cross demographic success of the Wii and DS (it prints money!) or the huge success of the Halo franchise.

Halo 3 comes out today and is expected to have the biggest opening of any piece of entertainment this year, if not ever. Yes, bigger than Spider-Man 3 and even bigger than the last Harry Potter book. Opening sales are estimated to be around the $200 million mark. How can a video game fan not get swept up in the hype? To be honest I’m not a big fan of First-Person Shooters and I don’t think that the Halo series is the pinnacle of them. In fact I’m quite enjoying Metroid Prime 3 right now (which is sort of an FPS), and I’m not even half done it. But you know what, I’m going to put it aside for now to play Halo 3.

There are a few reasons I’m excited about Halo 3. For the most part it’s because I’m legitimately interested in how the story wraps up and what happens to the characters. Halo 2 actually did a kind of crappy job telling its story, but I’ve even read a few of the Halo novels, so I really want to see what happens. Another big reason is the multiplayer aspect. The multiplayer in Halo 1 and 2 was a blast, even though I got destroyed by anyone I played with. I only played Halo 2 online a few times, and despite the 14 year olds who tell you how they will fornicate you and how you can fornicate yourself, it was fun. I’m really excited about Halo 3 because I have friends who have 360’s, so I’ll get to play multiplayer and co-op with them.

So tonight the wife is getting kicked out of the house (okay, she’s leaving voluntarily), the kid is being put to bed, and I’m going to spend some quality time with the Chief.

"I have defied gods and demons.
I am your shield, I am your sword.
I know you; your past, your future.
This is the way the world ends."

Let’s finish the fight.