Halo & LAN Gaming

Oh I didn't forget, I just failed to mention the various jerry-rigged and multi-colored ethernet cables spread into every room, and the numerous routers we went through because they would overheat and eventually fail, and the spies that were beaten, the classes that were missed, the lasting relationships that were made, and the joy that was had...."it's Glorious!" (timestamp 0:50)  We even had a group of guys in the bathroom, CRT mounted on the bathtub!

You had a projector in 2002-03?  Must've been massive!  Just thinking back, I met so many people because of Halo, it's ridiculous.  A fun story was when we lost track of time and went outside to get some fresh air, and the cops pulled over and asked us questions, then we told them who we were, then they used their shoulder walkie talkie's and said, "False alarm, it's just gamers."    So confusing after 18 hours and not knowing it was 4:00am!  They definitely were the days!

I always found the original Halo too repeitive and too easy.  It was like a first person shooter for kids!

I missed out on Halo as I'd moved from consoles to PC by the time it came out.
We had our own LAN parties though, just with PC's and different games (Battlefield 2, Unreal Tournament, TF2, CS, GTA to name but a few)
Such good memories, we even had one about 5 years ago (when I had more room to spare for 4 PC's and desks/chair etc)
No chance now in my little apartment, but no need really nowadays with the speed of internet and how easy it is to hook up with each other with steam/discord.

Good times.

You commented on this and not the Death Stranding forum I set up for you, lolz, I left questions for you over there.

https://forum.next-episode.net/viewtopic.php?id=10965

Anyway, Halo 3 was a rehash of the first two, Halo Reach was frustrating considering no crouch jump, I never played Halo 5, but I enjoyed Combat Evolved and Halo 2, gameplay and storyline wise the most.  Too easy?  Did you play on easy or on Legendary?  I found it took way too much time, guns, ammo, and patience to finish any of the campaigns on Legendary.

  I'm totally bugging you.  I never played COD 1-3 or BF2, but I did play BF3, BF5, COD:MW, and Crysis.  Were there LAN BF2 parties? We had a copy of Battlefield 2 kicking around unplayed with dust on it, because Half-Life and Half-Life 2 mixed with KOTOR and KOTOR2 took up all gaming during that time, which were all an afterthought compared to the amazing television we were watching between 2005-2008.  In 2007, COD:MW and Crysis ruined every game for me for over a decade, because nothing was even remotely as good, and even by today's standards, they still hold up exceptionally well.

It was like every gamer was mentally willing something like Half Life 2 to exist at the time, and the game delivered, but then Crysis happened, which made every game look like the dark ages!  As far as staying connected with people over gaming I've lost contact, but it was a tight group; we'd sometimes just log on to Halo online, and mess around and laugh in game ie, trying to blow each other up in hilarious ways, more than play.  It was the humor that tended to bind the crowd, at least ours.

Counter-Strike (CS:GO) and Team Fortress 2 ushered in the age of the alternative Lemming Shooters.  That's what I call them, Lemming Shooters, because the speed at which you die in those types of multiplayer online shooters made everyone a Lemming!  There was a long list of them too that had a large following but were more alternative than mainstream, like Unreal Tournament, Far Cry, Doom, Wolfenstein, Swat,...feel free to compile a long list.  (Mainstream shooters of course being Call of Duty: MW 1,2,3 etc, Battlefield et al, and Halo et al, etc.)  Today in 2022, lemming shooters look like Fortnite, Apex Legends, Overwatch, PUBG, and I'm sure we could name another dozen if we went looking.  I've become indifferent to them at this point, as my tastes are more palatable to the more subversive and expansive, albeit "tent pole", RPG titles I've listed here on next-episode.