- Stoosh
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- Honorable Member
The Tartan Spartan. Team DosS. Fightin' for the little ones.
What can I say? The ViDoc brought it all back, the Halo CE - putting it on for the first time and pausing within 15 minutes to phone my best bud "Holy -blam!- dude have you played this yet I THINK MY MIND IS MELTING!". Halo 2, first game I ever queued on launchday for, back to the same friend as previous to play ALL night and next day till the campaign was finished, only to immediately restart on legendary. The epic Halo parties we would have, those were the good times!
Then Halo 3, first the beta which obviously I took the week off work for. Then the full release comes out and I feel my mind melting for the second time in my life. I remember the absolute horror I would feel when a friend would decline campaign co-op on the phone; "what do you mean you have work tomorrow, ITS FRIGGIN CO-OP HALO DUDE WE NEED TO GET THE SKULLS!".
ODST - by now Bungie have altered my life sufficiently that I am now actively pursuing a career in the games industry, I go through a phase of perhaps a little high-mindedness trying to explain to my buddies "yeah man we're not Master Chief anymore but it's all about the emotional depth of the story - this game is as deep as the whole trilogy was wide!".
Reach - the masterpiece, the absolutely fitting parting shot of Bungie blam in the Halo universe. The tech, the balance, the finesse - everything that had been learned since CE so clearly executed. Playing through the campaign for the first time for me was like admiring a Da Vinci or Michealangelo.. to experience the product of such undoubted masters of their craft at the peak of their power, an absolute pleasure and privilege! I still regularly preach to the unconverted about the magnificence that is Reachs' multiplayer even as I'm playing other multiplayer games, which usually pisses people off, but I can't help myself! "Ah, if this was Halo there is no way such a cheap trick map gimmick would be used to entice a hotspot!" Or other such diatribes.
My earliest gaming memory is playing Snake on a 286. The passion has been there ever since. I have so many great memories of games, era's and so forth, but the best ones are all Halo related. Queuing for the first time on a launch for Halo 2, the week off work for the Halo 3 beta, the feeling of sheer awe I felt playing Reach, all of these and more I will not forget.
I'm now about to enter my 3rd year studying computer games technology at Abertay university in Dundee, I know what I want to do with my life, and Bungie played a big part in me figuring that out. Not only the games, but the attitude of the studio, the podcasts, the community interaction - the passion for what you do and create and a sense that you guys give a -blam!- not just about what you do, but about the people who you do it for, I want to be part of something like that.
Anyway, this is my love letter to Bungie to share a little of what you have meant to me, and will continue to for the years to come. Thanks for the games, thanks for the memories and thanks for hiring me in 2 years time when I graduate from my Computer Games Technology degree! (Purty please? =) )
Thanks you Bungie, can't wait to see where you're taking me next.
See you starside!