User blog:Samdoo/How did you get into Halo?

Today marks 10 years since I first got Halo and I just wanted to hear how the rest of you got into this epic franchise. Note: there were several things on the same day I got Halo so don't think it sad how I remembered :)

My story is:

I remember when I was young my mom was going to buy my dad an Xbox for his birthday - note it was an original Xbox. With it came four games: Amped, Project Gotham Racing, Enter The Matrix and Halo. I didn’t know much about Halo than, other than seeing several copies lined up in a store and one other though I cant say 100% that it was actually Halo; I remember my family dropped in to see some family friends and as soon as we walked in the door they got us to walk into their kitchen because they were watching something inappropriate for kids, something they had been working on for a while on their Xbox. I didn’t see much but what I did see and what I believe it was, was part of the final cinematic from Halo: Combat Evolved (where the Chief is just leaving the Pillar of Autumn before it explodes, destroying Halo), I think I saw a soldier and an alien fighting or hugging (one of the two they both happened) - this was obviously the Legendary ending of Halo: Combat Evolved.

That kid never knew when he saw that scene how much that game was gonna impact his life.

I was convinced I was going to play Halo as soon as I found out it came with the console, but on the day my parents said I was to young and they were going to throw away all the violent video games that came with the console. A few days after we got the Xbox at night my father thought he should play the game just once before he got rid the game, but when he started it he was amazed, he'd never played anything like it in his life, he had gone from the low-level graphics and gameplay of Wolfenstein to Halo. Soon after that night me and my family (except my father and sister) went shopping and when we came home, dad was playing Halo with my little sister... so we kept all the shooting games, though I was still not aloud to play them.

Every time dad or me had friends over my father would show and play Halo with them and then their parents would get angry at him for exposing it to their kids. But the first time he showed it to friends was some weeks later after we first got the Xbox, my family had some family friends over (the same we came to visit mentioned in the first paragraph) and they happened to be traveling and they had their Xbox with them and they had an extra controller with them so dad took the opportunity to do a game with them on co-op. And sometime near the end of the level I FINALLY got given the controller to play =D I played for a short while, I remember seeing some strange metal buildings in the area around a cliff and I also remember trying to drive this car thingy (cause vehicles are cool) and then after awhile of trying to get in, I eventually hopped in it and (accidentally) drove it off the cliff... :/ I came back to life and assumed it had re-spawned with me, sadly because it was co-op my companion informed me that it was gone and it was my fault, so we had to walk for the rest of the level - this was in Halo: Combat Evolved the second level Halo, but some of you would have already guessed that.

And since that first time in 2003 I’ve been a very big fan of Halo. It’s now 2013 ten years since I first got Halo, though I'm not really obsessed with it anymore like I was when I was a kid, but I still love learning new stuff about Halo and its story. I've played and own almost every standard, limited and legendary edition of the games and every original and reprinted novel, comic and other bonus materials, plus other media and I probably will continue collecting and learning stuff about Halo for a long time still. (go to my profile at Halo Fanon for the rest of my story if your interested)

Now what’s your story?

~Samdoo