Back in 2004, I was behind the curve.  It was a time in my life when I could only afford one console at a time, so I had chosen a PS2.  I had no regrets; of all the system of that particular console war, the PS2 stands as the winner.  But because I owned a PS2 and not an Xbox, I had only heard about the apparent killer app called “Halo: Combat Evolved”.

But that changed on an August night in 2004, I was about to leave for my freshman year of college.  My best friends and myself had gotten together, and being as we were all about to be scattered to the 4 winds, this was our last official gathering. We would go on to have many more, but they were not to be as wide-eyed and innocent anymore after this.

And at that night, my friend Brian Crowder, who I have known to be an avid FPS player since the days of “Wolfenstein 3D”, brought over his newly acquired Xbox and copy of “Halo: Combat Evolved”.  Being as how I was only a casual FPS fan, and it was my first time playing “Halo CE”, my friends tore me apart. Although, I had shown aptitude with the plasma grenade or “the sticky”.

I went to college, and later that semester “Halo 2″ was released.  I still at this point had not bought an Xbox.  However, my friend A.J. Riley was a major Xbox fanboy, and had camped out and then missed class to get a copy.  I met with him later, and participated in my first LAN battle with other players in dorm.  I played exclusively on the LAN until in my Sophomore year, we began leeching off the Live account of our friend Mike Jones.

It was fun and engaging, and my first real taste of online FPS.  It was a regular part of college nights until I moved out of the dorms, and now deprived of free Live, I only managed to play occasionally with my friends Mark and Tyler at their apartment.

As time passed, we, like most other gamers, moved on to the next big releases like “Team Fortress 2″ and “CoD 4 Modern Warfare”, and the next console generation.  We hopped onto the “Halo 2″ games once and awhile, but those times came less frequently.

It wasn’t that we had moved on to better things, we had just moved on to different things.

But we had acted as though we had.

It took awhile to notice, but we had begun to refer to “Halo” and “Halo”  players in negative terms.

But we, like most of the gaming community, waited in anticipation for the release of “Halo 3″.  We eagerly pre-ordered, and came out in numbers unable to contain our excitement.  However, our excitement seemed to rapidly fade.  We complained loudly about the single player, the maps, the new items, and the frantic playing style.

For whatever reason, it had ceased to be enjoyable, and it became instead a source of ridicule.

It took me awhile to notice we were doing this, but once I did t caused me to pose this question.

When did “Halo” become the enemy?

It was the game we missed class for, it was our nightly ritual at 10pm, it was what brought us together with countless individuals across the campus and the country.

When did “Halo” become the enemy?

It was our Friday night and on until Saturday morning.   It was our reason to not sleep. It was our favorite game.

So when did “Halo” become the enemy?

I asked myself this question several time, never coming up with a satisfactory answer.  I enlisted the aid of several of my friends, most of which have been and continue to consider themselves among the hardcore, and others relatively new to not only the genre of the FPS, but also gaming.

Because it is a question that sheds light on the mentality of Gamer culture, and reveals why something that was so utter beloved and held in high regard can fall from grace and become the symbol of everything that is wrong in gaming.

Over the next few weeks, perhaps we can discover the answer to this question.

When did “Halo” become the enemy?