I know (as evidenced by the sheer amount of mail I received on the subject) that many of you are interested in my opinion on Halo 2. And you shall have it.

But not until next week.

See, I’m having a big Halo 2 release party here this weekend. Four TVs, four Xboxes, sixteen controllers. A bunch of my good friends. This is the yardstick that I use to measure Halo.

I loved Halo: Combat Evolved, that’s no secret. I’ll be honest though… single player campaign… sort of boring. Campaign co-op, huge deathmatches, Rockets Revenge (rockets, hang ’em high, no radar), these are the things that made Halo one of my all-time favorites.

Sure, I could jump on Xbox Live and play in a sixteen player game of Halo 2 (and I will be, quite often), but that’s not what made Halo great for me. Sixteen friends, huddled around four TVs, in different rooms, shouting and screaming at eachother back and forth, cheering in unison, whispering to your wingman who is actually sitting next to you and playing on the same screen, working out strategies. Having everyone witness your best triumphs and your humilating defeats. Good food, good drink. Playing co-op with your best friend, and repeatedly bashing him over the back of the head with the butt of your rifle, for no better reason than that he ate the last Fig Newton. These are the things that define Halo for me.

I can tell you my first impression in a very short and simple sentence. “They kept everything that was great about the first Halo, and added a lot of really cool stuff.”

But I’ll go more into detail on Monday.

In the meantime, don’t forget that the new CAD shirts are available for pre-order in the new store. I’ll be coming out with new designs soon, but most likely not in time to receive them by christmas. Here’s a sneak preview of one of the upcoming designs: