The much anticipated Halo: Reach beta is now live and the various bugs & network glitches are being worked out.  Despite said bugs, I managed to get online and play 6 matches (winning 3 of them) and get a feel for the game.  The return of the Halo: Combat Evolved pistol, the inclusion of armor abilities (like sprint, cloaking and JET PACKS!!!!) and the interesting new game type like Stockpile are reminding me of why this franchise has lasted so long.  If the beta is any indication of how the final game will shape up, Halo fans will be foaming at the mouth for another midnight release and all night session come the fall.

I'm an admitted Halo fan.  It taught me to love my Xbox and got me on Xbox Live when Halo 2 came out.  I've read the books, I like the universe, I have the Master Chief cat-helmet and it's a great game series to play with friends and strangers alike.  Regrettably, my less than 2 hours with the beta has reminded me why playing online shooters with my headset on is a bad, bad, bad, BAD idea.

People (here "people" reads as "Xbox Live users with a copy of Halo: ODST") still suck.  They REALLY suck.  Why is it that we cannot be civil when playing games?  The Reach beta isn't even a game, really.  It's a network test to see if Bungie can handle the massive amounts of people who will undoubtedly be playing this game when it gets released.  It's a chance to get feedback from the community who have supported Halo these last 10 years.  It's a balancing act to see if any one strategy, map or weapon is too powerful.  It's not something to get this worked up about.

In spite of all of that, why is it I hear things online like, "Halo sucks, why do people play this sucky game?"  Uh... the sucky game that you yourself are also playing?  Genius.  Or this gem, "It takes too long to rank up in this stupid game."  IT'S A BETA TEST.  Your stats are going to get wiped anyway.  Besides that, I overheard this after the beta had been live for less than an hour.  What do you expect?  To be a brigadier general already?  "Shut up and suck my balls."  Such intelligent conversations.  Mute.

I know it's not Bungie's fault, I know it's not Xbox Live's fault.  It's our fault, online players who let this crap go on unabated.  I'm just staggered at the extent it's spread in the time since I stopped listening to people.  Are we really at this level as a community?  Have we really not matured AT ALL since the days of Halo 2?  Why do 12 year olds have such access to M for Mature games?  Perhaps more importantly, is there any way we can fix it, or is the damage done too much to alter it at this point?

It makes me wish the XBL rating system were a little more transparent or easier to do.  If I could see what other people have said about the people I play with or at least offer me a way to filter people out, maybe it'd be a little bit better.  Oh well... at least now I have a jet pack to play with.  The future is now.