Way back in 2002, a group of gamers from Cheltenham found a mutual love for Halo as the Xbox finally landed in the UK. In a bid to share their passion they formed a makeshift event every couple of months, quickly blossoming into oversubscribed friend lists and 16 player battles lasting into the early hours. Across three games and seven years, the tradition continues… who says LAN gaming is dead?
BIGsheep -So, Halopalooza VII: Spartans on Tour is over and all we have left are the memories. So many frags, so many custom games, and so many japes.
Manuel - So many insults, so many betrayals, so little time.
BIGsheep - It truly was an epic, too: the first outside of Cheltenham, over twelve hours worth of Halo, and three new inductees into the Halopalooza way. What were some of your highlights?
Pogo - It was another fantastic ‘palooza. In my opinion it could have even been the best one yet, it was fantastic! A big plus was the fact that we all had our own Xboxes and tellies, and I thought it was amazing since we were all using our own Gamertags; it made it about a billion times easier picking out who’s who in the middle of the fire fight. I thought the teams were really good picking from the Master Chief helmet, too. They were mostly balanced with some epic games. Bring on more capture the flag!
BIGsheep - For me the custom games are where the true hilarity can be found. That final Mike Myers* game can only be described as genius. At two in the morning, when you’re starting to feel fatigued and all the lights are turned off, it works best. You’re in the deadly quiet of a ruined level and all of a sudden you can hear those ghostly bars getting louder and louder and you can feel yourself tense up. Is he coming for me? Does he know I’m here? Should I run for it? It’s fantastic.
Manuel - For the more nefarious amongst us, it’s a great game type for winding people up as well. Squatting in front of someone in a hole and running away just as Myers comes into view, or dropping a well-timed bubble shield around somebody tucked away into a dark recess. I don’t care if you have the perfect hiding place, I will make you run!
BIGsheep - It’s great you can hear other people’s reactions too. All of a sudden a shriek will come from another room and you know Mike’s on the trail of someone.
Manuel - Or sweeping the horizon through a wall and seeing a trail of gamertags running away from a single player. All I needed was some Benny Hill Music and I’d be set.
Pogo - As you’ve said Sheep, the custom content was on fire; Mike Myers certainly stole the show. I really enjoyed the team Ram Raid** also, and glad my Duck Hunt*** level kept people going insane.
Manuel - Duck Hunt is pure genius, I think we should link to all these underneath the text.
BIGsheep - How did you find the slog up to the Midlands?
Pogo - I didn’t find it much of a hassle at all. I think we’ve seen the beginning of how things are to come at the ‘palooza. The use of PC monitors worked a treat, the combination of portability and great picture quality made them a perfect companion for the event.
Manuel - As my first event in six years without hosting, I can only say that I wish it would happen more often! I think we’re getting the formula down just right at this point. No hardware issues, no map problems, balanced teams; perfect.
I just hope they expand the player limit to 32 for Halo 4.
*Mike Myers: a game that pits one man against all everyone else. He is armed only with an energy sword and the others are not allowed to fight back. Instead they must run and hide in a bid to stay away from Mike’s blade. The magic comes from using the headset; Mike’s headset is strapped to a stereo playing the theme from Halloween and as he wanders around the level everyone in close proximity to him can hear it.
**Ram Raid: a team game where you are all locked in an arena with only a single Warthog (jeep) and four Mongeese (quadbikes) as weapons. You only earn points by running people over and half the battle is just getting behind the wheel when 15 other people are trying to do exactly the same thing. (Game type – Map)
***Duck Hunt: a flag game where the defenders are stuck in a hide with sniper rifles and the attackers can only reach/retrieve the flag through a series of gravity lifts. These lifts sling the offensive side up into the air, right into the sights of the snipers. Hilarity ensues. (Game type – Map)
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One Comment
Twas a truly excellent Palooza, I had been badgering for ages to have another go of Mike Myers, favorite game type ever, like hide and seek for geeks. Much fun was had and a big thank yous to the hosts!