The Making of a Model Part 1

Okay, so I am going to try and post about modeling in CAD and maybe give a step-by-step on how I did it.

This is going to be a bit over-detailed, but I will get less detailed as steps continue and my thought processes become more transparent.

So first, the source:

This 'Mech is a Thor II from BattleTech Technical Readout 3145: Clans.  It was originally based of a miniature from MechWarrior Dark age, and then adapted to BattleTech just a few months ago.  There is no current BattleTech scale miniature of this machine, so I hope to model it and then submit it.  Let's see how it goes!

As you can see, this 'Mech has almost no curvy features beyond a simple circle here and there.  Everything is very geometric with lots of flat sides.  This is good, as it fits my CAD style quite nicely.  I am not good with the curvy features, and will probably never model something with such until I get a bit more training.

I am going to start with the center torso.  Most ‘Mechs from the BattleTech universe are divided into several parts: Center Torso, Side Torsos, Arms, Legs.  You will see this model (and most of the art) follow the same format, which makes logical points to design a model off of.  Starting in the center also creates a good point from which to build all of the features.

Now I am going to be extremely detail oriented in this model, and I hope to submit it to be made into a miniature, so every line, bump, or small detail you see in that image above will most likely be making it onto the model.  I also will be drawing some details form the original MechWarrior Dark Age miniature, seen below.

For modeling, I use Autodesk Inventor.  It is a relatively powerful CAD program, though not as powerful as some, such as CATIA or Unigraphics.  I originally learned on CATIA, but due to the high cost of owning even a student version, I haven't used it outside of a work or school environment.  Inventor is free for anyone with a .edu email address, and seeing that I am a masters student, it is an excellent opportunity to use this awesome and free software.  Even better, when I am done with school, I have the option of purchasing a perpetual license for the software for around $150, which is a steal.

Enough with the details, lets get down the the model!

Let’s begin:

First, I start out with a simple trapezoid.  The center torso gives me the feeling it is a simple octagon, but I will be making half of it then mirroring it.  To simplify the process.

The basic sketch includes some basic, arbitrary measurements, but they serve for proportions.  Final measurements will be scaled up or down from these measurements.

Now I extrude it.  I make it a bit less than half the overall length.

And now I mirror it to make the full octagon.

Looking at this image and comparing it to the center of the original image shows me the shape is too wide and the center flat part is not tall enough.  Let’s adjust.

I doubled the height of the center flat bit, and that made everything seem more proportioned.  It is not perfect, but it is a solid start.  I may need to bump up the width later, or make further adjustments.  We’ll see.

Now, I am going to make one of the side torsos.  There is no point in making both of them because they are both symmetrical.  It really smoothes out the design when I can mirror almost any detail over to the other side.  The only thing that can’t be done via mirror is the top missile launcher and the head, both of which are no big deal.  Moving on…

The side torsos take the same shape as the center, just smaller, so lets do it!

Here is the initial sketch:

And now the extrusion:

And the first mirror:

And the second mirror:

And we see that there are some things off with the model.  I am going to reduce some sizes.  The flat parts in the front are currently 4mm tall, I am going to reduce that to 3.  Same with the wide of the side torsos, also to 3 mm.  Lets see what it looks like after adjustment:

There, much better.

Now lets add some of that center torso detail.  I will be making most of the detail on the right side of things and then mirroring it to the left.  For most of the center stuff, I won’t need to do that.

So, I won’t post the gritty details, but lets see what we can do.

So I have added quite a few of the main details from the drawing onto my model.  This all in all took me about half an hour to do, but it overall shows that the details can be added in a 

simple fashion.  There were also a few mirrors involved, mainly with the end-caps (I don’t 

know what else to call them) on the left and right torsos.

Now I will move onto the “Shoulders”, if they can be called that.  These present an interesting challenge because of their various details, such as the “cowl” on the upper part of the shoulder or the pattern of gaps on the arms also.

Once the shoulders are in place, I can also create the lasers on top of the shoulders and the details below them. 

It is of important note that this whole process took me a little more than an hour and a quarter, including taking the screenshots and writing this up.

But that will be for next time…

The Legend of Zelda is Awesome

So a lot has happened and I have obviously not updated this blog since its inception back in July.  But that is the nature of my Random interests.  Apparently blogging was one of them.  So I am now back to being randomly interested in blogging, and I have done a lot over the past few months, I hope to be updating the blog here a few times.  Though I doubt I will be consistent or even update outside of this one post.

With that, let’s get right off and talk about the Legend of Zelda.  Awesome games, though I have not played them all.  I wouldn’t call myself a super-fan, though I did go to the Zelda Symphony (which was totally awesome).  Though there are many Zelda games (a quick check of Zelda Dungeon tells me there are 17 games) I have only completed four of them, and I am halfway through a Link to the Past and I do have access to Majora’s mask.

The question is, why are they so entertaining? Why are these games something someone comes back to time and time again?  I think this really comes down to the basics.  Adventure. 

If you were 10 years old and was asked to describe and a mystical adventure, it would sound a lot like Legend of Zelda.  Collect the pieces of the puzzle, save the princess, defeat the evil monster bad guy.  It plays on everyone’s basic need to play pretend and it wraps it all up with a very nice universe at the same time.  The games always have a similar feel to them, yet they each feel different at the same time.  Twilight Princess is Dark, and Majora’s Mask even Darker.  Ocarina of Time is what I would consider the “Average” experience, have both light-hearted moments and dark moments, and it is the ultimate, if not basic, hero quest.  A Link to the Past is similar, while Wind Waker is a bouncy fun version, though it is no less awesome.

Now, many claim that these games are best played because of their nostalgia, playing the games 10 or more years ago, and remembering them as children.  Many would claim that they are not as good now as they were then, but I wholeheartedly disagree.  And that is because I never played these games as a child. 

I played my first Zelda game in 2009 with Ocarina of Time for Wii Virtual Console.  I had a few memories of seeing someone else play the game from many, many years ago, but that was short.  But those few minutes (an hour maybe?) was what inspired me to try the game for the first time.  And was it great.  I must have played 15 hours in the first week (a lot for me, especially at the time).  When the game had concluded, and Ganondorf had been defeated, it was the end of a truly excellent ride.  I went on to play Wind Waker a few months later, and then Twilight Princess not long after that.  All great games, all great adventures.

If you haven’t played any of these games yet, it is highly recommended.  There are plenty of illegal ways to try out these games, but I don’t recommend them and you can find them for yourself.  Otherwise, if you have a wii, go for the virtual console versions, if not, find an N64 and Ocarina of time for sale and pick it up.  It is always best playing the games how they were originally meant to be played.  Though, to be honest, a used wii and $10 for the virtual console version may be cheaper.

Either way, make sure to check it out.

Preview of Upcoming Posts

A preview of some upcoming posts: (this preview is more for my benefit, as I forget ideas as I come up with them).

Painting Miniatures: There is an upcoming miniature painting competition over at the BattleTech forums, and I am going to submit a piece.  Here is a link to the thread!  And here is a link to the competition from last January, of which I won in the amateur division!   I will hopefully be going over everything from building the mini, through painting it and putting it on a base (or basing it, as they say).  Look for this one next month.

More Halo Weapon Comparisons: I hope to do quite a few more of these in the coming months, including, but not limited to, Pistols, Sniper Rifles, Shot Guns, and Plasma Rifles.  I think pistols will be next on my docket, because there are so many of them (6, compared to only 4 assault rifles) and then Plasma Rifles, because they are probably my favorite weapon of the series and there are also 7 of them, if you include the brute plasma rifle variety.

Lawn Patterns and the Study There of: I always get bored with a standard straight line pattern of mowing the lawn, so I usually like to mix it up a bit, and try and save time at the same time.  This has led me to the spiral, the wave, and a few other unique lawn cutting patterns.  I also hope to get a little math into the equation (no pun intended) and go over time benefits (or costs) of doing various patterns.

Every Man Needs Tools: A list of things men will always need, no matter how handy they are.  Dudes need tools, it’s just the way of that.  This will cover essential skills and physical tools needed for a man to live on his own, or with a girl who doesn’t know squat about fixing things (cough my wife cough cough). 

Why PC gaming is awesome, but not the only way to play: I love PC gaming.  Always have.  I have some history behind this, but I also want to say that I am a console fan (well, no playstation, but the rest).  This one will be about how gaming on the PC can be one of the best experiences if you are playing by yourself, but also on why consoles are necessary for a complete gaming experience.  Also, I hope in the future to go into computer building, which is a fun and great experience in and of itself.

And that should cover me for the next month or two!  I think I am going to be starting on a few of them simultaneously, but you’ll see at least one in the next week!

Model Rockets are Awesome.

A hobby of mine for many (many) years has always been model rocketry.  It is not an extremely common hobby outside of boyscouts and after school science clubs, but it is actually a lot of fun.  My dad used to enjoy rockets when he was young, and then he spread the hobby to my brothers and I when we were young.  Over the years I have collected and built upwards of 20 rockets and they are always a blast (pun intended).

Model rockets are not fireworks.  They are far more expensive and they take more time and effort, but they are also very rewarding when you see your rocket come down on its parachute and land into your hands.  Most rockets are made by the Estes company, which owns probably (my guess, not real numbers) 90% of the model rocket industry.  They sell ready to fly and build them yourself rockets of all shapes and sizes, and they sell the engines for them. 

So, if you didn’t know, model rockets operate on a few simple principles.  First, the engine will push the rocket up hundreds of feet.  Rockets are rated with letters, A-E for the common ones, and even up to the letter P for more professional rockets.  Farther the letter is down the alphabet, the more power it has.  I have only used rockets with engines A-E.  Anyways, once the propulsion is used up, there is a small delay, anywhere from 2-10 seconds of smoke charge, then there is the ejection charge. 

Most engines have rating numbers like B6-4 or C6-7.  The engine ratings are based on impulse, which is a measure of Force times time.  The second number is the average force of the engine in newtons.  So a C6 and a B6 have the same average force but the B6 burns for less time than the C6.  The last number is the smoke delay in seconds.  Here it is laid out on Wikipedia.

Launching them is obviously the best part.  Range is anywhere in between 400ft to almost 2000ft for multistage rockets.  The only disadvantage is the need for a large area to launch the rocket.  Our favorite has always been the local high school parking lot.  The key is to have enough running room to go and catch the rocket and also not lose it in a field of grass. 

If you haven’t had a chance to light rockets, it is a lot of fun.  I will admit I am beginning to ramble, but go out, drop $20 bucks and try it out.  I highly recommend it!

The Great Assault Rifle Debate

Okay, so my recent halo post was less than stellar in the writing department, and I knew that.  So let’s start on a new foot.  So I am going to write another Halo based post!  This one a bit more specific.

This is a topic only serious fans may have considered.  Which Halo’s Assault Rifle is the best?

Now, let’s take a quick look at the contenders.  We have Halo 1, the 60-round inaccurate death spewer, Halo 2, oh wait, there was no assault rifle in Halo 2, Halo 3, with its drastically improved 32-round accurate rifle, Halo Reach, with its gritty powerful rifle, and Halo 4, with the jack-all-trades rifle.  Each of these weapons are different, with Halo 1 being the most unique, and the other 3 being the bread and butter of the halo games.  The links I provided are to Halopedia, and each article compares the rifle to the previous rifle that came before it.  I will use these to help out my description, but also, how the weapon plays in a game and how it “feels” in my opinion, will also be looked at.

First, a few comments on the rifle itself.  It is notable that the gun is completely unrealistic for the sake of gameplay.  They do try and give it realistic stats to compare it to modern weapons, but compared to modern weapons, I would take the 50 year old AK-47 over a Halo assault rifle any day of the week.  The weapon (all of them ) fire M118 7.62x51mm Full Metal Jacket Armor-Piercing ammunition.  For reference, that link I gave you is for the Wikipedia article on the real ammunition.  Why would we be using the same ammunition 500 years from now?  It makes no sense really…   In my opinion, the Halo universe should be taking place in 2150, not 2550.  But anyways, continuing.  Now, AK-47s do use a smaller, less powerful round than the M118, but they do have an effective range of over 400m.  Most Halo maps are only about 200m across, and those assault rifles aren’t worth a darn at a range of more than 50m.  You’d think with 500 years to advance technology, they’d have some way to shoot a little further.  Of course, also, if the game was played by firing rounds at each other from a range of 500m, it wouldn’t be very fun, would it?

Now, let’s look at the guns.  First up, Halo 1.

The original Halo Assault Rifle, the MA5B, was more like a sub-machine gun instead of a rifle.  It had 60 rounds per clip, and emptied said clip in about 4 seconds (at 15 rounds a second).  It was an effective tool at close range, but was usually left behind for a more effective gun, such as the famed Halo 1 pistol (the M6D, if you were wondering).  It was excellent in Campaign mode against the Flood, second only to the shotgun, and was a great weapon against unshielded enemies.  Problem is, the hard guys have shields, and on harder difficulties, their shields just get better, which makes the gun useless against covenant on heroic or legendary difficulty.  Always effective against Flood infection forms, the weapon left a lot to be desired. 

For multiplayer, the gun was used as a default weapon for many maps, but it just didn’t cut it, and was commonly dropped for a better gun as soon as one came around, such as the pistol or shotgun.    But, it did have an advantage.  At close range, it only took 16 bullets to kill an opponent, which only is a quarter clip and that is quite fast.  I confirmed this by starting a multiplayer match on the map Rat Race, which has covenant deployable shields, which reflect assault rifle rounds at close range.  It does appear that it is only 16 shots.  I will confirm on my xbox later.  Problem comes as the accuracy is bad at any range over a few dozen meters.  Good luck landing 16 shots in a row at any difficulty.

The Halo 1 rifle does have the pluses of being the original and a lot of fun as a “spray and pray” weapon.  My wife and I have been playing campaign, and she has been loving just running into a crowd of enemies and mowing them all down.  This tactic, though fun, usually gets her killed.

Halo 2 was a bit of a conundrum.  The developers felt that in halo 1 the pistol felt more like a rifle and the rifle acted more like an SMG.  So, they created a pistol that acted like a pistol (a low powered, high rate of fire pistol), an SMG that acted like an SMG (carrying over the reticle and 60 magazine of the assault rifle, but with significantly lower damage) and a rifle that acted like a rifle (the favorite Battle Rifle seen in Halo 2, 3, and 4).  Problem is, they didn’t have a good weapon as a default weapon and they left a hole in their arsenal.  Which is where the Halo 3 rifle comes in, and it is the rifle that all the others try and copy.

Now, Halo 3...

The Halo 3 Assault Rifle, the MA5C, is a complete revamp of the assault rifle.  It fills in the Gap left between the SMG and the Battle Rifle.  This new rifle looks nearly identical to the Halo 1 assault rifle but plays very differently.  They have drastically reduced the number of bullets per magazine, from 60 down to 32.  But they drastically increased accuracy at the medium range.  Again, to fill the gap between the SMG and the Battle Rifle.  The rate of fire is lower, but *supposedly* damage per shot was increased.  Here is why I say *supposedly*.  It still takes exactly 16 rounds to make a kill with the Assault Rifle.  The rate of fire has been decreased compared to the halo 1 rifle (from the original 15 rounds per second to only 10).  But the accuracy increase makes the weapon much more usable and a great jack of all trades gun.

On a more personal note, the gun feels like it isn’t powerful, but then it kills your enemy, and you go “wow, this gun is good”.  It feels like it shouldn’t be as good as it is, so it is a nice surprise when you find this gun is awesome.  In multiplayer, this gun is usually your default, and that is not a bad thing, but it is commonly dropped for other “power” weapons.  But really, it is just as good as any other gun, and works great in combination with melee, grenades, or just other players.  It is also a master of none.  It is okay at long range support, but the carbine or BR are better.  It is great at close range, but the shotgun is better.  Dual spikers are better at medium range (of course, you lose melee and grenades).  It is just a great overall weapon, but many other weapons in different brackets can outperform it.

Next up, Halo Reach:

Halo Reach’s Assault Rifle builds off of Halo 3s.  Its looks are new, and is designed to be a more primitive design (though the game is only supposed to happen 4 months before Halo 3, but who is counting…).  The gun still has a 32 round clip, but it feels much more powerful.  They call the gun the MA37, but that is the Army designation.  The navy would call it the MA5 (where the Halo 1 rifle would be the MA5B, the second in the series).  Now, in the game, the rifle works much differently.  It works on a property known as “hitscan”.  This means that if your shot is lined up, and the random variation of the bullet firing crosses the path of your enemy, the bullet instantly travels and hits your enemy.  So, when a bullet fires, it instantly hits.  This is the same for the sniper rifle in all of the games, and the Battle Rifle in Halo 2 onward.  Before this, you would have to lead the assault rifle ever so slightly, because the bullets had travel time.  Also, bullets to kill has been increased, from 16 to 18-19 (varying sources, will try and confirm soon)(edit, just played a round with myself, it is 19 rounds to kill).  The gun feels more powerful than its halo 3 counterpart, but is in actuality less lethal.

Like I said, the gun feels more powerful.  I don’t personally use it much when playing, but I really should use it more.  It is still a great gun, and it feels much better than the Halo 3 rifle.  It feels deadlier, even though it isn’t.  It is very effective still when combined with melee or grenades, though it has been relegated back to its SMG like role, with the removal of the SMG.  In most multiplayer matches, there is no Spiker or Plasma rifle, so the shortest-ranged weapon besides the pistols or the shotgun really becomes the assault rifle.  And this is noticeable.  The removal of the SMG is really a disappointment, as it is sad to see the assault rifle moved back into the short range category.

And finally, Halo 4:

And this short range category is where it stays for Halo 4.  The halo 4 rifle feels a lot like the Halo 3 rifle, but it doesn’t have any lighter weapons to compare it to.  There is no plasma rifle, SMG, Spiker, or Mauler to compare the firepower too, and thus, it feels like one of the weaker weapons of the game, and also, one of the shorter range weapons, compared to its medium-range classification in Halo 3.  That being said, it is still a jack of all trades weapon.  It is a great compliment to one of the games many precision weapons (Battle Rifle, DMR, Light Rifle, or Carbine) and can fend for itself in closer range matches.  Now, I just ran a test in Halo 4, and the gun requires 16 shots to make a kill.  From what I can find on the internet, this has been the same since the release of the game, but a recent balance update states that: “The Assault Rifle damage has been slightly increased. The Assault Rifle now kills in three less rounds.”  Which would imply that it now only requires 13 rounds to make a kill.  This may only be so for matchmaking, but only more testing can prove this right or wrong.

Either  way the damage of the Halo 4 assault rifle is definitely higher than the Reach rifle, possibly even higher than the old Halo 3 rifle.  It doesn’t feel as powerful as the Reach rifle, which makes it slightly less fun. 

Now, for the winner.  We have the Halo 1 rifle, inaccurate death hose, the Halo 3 rifle, the new weapon that is surprisingly powerful, the Reach Rifle, which feels more powerful than it is, but is still fun to use, and the Halo 4 rifle, which gets its power back, but feels very short range.  From my descriptions, you have probably guessed the winner. 

The Halo 3 rifle takes the cake.  Every time I use it, it still surprises me.  It is an elegant weapon from a more civilized age.  It just gets the job done right. 

Now, some of you may disagree with me, but I love that Halo 3 rifle.  All the others have their strengths and weaknesses, but Halo 3 was the first that used the more accurate, lower ammo system that the other 2 were based off of. 

So, what do you think?

As a note, I would like to do more of these in the future, comparing pistols, plasma rifles, grenades, or anything else really in the Halo series.  Comment if you have a preference!

The Best Darned Grilled Cheese Sandwich You Have Ever Had

I like Grilled Cheese, and as such, I have developed a good one.  Actually, this is a pretty simple recipe, but I thought it would be a fun thing to post.

You need:

3 Pieces of Bread

1 Tbsp of Butter

4 Slices of cheese (I use Kraft Singles)

Directions:

1. Heat a large skillet on medium
2. Melt the butter in the microwave for about 30 seconds
3. Spread the butter on one side of 2 pieces of bread
4. Toast the third piece of bread on the lightest setting of your toaster.
5. Place the bread, butter side down, onto the skillet.  Place 2 slices of cheese onto the bread in the skillet.
6. When the cheese becomes a little melty, place the toasted piece of bread on one of the grilled halves of bread.
7. Using a spatula, lift the other piece of cheese bread onto the toasted piece. 
8. Flip 1 or 2 times to make sure everything is cooked
9. Enjoy!

This is one of my favorite easy meals, so enjoy!

Halo.

This is pretty mainstream, but I have to say, I love Halo.

It is my go to game whenever I am bored, and I will never get tired of them.  They are some of the best shooters I have ever played, and they make one of the best social games I have ever played too.  What better to play when you have 2 or 3 friends over?  It is simply convenient, fun, and simple.  Well, they used to be simple, but we’ll get to that later.

I really didn’t get into halo until over 3 years after the game came out.  And never owning an Xbox until last year, I played on PC.  And man did I love Halo for the PC.  We got it for my older brother for his 17^th birthday, but I bet I have played that game more than he has.  Finding the tricks, beating it on legendary, playing local multiplayer (we didn’t care much for playing online; especially our mother did not like it).  We downloaded the custom edition version to get extra maps with new weapons, even halo 2 maps, so we could get a glimpse of the game that would not appear on PC until 2007.  We did everything with that game. 

I must have played Halo 1 (or Halo: Combat Evolved, or Halo CE) about 15 times.  Between playing it by myself, to playing it co-op with my best friend Kevin, to multiplayer with my brothers, it is always a joy to play.  Lately, I even have been getting my wife to play it with me.  And she likes it.  Surprisingly. 

Anyways, I didn’t really hear about the game until about 2004, even though it was extremely popular starting all the back to 2001.  We ended up buying the game for my brother for his birthday, and I have enjoyed that game ever since.  I have played it inside and out, on every difficulty (even legendary) and I found a good number of the Easter eggs.  This game is the best of the series in my opinion, foremost because it is the original.  It still has its flaws (crummy assault rifle, repetitive levels, over powered pistol), but it also has some major plusses (great story, over powered pistol).  They released a high-def remake back in 2011, but I haven’t had the opportunity to play that yet.

Halo 2 was a huge hit, biggest game ever at that point in time.  I got to play it on the Xbox a bit at my neighbors or some of my friends’ houses,   but I never played the campaign mode or for more than a half an hour or so until 2008, 4 years after I got halo 1.  Again, because I never played it on xbox because I didn’t have one, I had to wait for it to be on PC.  Then, when they did release it on PC, it was only available on windows Vista.  So we had to wait another year before I had a machine with Windows Vista and enough horsepower to play the game.  But when I did get it, it was awesome.  I had a blast, and it ran great on my new laptop.  Since then, I have also played the game many times on Co-op with Kevin.  The game will never be as good as the original.  It did a lot of things right, but it still wasn’t Halo 1. 

Now, Halo 3 came out before I even really got a chance to play halo 2.  There was a Beta they released back a few months before they released the game, and I did get one chance to play that, which was pretty cool because it was so different, and it even had some differences compared to the final game.  I even followed the ARG (alternate reality game) that was connected with Halo 3, and I got pretty excited at following the release of the game.  But I never really got to play it… Kevin didn’t have an xbox 360, nor did any of my other close friends.  My real chance to play it came 5 years after the game was released, in 2012 as a birthday present.

Kevin picked up an Xbox 360 as an add-on to his new laptop, and gave it to me, along with a copy of Halo 3.  It was an awesome gift, and I finally got to play the game that I have waited 5 years to play.  The control scheme was better than halo 2, and so was the campaign mode.  I plowed through the campaign quickly with my brother, and the game has come to be one of my favorites of all time. 

Shortly after getting halo 3, I also got a copy of Halo Reach, a prequel to Halo 1.  This game has become my go-to halo game for multiplayer because of its flexibility that makes it great for many players of varying skill levels to play.  I also played this one on Co-op with my younger brother, and I have logged many, many hours playing the game.  I played online for a while with it, the first of the series I really played online.  It was a great game, and very worthwhile to pick up.  Also, if you have younger kids that want to try out the game, it is the best game for them, due to the lack of Flood (the zombie enemies).  Halo 4 is pretty good too, but Halo Reach would be the best for the younger kids.

Halo 4 was the first halo game that I got within a year of its release.  It was quite unexpected when released, but overall, a very good game.  To be honest, it is (in my book) one of the poorer halo game, down with Halo 2, but even a bad Halo game is amazing.  The story was more complex than others, and more character based, but it was kinda confusing at times, but overall a good game.  The multiplayer was also very good, and it was the first that actually allowed you some degree of control over which weapons you get to use at the start of the level, which was cool, but there were significantly less in the weapons on the maps, which was not cool.  It was just a big difference in dynamics over the multiplayer of the previous games.

The last game that I played in the series, also a bit late, was Halo 3: ODST.  This was completely different than every other Halo game.  No shields, no dual wielding, and a non-linear storyline where you control a variety of different characters.  It was a complete departure from the previous 3 games.  And it introduced the firefight mode that was so greatly improved upon in Halo: Reach, which is Brad and mine’s favorite.  It was definitely a twist on the standard Halo formula.

Now that I have thoroughly ranted about the pluses and minuses of each game, which you probably don’t care about.  The key is, these are my favorite social games.  You can get a group of friends together and play for 20 minutes or for 5 or 6 hours.  It has become one of my favorite pass times and if you know me well, you probably have played it with me.  If you ever want to play, my gamer tag is Stinger410. 

Til Next time…