Campus-wide killing spree

To competitive “Halo 2” players, "Killing Spree" echoes delightfully through their ears as does "ice cream special" for a 7-year-old on a hot summer day at camp. The second edition Halo video game has generated a campus-wide rivalry, as players hope to distinguish themselves as worthy adversaries. Each night, avid “Halo 2” challengers all over the campus at Virginia Wesleyan hook their XBOX’s up to the college internet, and find themselves in front of their bright television screens, where they will once again battle their character to prove themselves experts in the game.

As chancy as a game of paper-rock-scissors, it doesn't matter if your character has the rocket launcher and full health, because the undetected sniper could be breathing down your neck from 200 yards away.

"It's a game of strategy" said sophomore player Matt Lewis. ‘Halo 2’ is a future-type world, where super marine characters run around different levels with various types of weapons. The levels are different worlds, each based on a simulated planet."

Lewis claims he plays every night. After a long pause, composed of intense concentrated thought (almost to the point of internal bleeding), he dropped his arms and said, "I love ‘Halo’.”

Another enthusiastic participant, sophomore Scott Gauthier, sits in front of his television with his sophomore roommate Neil Butler and neighbor, sophomore Dave Winters. These three are some of the most common "faces" associated with “Halo 2” on this campus.

"It's addicting" said Gauthier. "The more you play, the better you get."

He sat around with the other two, as they all have teamed up, maneuvering their characters through a level together, helping each other to kill the opponents they encounter.

Butler says that “Halo 2” was a big thing when it first came out. He explained how this game is different from just the regular “Halo”, which came out about three years earlier.

"There have been upgrades on guns, levels and vehicles," said Butler. "Also, ‘Halo 2’ has an enhanced warfare and more cheats."

Added Winters, "It's on a network, so you can play other people on campus."

Anyone wishing to be part of this campus-wide activity only has to simply plug their XBOX into their internet port, and they will be able to fight against, or even team up with, any other player on campus logged in at the time.

Each of the levels can hold 16 players. When a player begins, he has to first enter a name for his character. Next, this person finds his character a level. As a game is played, the character names appear over the combat marine, so that when two characters come into contact with each other, each will know the other.

"It's a neat way to meet kids on campus," said sophomore Darren Velasco. "You can find common interests with anyone who plays. A ‘Halo 2’ conversation will pick up in the Grille, and you can figure out who you were just battling the night before.”

He added, "You are known as the character Master Chief. I see the same people play five or six nights a week, but they will nearly always play every day between classes or any time they can find."

Sophomore Tyler Sothoron said that he also plays the game nightly.

"I got into it beginning of first semester this school year," he said.

He explained how to can take this video game to the next level, by inserting an earpiece into the controller. With this device, you are able to talk to anyone in the same game. This way you can cooperate with teammates or just talk trash.

While most of the enthusiastic players didn’t have much to complain about the way “Halo 2” games are run on campus, Velasco brought up one significant drawback.

"The school’s internet sucks, so you can't play XBOX Live,” he said.

“Halo 2” has been non-stop entertainment VWC video game fans, and has allowed the players a chance to prove themselves masters of the game.