The Top 20 Hang Out List

Alright. We have a mission, we are compiling a list of cool "celebrities" that would be guys (and perhaps the token chick that's just one of the guys) that we would want to hang out with. The Goal: 100 names of celebrities, actors, athletes, entertainers, musicians, comedians, writers or just anyone famous who you could see hanging out with (watching the game, playing some Xbox, shooting the breeze, etc).

I stole this idea from Rhett and Jon. I guess there are a few stipulations. No mega stars. And besides, would you really wanna hang with the Michael Jordan, Tom Cruise, Bono type? Not for me. You could call the people on this list on a Friday night to come play cards and they might actually be available.

In fact, Jimmy Kimmel hosts a huge BBQ/party every Sunday during the NFL season that the Sports Guy and Adam Corolla attend. They have become a part of a new and upcoming Brat Pack. None of these guys are young or even major players in Hollywood, but just that fact that some of these people actually hang out gives you the idea of what we are shooting for. I don't think I could get an exact order of top 100, so in no particular order. And remember, feedback is wanted.

1. Mike Judge - Creator of "Beavis & Butthead," "King of the Hill," "Office Space" and "Idiocracy." Anybody who could come up with the commentary that "Beavis and Butthead" provided to music videos is a shoe-in. Not to mention he gave us the funniest movie of the last decade with "Office Space" and he's from Albuquerque, which explains his humor perfectly.

2. Luke Wilson - Actor from "Old School." I know a guy who knew a guy who went to a party in Park City during Sundance a few years back. He found a room away from the party where he watched hockey with some chill guy for a few hours. He discovered later that it was Luke Wilson. Luke watches hockey. He gets the nod over Vince Vaughn (talks too much) and his brother Owen Wilson (didn't try to commit suicide.)

3. David Grohl - Foo Fighters front man, Nirvana drummer. SIDE NOTE: Have you noticed that the Foo Fighters have been around since 1995?!?!?! And just now I can type that he is the face of Foo Fighters (13 years of hard work) before the drummer of Nirvana (3 years in the limelight). Congrats Dave on finally breaking out of Kurt Cobain's shadow. Round of applause, please.

4. Jim Gaffigan - Stand up comic (Hot pocket, Pale Force, pale Mormon looking fellow from the Sierra Mist commercials). He slightly edges Brian Regan because I think that Regan would want all the attention in the room because his comedy requires a lot of yelling. HEY GUYS! I GOT A JOKE FOR YA! And sorry girls, dudes wouldn't want to hang with Dane Cook. Trust me.

5. Adam Corolla - "The Man Show" and "Love Lines" - Adam had his own show on Comedy Central and it was 30 minutes of the best blandness ever. By every account, he is one of the funniest humans alive. He can talk about straws and make it funny.

6. Bill Simmons aka The Sports Guy from ESPN.com - My favorite writer of all-time. Although I wish he could just sit there and type because his high-pitched voice is just unacceptable.

7. Michael Cera - Actor from "Superbad" and "Juno." Also played George Michael from "Arrested Development." He's just a funny kid and he knows how to apply the awkward pause better than anybody in Hollywood.

8. Paul Rudd - Actor from "Clueless," "Knocked Up," and "Anchorman." He has really come a long way from his days in "Clueless" since he joined forces with Judd Apatow. He beats out Jonah Hill (too loud) and Seth Rogan (too weird). Plus he was unforgettable with his performance in "Anchorman." I'm officially nominating him for Best Supporting Comedy Actor of All-Time.

9. Seth Green - Actor from "Can't Hardly Wait," "Italian Job" and creator of "Robot Chicken." Some people might find him a little irritating, but you have include at least one nerdy/girly type in the group.

10. Chuck Klosterman - Pop Culture Guru and Author of "Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs." Speaking of nerdy, he embodies the uber intellectual nerd and he could be a little toward the end of the list of guys to invite, but he makes the cut because he is a die-hard basketball and football fan. Plus, anyone who can write a 250-page book (Fargo: Rock City) talking about how sweet 80s metal gets an automatic bid.

11. Danny McBride - Actor in "Hot Rod" and "Pineapple Express". Has given us one-liners like "This is my hat now!" or "I know, right!". He is currently the funniest man in Hollywood, hands down. Here is a picture of Danny McBride (left) spraying Bill Hader (right).

12. Bill Hader - Current "SNL" selection - Andy Samberg gets all the credit with his Digital Shorts and the "Hot Rod" movie, but Bill isn't always making faces and does some amazing impersonations that gives him the nod.

13. Kevin Nealon - Early 90s "Saturday Night Live" Weekend Update Anchor - I was trying to think of someone from the dream team of the early 90s "Saturday Night Live" all-stars, and ended up choosing the guy who ended up having a career dud. He could possibly be confused as looking like Bob Saget, but Chris Farley, Adam Sandler, David Spade, Phil Hartman and Mike Meyers all possessed flaws that makes me not want to invite them over.

14. Charles Oakley - Former New York Knicks Player/Enforcer. (Pictured) I was thinking about Shaq for this spot, but his ego might get in the way of wanting to hang out with Average Joe (yes I just referred to me in the 3rd person). Plus, I award Oakley major points because nobody would f--- with you if he was in your entourage.

15. Adalius Thomas - Linebacker New England Patriots - He gets the nod because he and CB Gary Baxter were the coolest players I knew on the Baltimore Ravens squad in 2003. Being a sixth round draft pick, he's not too full of himself.

16. Billie Joe Armstrong - Green Day. I haven't seen enough interviews to make a full opinion and the whole eye makeup thing is a little weird. I imagine the bass player Mike Dirnt would be more chill. But hey at least Billie Joe isn't as peculiar as Rivers Cuomo from Weezer.

TOKEN "Just One of the Guys" GIRLS:

WARNING: I don't fully understand girl world, but these are some that I would have over for the game.

17. Amanda Bynes - Actress from "She's The Man" and "Sydney White." She's 21, so don't think I am a sicko. I just think the two movies mentioned above show how funny and quirky she really is.

18. Rachel McAdams - Actress from "Wedding Crashers" and "Mean Girls." She scores major comedy points, and I think she's Canadian.

19. Anna Faris - Actress from "Scary Movie" and "Just Friends." Frickin' hilarious

20. Kristen Bell (right) - aka Veronica Mars. So hot, and I read she's pretty chill.

Back to Sports...March Madness and NBA Playoffs Loom

Ahhhh... The post Super Bowl drag is over. The month of February is notoriously slow in the world of sports. The only thing of value is NBA All-Star Weekend. It was one of my favorite sporting events growing up, but it has lost a lot of value over the years, and it hasn't even been on network television for years since its demotion to cable's TNT. Although TNT does provide the best NBA analysis and studio coverage, not everybody tunes into TNT for sporting events.

Now it's time for March Madness. March Madness is the best sporting postseason available. Although the best team doesn't always win the title, it provides the most drama. We got 64 teams (the new 65th team doesn't count even though I learned it happened because our local Mountain West Conference being formed after the split from the WAC) and it's pure bracket winner take all.

Most people would say that college sports are the best because the players "play for the love of the game" unlike spoiled professional athletes that get paid millions of dollars to play a recreational game, but I actually do like NBA ball better. The talent is supreme, the games are higher-scoring, and it's better for television.

Although college has the true "hustle" factor going its way, the games are extra sloppy with kids diving everywhere for loose balls, trying to draw garbage charge fouls to impress their tyrant coaches and putting bricks galore from the high school three-point line. This is where guys can get a scholarship shooting 40 percent or less from the free-throw line. Even Shaq can hit within the 50-60 percent range.

But brackets come out on Sunday, and everybody loves brackets. Everybody! And sure enough, some idiot in your office pool wins every year because they picked the teams that sounded cute. Last year, I tried one bracket where I just picked the favorites from every game, and it didn't win. But hey, it's fun; it's good times. By the time the Final Four rolls around, it usually involves four teams I couldn't care less about, so I usually don't watch the Saturday games. But usually someone throws a decent party on Championship Monday and the socializing is good, but the game is usually extra, extra sloppy for a title game.

CBS still has to get rid of Billy Packer, but that'll never happen because he now has a special "cantankerous" appeal where people will watch to see what comes out of his mouth next, much like John Madden for the NFL and Bill Walton for the NBA. But that's a whole different entry in and of itself.

But anyway, happy brackets this week. Go BYU! May you finally get out of the first round.

I am actually much more excited for the upcoming NBA playoffs and how the seeding will occur. The NBA used to have a best-of-five playoff format for the first round, and when they switched it to best-of-seven, I thought it was a terrible idea. But now with the the Western Conference have the top-8 teams in with a projected 52 wins under each belt and only 5 games separating No. 1 through No. 8, it should be just as exciting as March Madness and probably even a lot more memorable.

Now if the Jazz can find a way to avoid the Spurs and the Lakers, it should make for some good basketball.

Valentine's Day and Sports

Ahhhhhhhh. Valentine's Day. The day for lovers... couples... people who have someone to spend money on. It's always a silly holiday for t
hose of us who are ridiculously single. We are always looking at our friends with girlfriends and get a little jealous.

The past few Valentine's haven't been that great for me... in fact, a little trainwrecked...

This year: Surprisingly good. Laid low. It's was my niece's 13th birthday so I went out to dinner with their family.

Last year: After a hard day of

delivering flowers, I took the girl I was in love with to my church basketball game and she ended up interested in the star player from my own team!!!
2006: Dumped by my girlfriend that night after cooking her dinner and buying her a bracelet. All she could do was complain the bracelet was too big (like she was saying I thought she was fat.... How is a guys supposed to know wrist size???)... I still think she ended up hooking up with one of her roommates' guy friends who crashed our "candlelight" dinner.

2005: Gave a rose to the girl I ended up falling for after Thanksgiving... I ended up asking her out a few weeks earlier... Needless to say, I never got a second date... but knowing me, I still ended up liking the girl for six more months. Geez, I'm pathetic!

2004: Living in Baltimore at the time... unemployed and getting ready to come back West... I don't even think girls knew I was alive...

2003: I had two tickets to see the Jazz play the Wizards. Sports note: This was Michael Jordan's final season. The last chance to see him in person. I went. I had asked some Brazilian chick to the game and she said no 'cause she wanted to spend time with her mom... wow, dissed by a Brazilian! Anyway, I went to the game with my buddy John... they were passing out carnations to people, I went to get one as a joke and the usher denied my request... the geriatric probably thought I was a homo... CAN IT GET ANY WORSE...

I can't remember more damage before that... Oh wait...

2002: Salt Lake City Olympics were in town, I was in like with a girl... she was a ho, we all knew that... I think I gave her a flower or something. We had recently gone on a date to see "Crossroads" because she had the same name as the main actress (who has had a bigger drop in her career than Shawn Kemp) .

2001: My first love had dumped me right before Christmas... I think by this time she was engaged to someone else...

You know what... screw Valentine's Day. It's just a big waste of money on flowers, chocolate's and a time for dudes in relationships for a little guaranteed action, if they follow the trend... when I'm married (some year) my goal will be to get AWESOME ACTION the day before and after just to prove a point...

But there are two awesome, awesome things the sports worlds provides losers who like sports but don't have girls to make up for this faux-holiday: The SI Swimsuit edition, and the dunk contest. Both have lost a lot of flair since the 90s but hey, maybe I can think of a way to combine them into one amazing event to really liven things up... ahem...

I propose a dunk contest by hot athletic chicks in bikinis in a shallow pool with a backboard. I know there are sponsors out there. This is America! The great nation that brought us "The Man Show." (and "Beavis and Butthead"... huh huh...yeah)

Clemens, Baseball and Steroids

Guess what, I don't care...

Is this the face of a winner???

Are you still a believer in Giants QB Eli Manning?

Put your money on the Patriots!

LDS Enter-torture

I know, I know, it's Super Bowl week. But I personally can't find any interest in this game. I know the Patriots are in pursuit of an unprecedented perfect 19-0, but the only player I like on the Patriots is linebacker Adalius Thomas (and that's mainly because he was such a nice guy in the Ravens locker room during the 2003 season when I interned there.)

I can't stand the Giants, but I actually hope the Patriots lose (read Chuck Klosterman on ESPN.com) by a missed field-goal just like Scott Norwood did with the Bills in 1991, because they were too stubborn to re-sign their MVP kicker Adam Vinatieri two years ago. I want their arrogance of not taking care of their own to bite them in the a$$.

Anyway, those are my only thoughts on the Big Game. In fact, I may just end up going to a fireside instead because that might be more entertaining. Which is a good segue for my article about Mormon entertainment.

First off, there is real, sanctioned Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints entertainment, which in and of itself has a high unintentional comedy factor. Classics like "Johnny Lingo," "The Phone Call," and even "Legacy" provide a lot of laughable scenes even though the movies were intended to be taken seriously. I dunno if the people who made these films were trying to make a statement, or maybe they were just that oblivious to the fact over the overall cheeseiness was off the charts. Or maybe the passing of time did it.

But then something weird started happening around the turn of the millennium. I dunno if Utah and LDS parents really wanted a change in 'uplifting' and clean forms of entertainment for their children; or if 5 million church members in the United States formed such a broad market that profit could be made with a small movie budget.

It started in the early 90s by a company called Feature Films for Families that made really crappy movies aimed at the under 17 Mormon/Christian crowd that produced unforgettable turds like "The Buttercream Gang" and others. But this notion must have gained enough steam to want to try more.

Toward the end of the '90s, editing violence, boobs and swearing out of Hollywood's rated "R" and "PG-13" movies was huge (until legal action after "Titanic" forced this practice to stop). I remember waiting hours in line at the Varsity Theatre my freshman year at BYU so that I could watch a "clean" version of "Air Force One" and not feel as guilty as if I saw the real rated "R" version with a little more violence and the choice swear worlds removed for the new bleeped-out script.

Then just as I returned home from my mission in 2000, the new Mormon movie "God's Army" created steam as an independent film released all over the Western U.S. This film was actually pretty successful (thanks in part to the 100,000-plus people who had recently served missions) and gave us sequels like the 'thriller' "Brigham City" and others.

Then Halestorm Entertaiment released the popular LDS comedy "The Singles Ward" which had an instant audience of over 300 student wards in Utah and the hundreds of other young Mormon singles across the country, including those who had recently 'graduated' from the singles scene. Note: This is the only LDS movie that I could ever consider watching more than once.

But the audience wasn't quite large enough to hold up with movie theaters and their demands for normal Hollywood productions. Screenings were limited and the movies didn't generate enough revenue (on ticket prices and popcorn) to keep sending them through Cinemark. Halestorm's follow up movie "The RM" didn't do nearly as well as "The Singles Ward" and production costs were too high for the minimal profits rendered.

Lesson learned: The producers could still make a profit by lowering the production budget (thus even worse production), advertising locally and sending the movie straight to DVD at Wal-Marts throughout the state with a $19.99 price tag. If enough straight-to-DVD copies make a profit, producers could still make their mortage payments.

Last Sunday, I was spending time with my family with young nieces and nephews, and since it was the Sabbath, the only 'wholesome' entertainment that we chose to watch was a new 'Mormon' movie (I use quote because the there is actually no Church affiliation with this title). So they popped in the newly released "Turn Around: A movie based on the conversion of Alma the Younger" The story of Alma the Younger comes from The Book of Mormon. Yippee! (not)

The production was absolutely terrible! The acting was absolutely atrocious! I deduce the budget was probably around $1,500. I bet the actors were paid in Hogi Yogi sandwiches. I understand the main actors were probably only 15, but that's no excuse. It was absolutely unwatchable! It was contrived and forced. I've seen better production out of a ward musical. Before the movie could finish, I stood up, left and drove the 40 miles home because I couldn't stomach it anymore.

So parents, please, if you want to censor what your children watch, that's fine. There are plenty of "Rudys," "Napoleon Dynamites," "Cars" and other animated features to purchase.

I know that "R" rated movies are even worse today that they were even 10 years ago. But please, do not support such terribly produced movies just because they don't come from Hollywood. I know that kids don't know the difference between good and bad production, just look at Tim Allen's "Santa Claus" movies.

In case you don't remember, the top grossing movies of all-time are PG movies like "E.T." and others. Why? Because larger audiences can bring their entire family to the theaters. Hollywood knows this. There are enough Christians with family values in the country to keep Disney the behemoth that it already is. Good stuff will come.

Do not support these profit-hungry producers because of our religious beliefs, so that they can continue to drive their Hummers. It makes you no better than the televangelists that "Fletch Lives" portrays!

I know you live in Utah County! I know it's based loosely on a story from the scriptures! But it's garbage! It's nearly as bad as the filth you're already trying to avoid! You're not supporting any budding stars. Only Jon Heder made it out as Napoleon Dynamite, and he was never in a 'Mormon' movie! They were just lucky that MTV liked Jared Hess's film enough to buy it and promote it.

I would rather pay the $8 and sit alone for two hours and NOT watch another one of these movies... ever...

What Happened to Halo?

I know this is a sports blog, but every now and then, I try to add my views on other interesting topics -- like video games. Besides, video games is a sort of sport for those smaller kids who couldn't make it on the baseball/football field or basketball court due to size, hand-eye coordination, or physical toughness. It's competitive, requires a heightened sense of hand-eye coordination with your thumbs, and at times can be a male-bonding experience, just like a game of poker or pick-up hoops.

It wasn't always like this though. Video games were rarely a team concept, but things really started to change right around Y2K.

The greatest thing to ever happen to the video game industry was the game of Halo, released by Bungie for the new Microsoft console Xbox right around 2001. But first a little background on the history of video games.

Growing up (depending on how old you are) people can remember Pong on the Atari, Super Mario Brothers/Duck Hunt on the Nintendo, or Mario Kart on the Super Nintendo. Video games took over the world almost overnight. Kids replaced playing board games, action figures, and Legos for the interactive and visual stimuli of video games. Heck, kids got so addicted that they almost completely stopped going outside.

The phenomenon was amazing. Parents hated buying video games, but their kids demanded them. I now see five-year olds mastering a Nintendo DS in airports or in the back seat of Mama's SUV. It's heroin for the advanced young mind!

The thing parents hated was their kids locked in their own room, by themselves for hours rather than playing with the neighbor kids. Most video games involved only one or two players for years. Eventually it to advanced to four players with James Bond on the Nintendo 64, which swept dorm rooms in 1997. But then, Microsoft had a brilliant idea...

Nintendo vs. Sega were the two powers that clashed from 1984 til about 1994. Then Sony stepped in with the original Playstation and overtook Sega and got far ahead of the Nintendo (because Nintendo caters to housewives and little girls). Playstation made the switch from cartridges to CDs, which were cheap and easy to produce and offered thousands of games to be produced at a very quick pace.

Microsoft had the monopoly on PC computer software for the entire 1990s, but rarely dabbled in video games. Many "gamers" who played video games on their PC computer instead of the Playstation or Nintendo would hold "LAN parties." LAN parties occur when a small group of computer nerds would gather together on a Friday night and bring their entire computer, monitor, keyboard, Cheetos, and mouse for a night of Unreal Tournament or Duke Nukem'. It's like they already knew that there was no chance of sex, so they willingly accepted that fact, and played computer games until 4 o'clock in the morning.

Bill Gates, or some LAN party employee of his, realized the potential gold mine within the video game industry. Microsoft released the Xbox (virtually a mini-computer) with four game controllers (a big advance over the Playstation 2) and the new ability to link up to four systems together using an ethernet cable, just like the computer geeks used in their LAN parties.

The new technology was far superior than any existing system, and thus was more expensive than the competing gaming systems (Playstation 2 and Nintendo Gamecube). At first, the Xbox launch was a bust because it released fewer games than the PS2 and was more expensive. People didn't see the need to spend $300 for a new system that didn't offer any new games than their current $200 PS2 and the thousands of games already available.

But Bungie (a new gaming software company under contract from Microsoft) developed the perfect game called Halo that would bring Unreal Tournament potential to everybody without the hassles of a LAN party. No monitors, no heavy computer drives, no software or video card issues, no keyboards or mouses. Just bring your TV, your box, your game, your controllers, a router and some cable and PRESTO. Instant magic!

The game was seamless, kills were easy and plenty, there was no lag -- just plug in and kill! If you died, no biggie. Instantly respawn and go out and die again! The campaign mode for one or two players was incredible and helped you advance your weapon skills. But now on Friday nights (and every other night of the week), you would assemble your crew of four, six, eight, ten, twelve, or sixteen players play the perfect game of capture the flag complete with vehicles! Virtual G.I. Joe style battles of epic destruction with hundreds of kills per game were now the norm.

The instant it was over, the first thing out of everybody's lips was "Again!" The losers wanted a rematch, and the winners wanted to prove it was no fluke and wouldn't hesitate to humiliate their friends once again. Players would swap teams to even out the talent base for closer, more competitive games with more drama as the kill count reached the final number to achieve ultimate fantasy nerdery.

Halo was just as easy as a pick up game of basketball, but didn't require a gym, sweating and you could play all hours into the night.

I didn't catch on to the phenomenon right away, I wasn't what one would consider a "gamer." Sure, I liked video games, but when I did play, it usually was sports or two-dimensional fighting games. I even tried a little four-player Halo a few times and became frustrated going through the rookie phase of getting smoked by better players. But soon enough, I was playing 'til three o'clock in the morning on weeknights of my senior year in college.

Male competitive bonding was morphed into video games. Friendships were created with complete strangers you normally wouldn't chill with at school. People formed little Halo clans and even submitted teams into city tournaments with intramural style names and matching uniforms. Halo saved the Xbox and really put Sony and Nintendo on their heels. (even to the fact that Nintendo had to re-think everything with the concepts brought in with their new Wii system).

Halomania was so rampant that the buildup for Halo 2 was HUGE. People were pre-ordering copies one year in advance. The line to pick up a copy was hundreds of people long at every Game Stop across the country in October of 2004.

The new feature of Halo 2: on-line play. Halo 2 opened with record-breaking sales. You could now log onto a worldwide online Halo 2 experience offered through Xbox Live that kept stats and offered various styles of Halo play. Once you logged onto your online account, Xbox live would give you instant access to 10 other players out of the pool of thousands just wanting the same Halo experience that swept the nation.

In my opinion (not with the opinion of sales numbers), this is where Halo went all wrong. No longer were you playing Halo with your buddies for bragging rights. You were now playing with a bunch of unknown trash-talkers who thought they were the best Halo players in the entire universe.

Little 10-year old kids would start smack-talking to invisible people they had never even seen before. People on your own team would turn and kill their own teammates just to be tools. People would quit a game halfway through the game just because they were losing, or just because they were bored and felt like it.

You also experienced internet lag, because so much information was going through the ethernet cable, that there were unexpected pauses and delays. There were too many new weapons and the maps were not symmetrical and made no sense for two simple teams of Red vs. Blue. Now everybody was just running around killing people, with no strategy, and just the hope of finishing with the most kills to increase their online profile ranking.

The funny thing is: a lot of the online problems occurred because the Xbox was not capable of handling the overload of Halo Nation. Eventually the Xbox 360 was launched with more power to handle such a task and Halo 3 would soon launch.

Halo 3 surpassed Halo 2 as the grandest video game launch ever (including sponsors from Mountain Dew and 7-Eleven), and things seemed to be a lot smoother with the superior technology the Xbox 360 system provided. But still, Halo 3 was just a copy of Halo 2 but with better graphics and a few new maps and features. The creators of Halo 3 didn't really try to make anything new or exciting. Basically they made Halo 3 and exact copy of the cartoony Halo 2 and "fixed" most of the online problems with faster online speed.

When I log onto Halo 3, I still feel like I am running around, spraying my machine gun, and none of my teammates will communicate or cooperate because they are too busy trying to get the most kills to reach the next level of their online ranking. I wasn't finishing games with that same "Again!" excitement that I experience with the original Halo with my buddies, because I would immediately be launched into the next game with 10 totally new tools not willing to work as team to accomplish ultimate victory.

The online experience took away from Friday night with the boys, because now people no longer needed their posse to play Halo. No need to call your friends and get together for competition, because things were all individual again. You logged online alone, played with complete strangers, and got out when you wanted. It was no longer an "event." It stopped bringing friends together. People wouldn't come over any more to play, because you just sent them a message online and started playing against various faceless enemies.

It's almost like comparing basketball with Magic Johnson and Larry Bird in the 80s to basketball and the ego-centric Michael Jordan of the 90s. The Michael Jordan effect on basketball set it back 10 years until the new version of basketball created with Steve Nash is now bringing the game back to its glory years.

Luckily, Xbox 360 released a game in between the wait of Halo 2 and Halo 3 entitled Gears of War. This game gets things back to the basics. A few simple weapons fought in small and symmetrical maps that encourage strategy, skill, teamwork and war tactics. It's not as fast paced as Halo with instant respawn after each time you run around and die, but it goes the extra mile to bring players back together to work towards winning as a team.

Hopefully, with the sequel to Gears of War, they don't go overboard like Halo 2 and its replica-only-with-a-newer-Xbox (Halo 3) and ruin a good thing that they already have in place like our friends at Bungie did with Halo.

But even if Halo 2 & 3 didn't change my life like the original Halo did, the future still is bright in gaming world. If video games have come so far in the past 25 years -- not to mention the new concepts of the Wii and Rock Band already in place -- I can't imagine what video games are going to be like in the year 2025 with your teenage kids. I CAN'T WAIT!