As soon as this is posted, I'm going to go to my local Gamestop and sit in a line, waiting for Halo: Reach. I'm excited to see this, the culmination of nine years of Halo, but at the same, I can't help but feel sad.

Nine years. I still remember clearly when I first played Halo. It was a few days after Christmas 2001, and I'd gotten quite a bit of money that Christmas, so I decided to go to Toys R Us and pick up the original Xbox. They were mandating that people buying the system bought an accessory and a game. After deciding on a memory unit (huge mistake in hindsight), I settled on the game. Halo was something of a media darling at the time, and while the screens made it look like just another FPS, it was the most obvious choice in a middling launch lineup. So hey, why not try that Halo game?

I took my gear home, set up my Xbox, and proceeded to be wowed like I never had before. The enemies were smart and varied in their tactics. The Marines' were some of the most eclectic game characters that had ever been assembled at the time. The story, while still very isolated and not revealing much (who's the Covenant? What's this Reach place? Why'd they leave?), felt at once epic and oh so personal, the tale of humanity itself stubbornly holding on in the face of an insurmountable force of religious fanatics so incredibly poignant given the events of just a few months prior. And Lord, the music... Never before and very rarely since have I heard such inspirational, emotional music as the tunes in that special game. The game was a perfect storm, that rate launch game that defines the system throughout its entire lifespan. Surely one would have expected it to be milked to death, but Microsoft and Bungie proved careful stewards of the Xbox's flagship series, taking the needed time to craft two masterful sequels and a spinoff that showed the depth of this interesting world. Put bluntly, this has been one hell of a ride.

And now, this ride comes to an end. With Reach, Bungie bids Halo adieu. Yeah, Microsoft will still keep the franchise going, and 343 Studios will keep the style and mythos of the Halo world to a high standard. However, Bungie is an undeniably unique developer, and without their hand directly involved, what will happen to Halo? It won't be milked to death (MS has proven that they're not Activision), but will they screw up with the story? Will the story continue going back in time, disintegrating Lufia-style into a never-ending sea of retcons? Will the Chief return, only to be thrown into a stupidly improbable adventure? And what of the multi-player? The skill matching and balancing have become a hallmark of the series, but will 343 and MS remain committed, holding off the temptation to turn it into a sci-fi themed Call of Duty? There are so many questions.

Then there's Bungie. While they're going to be in full creative control of the new IP they're creating with Activision, what if they misfire? Oni wasn't exactly the greatest game ever, and Marathon, while thematically wonderful, isn't exactly the narrative tour-de-force that Halo would eventually become. Can they do it again? Or will they slip back into obscurity?

Perhaps that's the reason I'm so conflicted with the release of Halo: Reach. We're going off into the unknown once this game comes out. There is plenty of promise, but at the same time, the possibility for everything to blow up into a horrid mess with both Halo and Bungie. I hope for the best, but even if it all goes to crap, it's been one hell of a ride.