Did you know about this? Never in a million years would this have hit my radar. It’s the third in a series of computer games developed by Bungee, it’s also a series of books and rumored to become a movie.

I’ll try to describe the game as it was described to me: it’s a first-person shooter game exclusively for Xbox 360 (Microsoft). The “Halo” itself is some type of ring, about the size of a celestial body. The setting of the game is in the future, year 2552, with all kinds of military-ish fighting on the side of humanity against bad “things”. This guy, Master Chief (Spartan 117 - think “300″), is like the Chuck Norris of the day (only bigger than Chuck Norris, if you can believe that). Anyway, bad “things” like The Flood, the Covenant and Bruts need fighting. The Elites are allies. Gamers team up on a Red or Blue Team and, well, this is where I glazed over. They set up skirmishes, beat up banshees and drive warthogs. Sorry, but that’s all I got.

So, this new game, Halo 3 was released on September 25 to, uh, “finish the fight”. On the eve of, I spent the most interesting Monday night with my 16 year old son, at the Wyoming Valley Mall in Wilkes-Barre. In all my years living here, I have never been inside the mall after it closed, certainly never on a Monday night! I was not alone, nope, not in the least. I was among 200 humans (184 males, maybe 10 chicks and 3 moms and 3 dads) in a line to purchase Halo 3 at midnight (actually 12:05 am on 9/25/07).

The people who play in this world are a new breed of teens and young adults. It’s something that I can’t quite really classify because this wasn’t part of my growing up, we only had Pong and PacMan. The word they use to describe themselves: Gamers. To peer into the world of Gamers was quite an experience for me.

The gig was this: everyone lined up in front of EB (Electronic Boutique). The store would close at 9:00 only to reopen seconds later to collect the money from everyone in line. After obtaining a receipt, a second line forms for the Gamers to await the Cinderella hour when the fabled Halo 3 game is distributed.

The atmosphere was akin to the Harry Potter midnight book release. Instead of anxious and excited children, there were guys. Mostly guys. Skater dudes, but not really. Smart looking fellows wearing their Hollister or Abercrombe clothing, playing hackey sack to pass the time. Many actually brought folding chairs to sit in, drinking their Mountain Dew Game Fuel (I kid you not). Clearly, this was not the first midnight release they attended. Even the EB staff was dressed the part — in camouflage! There were actually 4 security guards — with nothing to do. This was not an unruly crowd, by any means.

As I sat on the floor (unprepared with a seat of my own) I overheard The Gamers regale their experiences with the Beta test, spoiler alerts, maps to download, the diorama (that must exist somewhere), the Halo story bible, the Cortana and many other things (that I didn’t understand at all).

What I did learn was this: Gamers are a very interesting cross-section. They are smart and polite. These games are a technological mix of theater, art, and science. The game tells quite a story … okay, they kill alot, but it really does have that good versus evil theme with the Gamer participating on the side of “good”.

Maybe this is why the cross-section of Gamers I observed are so interesting. I never saw Gamers as a group before. They are never “out there” anywhere for us to see them. They participate from the solitude of their homes through the virtual reality of Xbox Live. Yet in this apparent solitude, they are joined with comrades from everywhere in the world, breaking all social, racial and language barriers as they do so. As Spock would say: “Fascinating.”

Maybe Halo isn’t such a bad place to be.