Hey loyal ModHalo fans. Unfortunately, the time has come for me to take ModHalo offline. I kept it up for as long as I could, with the time and resources that I had. I wanted to preserve it as an archive, but I'm no longer able to dedicate the resources towards it.

I started ModHalo in December 2003, shortly after Halo PC was released. What started as a small Freewebs site that I used for posting novice tricks and tutorials eventually turned into a full-blown community that featured mods, maps, tutorials, applications, and everything one would need to modify and create original content for Halo, for skill levels ranging from novice to expert. Through many trials and tribulations, the site grew for years, past what I ever expected, and became a Halo fan powerhouse. When I finally shut the site down this August 2016, there were over 25,000 registered members, several hundred thousand posts, and we had reached over a million unique users. No other website endeavor that I have been involved with has ever come close to those metrics.

While ModHalo was still active, part of me appreciated what we had, but a large part of me didn't fully grasp the scope of what we accomplished; I took it for granted to a certain degree. I was 13 when I started the website. Many other members belonged to a similar age group; some were even as young as 9, building maps, and designing websites and resources to support the community, simply for the love of the game. Halo played such an important role in my adolescence; it shaped my future in ways that I didn't realize at the time. Although I rarely play video games anymore, I can say with confidence that being a part of the Halo community gave me the opportunity to develop skills that have turned into a successful career. Despite getting a BA from a respected college, it was my skills that I learned from Halo that landed me my first career job.

I also developed some great friendships. I had a lot of fun developing and running the website with my trusted staff (you guys rock!), and interacting with other members and fans on the website, and on Halo servers. Many of you remain close and trusted friends today. Now years removed from Halo, having been a part of other communities unrelated to gaming, I can say with confidence that you guys were some of the most interesting, fun, and eager-to-learn bunch of people. A major contributor to the success of ModHalo and the Halo modding community was how passionate all the fans were.

These days I'm a web developer/product manager by day, and a big fan of music and live events in my free time. Maybe you can catch me at a music festival near you! Until then, keep being passionate, and maintain an eagerness to learn.

As I'm a stickler for archiving and history, I'm going to hang on to this domain for a while. Maybe if you check back one day, there might be something new here to catch your eye. ;)

Thanks for the memories,
Phil