Classic Halo fans: Colorado Evolved is hosting a massive Halo 3 LAN on PC in Denver, CO this weekend | Halo Worlds watch party, over 35 competitive games scheduled in Bo7s | LocalHost Denver

Can't make it out to Worlds, love Halo 3, and within driving (or flying) distance of Denver this Saturday?

Rise From the Dead: A Halo 3 Experience10/25/25

at LocalHost Denver

1882 S. Wadsworth blvd., Lakewood, CO

Pre-reg: $20 (100% to venue)

I founded Colorado Evolved, a monthly in-person classic Halo LAN, public and on OG Xbox consoles and CRT TVs, that's really taken on a life of its own thanks to an incredible group of exceptional, passionate guys emblematic of the golden era of console gaming.

We have so far hosted over 30 Halo 2 LANs, including at various conventions, one of which having been a $1K+ at Vincon 2025; and another with Halo voice legend Jeff Steitzer, with whom we had the pleasure of hosting back-to-back panels with at Retromania in Aurora 2025! He's the GOAT.

Almost all of those 30+ LANs have ran 16 OG Xbox consoles on wired network, and everyone has an absolutely blast. Customers at our LGS, Games Ahoy, regularly wander into the event area while we play, elated to see System Link games still happening in 2025, let alone on this scale and with such chops.

We think Halo never died... it evolved. We have tentative LAN dates set at LocalHost Denver for every month until July for Halo 1: NHE, Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo Infinite, and maybe even H3A if that's what's revealed on Friday. LocalHost Denver, who built us a special Halo Sanctuary when they saw we were dead serious about saving Halo, would be our primary spot. Now that you know, you can get your old squad back together for a future event, including one of our upcoming large-scale events, probably in April and November of next year!

Halo was a cultural touchpoint for our generation, and for many of us in the group, the monthly LAN is some of the only dedicated hobby time we can afford between family and work. None of us have ever profited a penny; rather, many of us have spent hundreds of dollars improving the overall experience and production quality for everyone; all of the equipment we use, including over 24 TVs & OG Xbox consoles, 8 Mixamps and Xedusas, and a new 8-port HDMI input selector have all been bought by volunteers of the group and are shared.

Every step of the way, I was and am still astonished by the high-quality men (and women) who comprise the dormant Halo fandom - a huge group of former players and fans for whom life simply took over, but who yearn for simpler times and a carefree, competitive game they might still have a chance at winning once in a while.

The passion and hope Halo fans still have is as stubborn and indomitable as the Chief himself.

A small group of us attended LVL50 in Las Vegas and I was inspired to make a whole Halo convention back home in Colorado.

At the 2-year LANniversary in April of this year, I could tell we had outgrown our nest at Games Ahoy in Fort Collins when we had over 36 players show up for just Halo 2 and pizza!

Fortunately, we were able to find LocalHost Denver, an extremely nice eSports facility with over 100 PCs available for us to use in the future, located about 45 min from DIA. In August, we produced an all-skills Halo 2 event at LocalHost in their newly-networked CRT section (you really can call a Halo Sanctuary, especially since we now call it home) with 24 CRTs on my specially-customized OG Xbox fleet!

Anyway, we're really just getting started, and now I assist a whole team currently planning large-scale Halo events that will incorporate other Halo titles, convention elements, and early-MLG-style tournaments and broadcasts with non-pro player progression storytelling.

I intend to continue to refine our thus-far-successful strategy of carefully bridging the gap between competitive and casual Halo with chill, all-skill-level events that utilize BTB and FFA to seed drafts, leading to balanced 4v4 series and brackets that bring mid players coming back every month and getting better... in some cases, even in their mid-40s after they thought they'd never compete seriously again.

I have chronicled the ascent of Colorado Evolved and the Halo 2 Renaissance on the "lore" page of our newly-redesigned website: coloradoevolved.com

Our ultra-chill Discord has grown massively and we now have two days a week where our top players grind through Bo7 series on Halo 2 and Halo 3, with special roles for both local Colorado Evolved players and international members looking for weekly online games via Insignia, Xlink Kai, and MCC.

If you're in or near Denver, CO and you love Halo, this is the group you have been looking for. We are just cool guys meeting up to play good Halo, and this Saturday, we're doing Halo 3 - just bring a USB controller if you don't like keyboard and mouse. Check out the rules here! Our events are very friendly and everyone who plays with us ends up loving COE.

We may not play for cash prizes this time, but the group has collected some cool prizes to give away to celebrate this inaugural Halo 3 event! You don't want to miss another monthly, especially if you've never heard about us before and have read this far.

Check out my site coloradoevolved.com or the #LANS-and-Announcements channel in our Discord for all of our upcoming dates, which include Halo 1 and Halo 3 hybrid events... and ambitious plans for upcoming events that could feature so-far-unannounced Halo multiplayer games, mods, Halo voice actors, convention-style booths, sponsored cash prizes, and more.

We're hoping to eventually provide the best monthly, fully-interactive, live, non-pro and meta-pro Halo experience ever offered to the public, and if you ever loved Halo, I am inviting you (and your family, old clan, or squad) right now to join us for a legendary old-school romp! Join the Evolution!

If you can make it, drop in this Saturday for an epic full day of Halo 3 - over 35 games scheduled - and a chill session with the fastest-growing, cool af, mile-high classic Halo community changing the way the game is played in 2025 and beyond: Colorado Evolved!

psychomantas