At Newsweek HQ, most of our colleagues are either boomers in name or boomers in spirit, which means there haven't been many serious gamers among our ranks. But from the increasing number of game-related conversations we've had with our office mates, it's clear that this is starting to change. Our de facto Xbox 360 correspondent Rolf Ebeling, who in his day job is the creative director for Newsweek.com, posted here last month about the compatibility of videogaming with his then-imminent fatherhood. In today's entry, he briefly steps away from the early joys of child-rearing--congrats to you and the missus, Rolf!--to write about a few stolen moments with the Halo 3 multiplayer beta.

When I last left you, fellow enthusiasts, I was on the verge of being a father and struggling with the conventional wisdom on parenthood that many have been quick to inform me of--essentially that I'll never have time to do anything I like ever again. I tried my best to spit back that bitter pill by posting about my dad's ability to merge his interests with mine as I grew up. Time will tell if I'm able to be as canny with my now week-old daughter.

I work the night shift, mostly acting as her human bassinet; she lies across my stomach in my folded arms, completely oblivious to hour nine of my "Lord of the Rings: Way Longer Than You Remember Edition" DVD marathon or cable surfing (I finally got around to seeing "Quadrophenia"...starting at 5 in the morning.) Honestly, I can't complain that much--in describing her, it's been the first time I've ever used the words "cute," "little" and "munchkin" in the same sentence with complete sincerity.

For a brief moment, however, the little one decided that it was time to sleep for more than a fifteen-minute stretch in her real bed. Yes, this was the moment for me to be responsible and finally shut my own eyes, but how could I not cash in my golden ticket and fire up the Halo 3 multiplayer beta? Shh--non-gamers and disapproving co-workers, I have the floor now; you'll be given your chance to speak. Elsewhere. Maybe.

So, yes, big surprise, Halo 3 is great: an elegant blend of very familiar gameplay, welcome refinements to mechanics, and clever new elements that I barely got to tinker with. My first thought was how smart Bungie was to embrace the good--yes, good--in all the cheating that happened in Halo 2. For example, "super-jumps" may have upset many an orthodox big team Capture the Flag battle on Coagulation, but I loved how they could force your otherwise loose-cannon team into better defensive strategies--and now we have the "man-cannon" and the portable grav-lifts as basic equipment. Suggestion: add a super-speed pickup.

The physics and animations are substantially better; taking down an opponent feels more satisfying than in Halo 2 (in Halo 3, downed enemies drop to the ground more quickly.) I have to say that the water lives up to the hype from Bungie.net's weekly updates (though I am almost as impressed with the detailed divots in the brushed metal surfaces and the barely-perceptible patterns of vegetation). And while I was never a big fan of the Assault Rifle from the first Halo, the tuned-up version in the beta is not too bad to spawn with--I still run for the nearest battle rifle, though.

My only tiny concern: as much as I love what Bungie has done here, Gears of War really impressed me with how genuinely shocking moments (the Berserker cameos) are possible in familiar genres. I want to have similar moments of panic as I scramble to figure out how to stop the Covenant in September. It will make the ability to detach a turret cannon and carry it Jesse Ventura-style even more of a delight.

Until then, back to the cute little munchkin.