Here's the big announcement. Strap on.

WHAT

Wanna play Halo 3? You might.

Wanna play it in High Def? Possibly.

How about playing Halo 3 in a 50 foot screen in Super Hi-Def (2048p^[1])?

Wanna get powned bigger than life? Join us.

WHERE

It's at Cinetopia, of course. It's in Vancouver, WA, just north of Portland, OR. This is the NW's most awesome theater. Actual waiters with actual food. Leather seats. Top of the line video and audio. Super HD in every theater. Seriously, this is the only theater Mo and I go to because once you've experienced it you're ruined for other theaters. It's a little pricey, but it's great for date night.

It's 18 or older unless you have a parent escorting you - note that Halo is an "M" rated game. We'll have one Large Theater with a 88 seat capacity and a Living Room Theater with 63 seats. The Living Room Theater is 21 and older. We'll also have a number of Xboxes and Plasmas setup. It'll be a social mingling, eating, fun event. We might have some Guitar Hero also.

WHY

We're doing this because Halo is fun and Diabetes sucks. We're hoping to cancel them out. The event is being organized by Rich Claussen and fellow MSFTie Jason Mauer and myself.

HOW AND HOW MUCH

Ok, this is important. We're trying to raise money for the Fight Against Diabetes and get folks to join us for the Diabetes Walk on October 20th. The fee is $25 (or more, and more is encouraged) at the door, with all proceeds going to the American Diabetes Association.

We're throttled to 120 people. We might raise this if some folks can't make it, but if you register for this event, DO SHOW UP because you're taking an actual human-sized slot that someone else could use. We'll have sponsors there with tables (if you'd like to sponsor a table, let me know) with their various geek wares.

Register for this event at http://iammasterchief.com/ with the RSVP code "FIGHTDIABETES". The event is Thursday, October 11th from 7pm to Midnight.

Note that the banner in the upper left of the reservation site does mention the “PRELAUNCH PARTY 09 24 07” even though the center box shows “10/11/07 – Cinetopia”. Just make sure to use the right RSVP code.

If you don't make it, don't worry, we're going to video/photo/save for posterity as much as we can and get it up on Flickr. It's going to be awesome.

Hope to see you there.

[1] Interpolated by a commercial line-doubler.