This kills me. Apparently, Robert McLaws, president and chief software architect at Interscape Technologies is looking to pick a fight with the Java community. Now before you take a step back in horror at the thought of geeks locked in mortal combat, listen to this.

The only battling that will take place is going to be on consoles, the Xbox console that is. Yup, you read right. McLaws wants to take the Java community on in a Halo 2 battle royal.

Robert McLaws, president and chief software architect at Interscape Technologies, wants to pick a fight with the Java community.

The 22-year-old .NET (define) developer recently started a clan, a group of .NET programmers who also play Microsoft’s highly-popular Xbox game, Halo 2.

So far, “MastersOfDotNet” has accumulated eight or nine like-minded developers. McLaws, one of the youngest American to get Microsoft’s Most Valuable Professional (MVP) award, has issued a challenge: take on any Java developer clan on the virtual fields to see who is the best.

The potential for virtual mayhem in the Halo world is light-hearted. But it also underscores the struggle for hearts and minds in the real world of developers between Microsoft’s .NET (define) platform and the competing Java 2, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) (define).