by Lono (http://www.sarcasticgamer.com/search/label/Lono)
On an unusually warm night in a town just outside of Chicago, the world waited. As I pulled up to the store about an hour before the launch of the biggest video game of the year, I noticed quite a few people in line. Mothers and sons, gamers and friends, girlfriends and diehards, all waiting. On what some would call the greatest day in gaming history, yours truly was behind the scenes waiting with them at one of only two Microcenter stores in Illinois, for the Halo 3 launch.


Outside, I ran into forum member Jennero. Even though he worked there, he had to wait like the rest of us. He came with a buddy who didn't even own an Xbox 360. In fact, I talked to at least five people outside the store whose Xbox 360's were either being repaired or had just been sent for repair. Yet they waited.


I then met with Glen and Leo, the store's managers. They couldn't have been nicer and they even let me in the store before midnight. As I walked in, I noticed that most of the staff were casually dressed in their favorite gamer t-shirts, or had dressed in fatigues to commemorate the midnight Launch. I took some pictures and watched as the final instructions were given to the staff. It was almost time.

I mingled with the staff, who were really cool and a few recognized the sarcastic gamer t-shirt I was wearing. A guy I know at the store, put our Halo3 Hoedown on one of the computers for the rest of the staff to see. That was pretty cool, I have to say. The crowd really dug it.


http://bp2.blogger.com/_anHGVPt2rdI/Rvin9ydxB5I/AAAAAAAAAVw/ley2yLGi-sU/s200/staff+2.JPG (http://bp2.blogger.com/_anHGVPt2rdI/Rvin9ydxB5I/AAAAAAAAAVw/ley2yLGi-sU/s1600-h/staff+2.JPG)
As the time drew near, I went back outside to speak to a few more people and take more pictures. I noticed that at this point, the line had wrapped around the building. It was almost time. There seemed to be a bit of an electricity in the air as everybody anticipated the opening of the doors and sweet, sweet Halo 3. At this point, around 11:30 pm, there were probably over a hundred people lined up outside. It was getting close.


http://bp1.blogger.com/_anHGVPt2rdI/Rvin9idxB4I/AAAAAAAAAVo/SdMkzAkdQdk/s200/Store+opening.JPG (http://bp1.blogger.com/_anHGVPt2rdI/Rvin9idxB4I/AAAAAAAAAVo/SdMkzAkdQdk/s1600-h/Store+opening.JPG)As the clock struck midnight, eager fans poured into the store. It struck me odd that the first two guys into the store didn't immediately grab their game and run. Instead, they began playing Halo 3 on the big screen monitor that was set up. What was even stranger, a crowd gathered around. I thought for sure that people would get their game and run, but instead, people began cheering on the two guys, who had made a deathmatch and were playing against each other. I guess when it comes down to it, Halo 3 is all about the community, playing with your buddies and watching someone getting fragged!


http://bp3.blogger.com/_anHGVPt2rdI/Rvin9CdxB2I/AAAAAAAAAVY/qSXPG5pGs80/s200/Die+hard+fans.JPG (http://bp3.blogger.com/_anHGVPt2rdI/Rvin9CdxB2I/AAAAAAAAAVY/qSXPG5pGs80/s1600-h/Die+hard+fans.JPG)









Yup, I got my copy. I should be playing it right now, but instead I'm writing this article.....

Ya know what, it's time for some Haloz! See ya online. Gamertag: Lono Lives

Where were you on launch night? Let us know on the fourms.

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I was sitting at home watching Chuck on NBC - DAMN Yvonne Strzechowski (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2088803/) is HOT!!
My copy is in transit with UPS and will be here tomorrow probably around 6pm.
14 of 20 people on my Friends List that are online at the moment are playing Halo 3 - this just might be a successful game. Who Knows. :rolleyes:

:(*sniffles* I wont have Halo 3 until Thursday, My friend on xbox live allready has it*sniffle* :(

Woops sorry - tried to edit and created a new one - sorry.

I think mine will arive in few hours. I already played through have of the campain, friend got it earlier this week

It was nice seeing everyone out for the midnight launch of Halo 3. Being one the employees of the microcenter store it was nice to meet the sarcasticgamer rep. He was very eager to talk to all of us as well as the customers.

Only bad thing about the night was coming home to open my collectors edition of halo 3 to find that the discs are scratched. so instead of playing the game right now im typing this and thinking about what to say to microsoft in the email i write them.

Hope everyone enjoys the game just as much as i will. And i hope to see you all online in the Future!!:)

Enjoy the game guys, us folk in the UK still need to wait another day. Now i know midnight launches see some pretty strange people turn up, but damm, those four in lono's last picture, what gives???

Looks like a good night was had by all.

Enjoy the game guys, us folk in the UK still need to wait another day. Now i know midnight launches see some pretty strange people turn up, but damm, those four in lono's last picture, what gives???

Looks like a good night was had by all.

Those were the die hards man. You ain't die hard unless you come prepared!

Sarcasticgaming rep, Lono. lol... :)

Those were the die hards man. You ain't die hard unless you come prepared!

Sarcasticgaming rep, Lono. lol... :)

Lono, either you are up waaay early, or you have just finished a major Halo 3 session???

:(*sniffles* I wont have Halo 3 until Thursday, My friend on xbox live allready has it*sniffle* :(

Wow, I knew that hype was going to be this bad and that is why on 11/25/06, the day I preordered Halo 3, I choose overnight shipping. This is because I knew that if I made myself wait longer I would have a ****ing heart attack!

Lono, I am adding you to my friends list please accept.

I am having the hardest time controlling my excitement right now, as a matter of fact last nigt I went to bed at 10 pm but couldn't sleep until 5 am now I need some coffee to wake me up.

Your one lucky guy Lono. I am now leaving for what will be the longest school day of my life. Hopefully my copy will arrive before I get home :) Also Im sick but not sick enough to miss school. Damn you my head not giving me a fever!

My copy of Halo was really scratched up...but it seemed to play alright. I was playing through on Heroic...the ally AI was pissing me off, so I figured I'd get on the computer for a while. But yeah...there were only like 5 people lined up at Wal-mart... =)

Well, here is my little Halo info...

I went down to the local Gamestop store at around 10:30pm to pre-pay because the store wouldnt stay open much after midnight.

The first thing I notice, as is prevalent down here in the south, is a freak party going on in the parking lot. We have skaters, fanboys, hippies, cowboys, and rednecks all in one location, which usually makes for a fight before the night is over. Now, I don't have anything personally against anyone of these groups, but it isn't usually a good combination. Anyway, there were about 50 people who waited around to get their copy at midnight, while a good 100 more started showing up as the clock hit 12.

It was all very exciting, but not that many people were there at this little store. Perhaps more was happening across town at the Best Buy. We sure didn't get a Bill Gates appearance as the Seattle Best Buy did.

Well, I got the Limited Edition, just because I wanted the cool case, but more importantly because "you can't wear the helmet."

hehe

Anyways, the game itself was pretty on load up and started without any problems. Now, I will get into a little lovefest here, so bear with me.

To say all I am going to say, I must admit something to everyone here. I didn't care for Halo 2 that much. (gasps, I know, it's a sin in the gaming world) I just thought that the game's graphics were sub par (even for performance) and that it could have been done much better in a lot of ways. The multiplayer was fun, however, and I bought a copy of Halo 2 shortly after I bought my 360. I didn't really ever get into the "Halo 2 is totally awesome" fanboy club that I saw other people get into. It's probably because I am a PC gamer at heart, and if the graphics are crappy, so is my opinion of the game.

So, I said all of that to say this. Microsoft and Bungie have delivered. Halo 3 is clean, runs great, looks slick, and has a feel to it all its' own. The campaign was fun, involving and the graphics were good, not perfect, but really good. There is a good story line, sniper action, big fire fights, and anything else you can imagine. After playing the first mission, I must admit I wanted to continue. The controls were a tweaker's dream, and the options for video and audio were easy to find, and understand. I liked the fact that the game loaded as you ran from one area to another, so you never have to stop the action. The game actually loads, and autosaves in the background and you wouldn't even know it if you weren't paying attention to the bottom left corner of the screen.

Well, it was late and I was tired, but I had to see the multiplayer. It took me less than 3 minutes to find, get into and launch a 4 player FFA. I played two maps, Gaurdian and Snowbound. All I can say is that it was a nonstop frag fest. Before it was over I was convinced there would be no other game I was going to play for a while, lol. It was a blast. I took a few minutes to play with the Theater option before I got off. I went back and reviewed my whole game. I recorded two clips from a sweet head shot with a sniper rifle without using the scope (like that will ever happen again), and another were I stuck some newb who never even knew I was there lol. All I can say about that is I am going to have to get a separate HDD just to store all my Halo 3 movies!!

I managed to pry myself off the 360 well after 3am to catch a few hours rest before work this morning. I was tired when I got up, but it was all worth it. The only con I have is the tab for the MP start matchmaking could be done differently. That tab should be different and bigger and say something like "LAUNCH MP ACTION."

Halo 3 delivers guys, and if you haven't got it yet you won't be disappointed.

Nice coverage of the launch.

I didn't get to go wait in line as I bought a 360 + halo3 package from dell canada. It shipped last night and I was expecting not to have it for a few days being on the otherside of canada.

I was pretty stoked this morning when I checked its progress to see it is on the truck for delivery. I should have it when I get home from work :)

I checked the CoD 4 Beta around 2 AM CST and to my amazement the were only 2500 people online playing it. Where did everyone go???!!! (sarcasm)

Hopefully around 5 or 6 tonight I'll get to see what everyone stayed up all night playing.

The Halo 3 Midnight launch was perhaps one of the best organized launches I've been to. There were zero problems and loads of games to play with both the EB and Gamestop employees.

Once I arrived back home just a little after 12:30, I had to go through all the unpackaging of the Legendary edition. The helmet of course a nice touch for a memorabilia of the series. I decided to play Multiplayer until well early in the morning, coursing through each map. I must say the game has lived up to the hype and I honestly doubt I will return to Gears of War for a very long time to come.