There no doubt in anyone's mind that the upcoming Halo 3 launch is going to be a big deal. Over 1 million copies have already been preordered, and Microsoft expects sales numbers to easily exceed the 2.4 million copies and $125 million Halo 2 pulled in in its first 24 hours. Microsoft has some big events and promotions lined up to make Halo 3's launch the biggest ever.
Over 10,000 stores in the United States alone are expected to have some kind of midnight Halo 3 launch event on September 25th. Some of those stores will surely be selling the Halo 3-themed Xbox 360 console. Be sure to check out the new Xbox 360 Halo 3 theme and gamerpic, available that week.
Also, Xbox Live Gold will be free for all Xbox 360 owners during the first three days of Halo 3's launch, September 25th through September 27th, thanks to Best Buy.
Celebrities abound: Microsoft's "Unite to Fight" launch event will see events in Miami, Seattle, Los Angeles and New York City, all with local celebrities in attendance to do battle with gamers. There will also be launch sessions of Microsoft's Game with Fame, pitting players against celebs in online matches. Even Bungie will be online that week to school overconfident players.
Finally, Microsoft is give-away crazy! They will be giving away 8,000 Microsoft Points to 144 randomly-selected people, and those lucky people have a chance to win bigger prizes like a Halo-themed Pontiac GXP Street Edition valued at $28,000 or a Samsung home theater entertainment system valued at $3,500. Pontiac is also in on the game, giving away 1,000 copies of Halo 3 to winners before it's even available in stores.
[Via GamesIndustry.biz -- thanks, JV]
Contest:
10:14 AM on 09.12.2007
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MC enters Interceptor 005 and everyone on Earth (including the good Elites) get on the Ark.
MC activates the Halo Rings and kills all of the Flood and Gravemind.
You guys should lower your standards so you don't get disappointed like many of you were with BioShock.
You should have all played BioStorm instead. I hear that's better.
I do admit I was a little disappointed in Bioshock, and now I have Blue Dragon envy.
thats stupid
When does half-life 3 come out?
And knocking the multiplayer? It's one of the best multiplayer experiences I've ever had on a console. Their virtual couch idea was amazing and every time a game doesn't have that, it pisses me the hell off. It's such a simple yet amazing idea. I hate playing alone. Some of you loners may not care for it, but people who have friends, we miss it. I'm looking at you Gears.
In my opinion, shit like CoD and Rainbow Six are fun for a month. I need something more than running around the damn map getting killed every five seconds by a camping sniper with a scoped AK-47. I need vehicles and that new sort of map editor thing is probably going to take away a lot of my time when I'm sick of matchmaking. And if three hit kills are your bag...there's a game type called SWAT. It's where shields are off. So, hi.
Sure, the game is hyped, but there's a reason. Thousands of motherfuckers are still playing it years after its release and this is a console game! For me and a lot of people, including some of my casual gaming friends (guys and girls included) this was tons of fun and from what I've seen so far, has raised the bar on this fun.
@cardoweth
Why rent it, isnt Halo 3's strong point online multiplayer? I mean if your renting it for like 8-10 dollars, why not got all the way. I dont know, now bioshock thats rentable (single player, sorta short), but I would buy it because I love irrational games.
I may actually go to one of these launches because I never been to any gaming event... ever. It be cool, been a casual/pc gamer since the dreamcast died. Now I got myself a wii60, so I am back on the console scene.
If it bugs you that much, get a pc and play some real fps games, as you put it.
KB + M = For Life.
I can't afford you, Halo 3. I guess that I will have to rent you.