Halo: Reach Draws Gamers Out for Midnight Events

In the still of the night, more than 100 dug into the trenches in preparation for a Sept. 14 standoff. Fueled by beverages and snack food rations, these future soldiers refused to give up their position.

Many waited hours for the opposing side to act first and at 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday, the gate finally opened for them to make a move of their own. As the GameStop location in Napoleon, Ohio, finally opened up for midnight business, this army of eager gamers flooded into the storefront to be among the first to get their hands on the thumb-blistering digital warfare of Halo: Reach.

Billed with one of the most recognizable brand names among gamers, this entertainment juggernaut drew in roughly 130 to the Napoleon retailer as a part of the gaming spectacle of midnight launches, of which many were held worldwide for the Halo release. Reserved for only the most anticipated of titles, the midnight launch of gaming product is pretty self explanatory – stores operate special late-night hours to get these hot titles into the hands of gamers the second the calendar flips over to the game’s allocated release date.

These launches are more notorious when one of the three console manufacturers, Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo, release their newest gaming platforms, which typically take gaming hardware into the “next generation.” For such releases, it wasn’t uncommon for people to wait outside of a store for days, claiming their rightful spot in line for the product while camping out with coolers and lawn chairs. Such campers became so adamant and showing up earlier and earlier for releases that many locations now prohibit the act and set up special dates where people can come and be placed on a list to avoid such acts of "loitering."

While most software releases aren’t so competitive as discs are printed in a far larger number than initial game consoles are manufactured, it doesn’t stop some gamers from showing up well in advance. In the case of the Napoleon GameStop, Johnny Puckett of Napoleon was the first person in the lineup for the game, arriving at 1:30 p.m., essentially half of a day prior to the game’s launch. Having had the game reserved for him since the beginning of summer, Puckett attributed the early arrival to dedication.

“It was dedication as I am a big Halo fan,” he explained. “I wanted to be the first person in line today.”

Puckett looked forward to the release and its online play, which allows those with Xbox LIVE Gold subscriptions to play against or cooperate with other Halo owners around the world. He noted Halo 3, developed by Bungie and released by Microsoft in 2007, was his favorite so far, but Puckett wants to continue the experience and be exposed to the franchise’s full story since Reach serves as a prequel to the original game in the series.

“I’m really looking forward to the campaign,” he eagerly stated. “I’m ready for the challenge of beating the game on the legend difficulty.”

Of course, Puckett wasn’t the only spectator at the event. Lined up behind him were more than 100 other fans of the series, grinding the waiting time down while socializing with other gamers that shared the same interests. A group arriving at 8 p.m. lugged a card table out on the sidewalk of the city’s last remaining active shopping plaza and invited others to participate in Magic: The Gathering collectable card game matches. Others tossed a football back and forth, used stereos to play music for others or even pulled out portable gaming devices such as mobile phones, Sony PSPs or Nintendo DS systems to pass the time. Napoleon, a small city of roughly 10,000 people, normally sees its businesses close no later than 9 p.m. through the week, so the situation creates a one-of-a-kind event that the Napoleon GameStop manager Kolt Handy labels as a “social event.”

“People get to enjoy each other’s company,” he said. “It’s really more than just picking up the game. It becomes a social event and not just a release.”

Adding to the social aspects of the event was the station set beside the store’s doors by the local branch of the United States Marines. With a red, metal bar hoisted from a frame, those in attendance were given a chance to show off their physical mettle by attempting as many pull-ups as possible. Each attempt garnered many cheers from the crowd and those closing in on the current record had everyone counting off each repetition and shouting encouragement. Those in the top 15 of the pull-up challenge were awarded with promotional material such as posters for games including Halo: Reach and Lionhead Studio’s upcoming Fable III, another critical series to Microsoft’s portfolio that only sees a release on its formats.

With so many people gathering for the release, Handy tied this aspect into why Halo is so popular.

“The multiplayer is a huge aspect to the game,” he noted. “It’s just a fun game and people get behind the story. It’s the first first-person shooter a lot of people got into with their friends and they just want to stick with it.”

While no specific sales measures have been made available after the title’s first full day on sale, many are counting on the title to be 2010’s biggest sales success. The popularity of the title has exploded since Bungie developed the original title Halo: Combat Evolved for the Xbox in 2001, making it the first certifiable success for Microsoft’s fledgling debut system. The series depicts futuristic warfare where players control human soldiers that wear enhanced armor through an elite squad known as Spartans as they fight off an alien race known as the Covenant. The series' gameplay uses a format known as first-person shooting where the player views the action through the eyes of their character and while single-player modes are available in each installment, the success of the franchise has stemmed from its competitive modes that essentially made console online gaming successful thanks to the release of Halo 2. Before this release, even though a number of gaming systems had online capabilities, online gaming was a feature nearly exclusive to the PC format.

Bungie estimates the series as a whole will push the franchise’s sales figures beyond $2 billion some time this year. Given the company made a Twitter statement announcing Halo: Reach has already surpassed the record for concurrent unique users on Xbox LIVE (a record previously held by Halo 3, which sold $600 million in copies in 2007), it is very likely the title will hold up to these lofty expectations.

Backed by a gargantuan marketing campaign on the part of Microsoft and padded by a critical reception averaging at 92 percent on the review aggregator Metacritic.com, it already seems like Halo: Reach has a hefty portion of gamers already sold on the title. Amazon has listed the title’s four packages on the company’s top 10 sellers, placing the standard edition of the game at number one and the limited edition package, retailing at $80 and packaged in a special case with extra items, at number 2. The Legendary Edition of the title, packaged in crate-style container with an exclusive statue crafted by McFarlane Toys, still ranked at number six even though it was produced in very limited numbers and carried a $150 price tag. Players also had the option to purchase Halo: Reach in an Xbox 360 system bundle that also included two Halo-themed controllers and a 250 gigabyte hard drive for $400 and this ranked in at number seven for Amazon. In the United Kingdom, storefronts HMV and Play are also already listing the standard and limited editions at one and two on top sales lists respectively.

Bloomburg has predicted the title will move 10 million copies of the game this year and Michael Pachter, an analyst with Wedbush Morgan who is known for specializing in gaming industry predictions, predicts it will be 2010’s top-selling title. Even so, Pachter feels Halo: Reach won’t have quite the sales punch 2009’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, developed by Infinity Ward and published by third-party giant Activision, had last year. He noted the title, billed as the single-biggest day-one entertainment release in history by Activision, pushed 15 million copies in 2009 alone.

However, in the end, all that really matters is the smiling faces of those that picked up their copy of Halo: Reach. Handy noted his previous midnight release only drew 10 people, so in his mind, the launch was a hearty success. As many people at the Napoleon launch admitted to calling off of work and school to play Halo: Reach, it seems there are at least 100-plus gamers that will definitely be getting their money’s worth out of the title.