Repurposing: Halo: Reach Article Revised for Owens Outlook

Here is an example of repurposing a piece for publication. I took my previous piece, took out all elements of Napoleon and subtituted the quotes with relevant sources. The information is also updated.

In the still of the night, thousands worldwide 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 and other video game retailer locations across the United States 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.

“This is the legacy of Halo,” Owens’ Gamers United Advisor Chris Zasada explained of the appeal of the game and these events. “As each game has been released, a new milestone and hordes of new fans are created. There’s a reason fans camp out in front of stores at night, braving the elements, just to be among the first to secure their copy of the next Halo entry.”

Billed with one of the most recognizable brand names among gamers, this entertainment juggernaut drew in thousands 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."

Specifically for Halo: Reach, the Times Square Best Buy in New York City was host to thousands of fans of the series, with the location's theater featuring a music performance and a chance for visitors to meet the creators of the game. Seattle also hosted a grand-scale event at the The Experience Music Project/Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame, with more creators from the game present in order to carry out official tournaments.

“The release of Halo: Reach marks a historic end to the series,” stated Zasada on the scope of the release’s recognition. “This is the last release by the series’ original creator and developer, Bungie, who has expressed interest in moving on to other projects with other companies. While Microsoft still owns the Halo franchise, the departure of the original developer marks a significant change to the record-breaking series that began almost ten years ago. The final chapter written by the group that created this legend is nothing short of historical to the gaming community and the world of entertainment”

With Microsoft Game Studios Vice President Phil Spencer announcing Halo: Reach pulling in day one sales of $200 million (which at the standard price of $60, translates to more than 3 million copies sold), 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 2007, with day-one sales of $170 million), 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. During the launch period, Amazon listed the title’s four packages among 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 also listed the standard and limited editions at one and two on top sales lists respectively.

Furthermore, according to the U.K.'s GfK Chart-Track, Halo: Reach has also spurred interest in the Xbox 360 system itself. GfK director Dorian Bloch revealed to U.K. publication Eurogamer that the system drove a 99 percent console sales increase during its launch week. While many sales figures have poured out from U.K. sources, the only product sales source in the U.S. tracking video games sales, market research firm NPD, only releases stats monthly and comes under criticism from some in the industry due to the fact it allegedly does not have an agreement with heavy-hitting sales giant Wal-Mart to provide figures and it also does not track digital downloads.

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.

Figures aside, in the end, all that really matters is the smiling faces of those that picked up their copy of Halo: Reach. Even with Bungie now moving on to new products, Sept. 14 proved the gaming community has stuck with the series until the end.