Halo 3

[Tekki]

Figured, even though theres some stuff in the console thread on this, it still deserves it own topic since we are fast approaching its release and this is quite possibly the biggest thing to happen to consoles in years.

So its almost upon us. Less then a week away until the largest launch of just about anything in entertainment history, period. Its already broken sales records without even a release. I've been working for EB/Gamestop for nearly 5years now and there never been anything thats ever come close to the excitement this game has drawn. The largest release I've ever been apart of was Zelda windwaker and halo 2 with 200+ preorders a piece. Im topping over 500+ preorders with Halo3 and were not even done preordering. The momentum has picked up and will pick up even more once we get closer to the release. Its going to be nuts at my place, were already expecting anywhere between 250-300 customers crammed in the mall for this.

Excited? No? I know plenty of people on both sides of Yay/meh and plenty more on the fence. I know Im excited. This game revolutionized the way most gamers play console shooters or console games together period. Collectively many thought Halo 2 was a letdown but it undoubtedly, once again revolutionized the way we play games, with its innovations on XB Live.

Halo 3 looks to do the same.

Its no secret that people are playing the game now, and have been for at least a week or more. Either reviewers or people who were lucky enough get a hold of the game. I can tell you I've spent the past few days as a person "sitting on the fence" but have jumped off and I am now extremely excited to play it. Ive poured over a lot of leaked footage, you tube videos, pics sent by gamers with it and read a handful of reviews. I don't think anyone will be disappointed in this game, even if they are lukewarm when it comes to Halo.

I think two things have me excited more then most features in this game. One is the scale of the single player gameplay. Some of the early battles have more enemies in parts of the battle then Halo 2 had combined. That says a lot to me. I haven't played a game yet on the 360 that has a true large scale battle feel. This apparently does.

The single most piece of game that has me excited more then anything is the 4 player co-op. Come on... Need I say more? That right there alone is worth the price tag, the wait, and the disappointment from Halo2. This isn't a watered down coop like you see in 99% of games out there. Actually its the reverse. Its the full blown campaign and its difficulty increases with the number of players you bring along. I simply don't buy 360 games unless they have some sort of co-op since I spend most of my free time at a buddies house playing my 360 when Im not on XI. This is really something Ive been wanting out of just about any game for awhile, and its coming from one of the best games.

I can see where the game has lost some momentum with some players since Halo 2. I know of others that simply could care less. But I think that could change with its release.

Some worthy stuff to check out:

Halo 3 Scores Platinum in Famitsu

You can also check out youtube for Halo 3 footage but since about 24hrs the suck factor has risen about 200%. There are a handful out there that show some pretty cool, quality footage of the single and multiplayer, but it really might not be worth the effort if you dont want to sift through the shitty videos out there. Or even risk landing on a video with the ending spoiler. Yes, the ending has been bleeding out on the interwebs for the past few days as well.

I think something everyone should check out, whether or not your a fan of Halo 3 is their official site since its most recent update. Halo3.com They built a replica battlefield using miniatures to represent a "memorial" to a past, epic, battle and set it up museum style. You may have seen part of this or previews for this on TV/online. But with the official site you can take a virtual tour of the miniature battlefield. There are intrusions once you get inside but one thing I recommend doing is loopong through the whole battle field at least once before going through a second time to actually take a look of the content. Once you loop through it once, go back slowly and check out some of the testimonial videos, pictures and write ups they made. Its kind of cool how they set it up "History channel" style as if this were a real battle and they were interviewing veterans of the war.

They even now have a "making of" this monument commercial and the miniature battlefield they made for it.

Making of

Some confirmed Achievements:

Landfall (20) Finish the first mission of the Campaign on Normal, Heroic, or Legendary. Edit

Holdout (20) Finish the second mission of the Campaign on Normal, Heroic, or Legendary. Edit

The Road (20) Finish the third mission of the Campaign on Normal, Heroic, or Legendary. Edit

Assault (30) Finish the fourth mission of the Campaign on Normal, Heroic, or Legendary. Edit

Cleansing (30) Finish the fifth mission of the Campaign on Normal, Heroic, or Legendary. Edit

Refuge (30) Finish the sixth mission of the Campaign on Normal, Heroic, or Legendary. Edit

Last Stand (40) Finish the seventh mission of the Campaign on Normal, Heroic, or Legendary. Edit

The Key (40) Finish the seventh mission of the Campaign on Normal, Heroic, or Legendary. Edit

Return (50) Finish the final mission of the Campaign on Normal, Heroic, or Legendary. Edit

Campaign Complete: Normal (125) Finish the Campaign on Normal. Edit

Campaign Complete: Heroic (125) Finish the Campaign on Heroic Edit

Campaign Complete: Legendary (125) Finish the Campaign on Legendary Edit

Iron (10) Finish the Campaign on Normal, Heroic, or Legendary, then find and claim this skull. Edit

Black Eye (10) Finish the Campaign on Normal, Heroic, or Legendary, then find and claim this skull. Edit

Tough Luck (10) Finish the Campaign on Normal, Heroic, or Legendary, then find and claim this skull. Edit

Catch (10) Finish the Campaign on Normal, Heroic, or Legendary, then find and claim this skull. Edit

Fog (10) Finish the Campaign on Normal, Heroic, or Legendary, then find and claim this skull. Edit

Famine (10) Finish the Campaign on Normal, Heroic, or Legendary, then find and claim this skull. Edit

Thunderstorm (10) Finish the Campaign on Normal, Heroic, or Legendary, then find and claim this skull. Edit

Tilt (10) Finish the Campaign on Normal, Heroic, or Legendary, then find and claim this skull.

[Kooldac]

No matter how much some people hate Halo and they say they're all the same, Bungie struck so much gold on numba 1 that ppl will continue to buy it. Online from 2 simply compounded it's popularity. I personally cannot wait for 25th (Halo 3 and Crysis demo (*'-')/ )

[Jotaru]

I got called for an interview at Gamestop yesterday, went in today, and within four hours I had the job. I'm thinking Halo 3 has something to do with it, they are having a Halo 2 tournament the night before the release (I signed up having won them before [Funded WoW + addiction for a few months with the winnings] but now that I'm an employee I can't play, /cry)

Anyhow, I knew the release was next week, but now that I think on it, this all happened pretty rapidly, and they want me to come in for my first day Friday soo... hmm.

Edit:

Online from 2 simply compounded it's popularity. I personally cannot wait for 25th (Halo 3 and Crysis demo (*'-')/ )

In my two hours in Gamestop this morning they clued me in that if you pre-order, you gain acceptance into the current beta test. Gogo.

[Reality]

halo 3 is out now btw, at least illegally (it's on torrentbytes.net right now, and hasn't been nuked either)

[Hellboy]

i got a chance to play it on imax last week and im not let down. right now im in the middle of one of the hardest two weeks i've had in my entire life

5 days left...........

[Maguspk]

Preorders, hopefully it is balanced but I'm not worried.

The only part that sucks is the maps are horrible for MLG but with the Forge maybe it's fixable but it seems a lot less customizable then most gamers had imagined. Oh well, maybe we'll get some old maps from H2 back by doing campaign or something. So far from what's been shown of the maps in various videos I've seen they've all been big and some rather confusing and labyrinthine, hopefully this won't be the case for a few of the maps.

[Vandole]

the spoiler of this game comletely killed it for me, if you wanna see how halo ends, search halo 3 spoiler on youtube.
so i bought hl2 orange pack instead and am totally digging it.





i'll still pickup halo3 when i get some money though.

[AzazaelFenrir]

How you like GS/EB now Tekki? (I assume you are management) as an Ex manager I would love to talk to you sometime. PM me.


As for Halo 3 I can't wait. I was prepared to take a sick day Tuesday, but as it turns out I had Monday off, so I am just switching days. GO GO Halo 3 day!!!!!!

[Deejay]

This will be epic.

I'm replaying Halo 1 and 2 this weekend with my roommate lol. I work at gamestop too so all my friends are having me pick up their copies monday night, just so they don't have to deal with all the nerd lines outside, lol.

[Boyiee]

speaking of big preorders. When I preordered mine about 1-2months ago, the gamestop had over 900 preorders already. About 30seconds in walking distance in the same mall is a EBgames, also with 800+ preorders. Game is nuts.

Preorders, hopefully it is balanced but I'm not worried.

I was told, if you preorder it, and show up, they will have a copy in hand for you. Meaning if that store has 500 preorders, they will have 500 copies minimum, every preorder gets one, garunteed. Thats what I was told, if it's untrue then sorry it might only apply to friends of managers/franchise owners. I'm pretty sure it's true for all preorders though.

[Deejay]

Yeah, if you pre-ordered Halo then you will get one. There will most deff. be extra shipments for the regular copies on the 25th. Good luck finding the Limited/Legendary copies anywhere though. I'm thinking of just picking up a Legendary to put on Ebay lol.

[Misterjingles]

Can't wait for the fragfest and humpin... I mean battlefield cpr to begin!!

OMG I'M GOING TO CUM!!!!!!!!!!!!111111111111111111one

[Cletis]

only reason i bought 360

[Roranora]

ooh man.. it's gonna be tighter than a gnat's ass

[Epical]

Tekki, I pre-bought mine at EB in anticipation for the midnight release on Tuesday, so my question to you is... what time should I get there to line up? And how fast do you guys till through people? Like, should I expect to be home at 12:30, 1, 1:30, or 2? >_>

[Deejay]

When WoW came out I was home by 12:40, Madden was the same deal. Just be there by 11:30'ish and make sure you pay off the game the day before so all you have to do is hand them the receipt and get your game.

[Semitry]

I hear the game's getting leaked all over the place and MS initially threatened to ban people playing it before release but now it's just employees that do lol.

Who wants to be a pal and summarize the first 2 so I don't have to play those?! Sure I could google it but I may stumble upon the spoiler for #3 since it's supposedly all over the place.

EDIT: nm got it! asking nerds on my pidgin list did the trick!

[Epical]

Yeah the receipt is completely paid off, I just need to exchange the paper for the disc. Now, I'm going to assume that Halo 3 is a tad larger ordeal than WoW/Madden is/was, so 1ish sounds about right?

[Yangsing]

People bring up Halo 2's online play. I've only played it couple times online. But what is different about it compared to PC online play?

[izembo]

depends how early you get there determines really how fast you get out of there.

lines start around 9pm