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Halo 2 Released
mjxg writes "Halo 2 has finally hit the shelves for hardcore fans. VNUnet speaks about the long lines and the 12:01am release that many stores participated in. Many people obtained the Limited Collector's Edition. Eventually we'll get word of the final first day sales to see if Halo 2 can top the sales charts for the year, or possibly become the most popular console game in history. It is already estimated to top the all-time opening day entertainment sales charts."
I just grabbed mine at lunch. Thankfully the office is close to the EB in the Eaton Centre (Toronto, Canada).
All told it took 9 mins from getting in line to leaving the store, but just wait until the after-school crowd gets in on things...
French version of the game leaked after the game went gold. Many kiddies have been playing said version, sans English.
Awww, there is only one beer left and it's Barts.....
2 days until we get it here [in the UK]
I had an imaginary sig once, he said I was a loser and ran off.
Gotta wait two more days over here in the UK. /grumbles
I called the 800 number for EB Games to check on my order.
"Thank you for calling EB Games. If you are calling about your Halo 2 order, all shipments are being made on time and tracking numbers are available on the web site. For any other assistance, please hold for the next available representative."
Bad thing though....my order page hasn't been updated. If it's not here tomorrow like it's supposed to be, I'm going to go after somebody. :-)
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Right, because there's no chance that any of us might be at work. I can get away with visiting Slashdot periodically, but I think bringing the Xbox in might get my fingers smacked.
Lets say everyone with an xbox picks one up. IT'll still sell less then GTA San andreas. why? because it's one of the few Xbox games worht getting, so theres a rush for it. But once it gets to a certain saturation, thats it. It's can't exceed the xbox install base for sales so it's can't exceed the total sales of GTA, btu ti could get to saturation of the market faster.
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
Good, I was hoping I could speak out somewhere about this. HBO's forums were not accessible. I need to release my opinion on this, as not doing so would create some sort of cancerous growth within me. That and I just had my third double espresso...
I never pre-ordered Halo 2. I just think the idea of pre-ordering a game is ridiculous, as real shortages almost never appear. So I sat here counting down the time last night all the time while being accosted. "Oh, I bet you can't wait for the nerd convention!" "Hug the first guy dressed as Master Chief!" My local video game retailer (Rhymes with "GameStop") was opening at "12:01" to sell the game. Now, I'm sort of in the middle of nowhere, so I didn't expect a lot of crowds as there were other ritzier stores also selling the game probably with like chips and soda and balloons. But this store was about half a mile away so I could deal with not having the fanfare. At about 11:30 I decided I would swing by the parking lot to see if there was a line, and, if not, get some groceries from the supermarket.
Well, there's a line. There were about 100-150 people all single-file, wrapping around the corner of the shopping center. What surprised me is that they were almost all kids. I'm not saying "kids" like how old people say it (i.e. 'under 40'), I'm talking about 18 and under boys, many not accompanied by their parents but rather a hoodie and a pack of Camels trying to stay warm in the November cold. From talking with others in the line I find out most of the crowd got there by 8pm, with a few bringing chairs and camping out at 5:30pm earlier. They had been sitting there for six HOURS. Purely unnecessary, as you will soon find out.
At about 11:40 one of the frightened employees came out and told us to form two lines. One would go to the right and was reserved for "VIPs" -- that is, people who had pre-ordered and paid in full. Anyone that did not order or pay in full can form a new line to the left.
Well, the line on the left was me and about 4 other guys. By 11:45 I was leaning against the window of the store, about a yard away from the entrace. One of the VIPs who had been there since 5:30 as it turns out, was a Mom from Maryland (next state over, lots of people coming from Maryland) who was there with her children and apparently all her children's friends. She was talking about Halo 2 and Marathon and a bunch of games you don't hear outside of Penny Arcade's front page, in general. Then she handed out Mountain Dews. (Now, as "cool" as this "cool mom" is, I still don't understand why so many schoolkids were out here so late -- at best I can hope there was a strict 1/2am curfew for them. I really hope none of them got a "sick day" the next day).
At 12:02 or so, the doors opened, they let in about 20 VIPs who formed a line to the right of the store. The line on the left, my line, further split itself into two -- partial preorders and no preorders. I was now 2nd in line. Apprently, I wasn't the only one having no pre-orders because the credit card systems were incredibly slow. I can imagine there were thousands and thousands of requests suddenly coming in to the processing centers here in Delaware (Hello, MBNA/BankOne/Chase cardholders!). At 12:06, I had the "Limited Edition" version in hand ($5 for a neat-looking case and a DVD with filler isn't highway robbery). By 12:10 I was home. I dusted off my Xbox and played for the next three hours.
Like any true geek, the first thing I did was configure my player and options.
Disclaimers: Mild game-quality, non-plot spoilers ahead!
And here I ask the question, were Bungie's QA testers on Quaaludes??? For serious. I saw more build/clipping/texture errors in the first 10 minutes of Halo 2 than I ever saw building levels on UnrealEd. Models popping in and out of focus (What's this, the N64 version?). Brushes/BSP errors. Textures "flickering" to and from the background. Textures switching from "hi" to "medium" quality (mipmapping, I believ
Small potatoes make the steak look bigger.
To be fair, games average at £30 over here (RRP normally £35 or £40, but the stores have to be competetive) whereas cinema tickets are £3-£6, so Harry Potter may well be more popular really, but few people are going to see it 5 times. Not saying it's better or anything, but the statistics can prove anything.
On a related note, WTF is up with UK game prices? I paid £32.99 inc. delivery for Halo 2 standard edition (it hasn't arrived yet, our launch day is the 11th) but Amazon US has it for $45.95 (£24.74) and I'm sure I could find it for even less with a bit of searching. What's the justification? It's just as bad with PC games too, so it can't be down to the different TV systems.
Once I got used to the controls, I preffered the controller to keyboard and mouse. The controller vibrates, gives you feedback, gives you analog controls to control your movement.
You forgot the word "poorly" at the end of that sentence there.
BTW, you can get mice that vibrate. If you have a girlfriend, you might be able to say that it's a "gift" for her, killing two birds with one stone.
Rob
... for only a few minutes lastnight... Went by my local EB and it was nuts... then i saw that Toys R Us was open as well. They started selling them at 12:01, and by 12:03 I was out the door with Halo 2 in hand. It was a warm and fuzzy feeling.
I don't know why people thing mouse/keyboard is gods gift to gaming
you must suck, n00b
Check out the fun of line camping for this near Virginia Tech:= 1100010063
http://www.78west.com/cgi-bin/blah/Blah.pl?b=42,m
Hopefully Half Life 2 will allow for the same sort of geek fun.
>Sorry people, but that's just a little TOO creepy for me...
Before Ticketmaster changed their policies way back when, my friends were always bugging me to come along with an all-night wait for tickets. It was almost never needed (in fact, if I trusted my memory more I'd say it was NEVER needed), but these little gatherings were little interesting psychological events. First and foremost, doing this is like pledging alleigance to the band/game/whatever. Its sort of the equivalant of going to Church weekly. Then there are secondary benefits like meeting like-minded people and developing some sense of community. Then people get their tickets/games and never speak again. There's a slim chance you might see them at the show and make some banal small-talk.
In some ways its like geek tailgating (when it comes to video games). In other ways its developing this fraudulent 'culture' of Aerosmith (or whoever) fans as if liking some band (especially some top-40) is suddenly this life changing experience and you must commune and commiserate only with those who like the same band.
I think you don't see much of this anymore because the whole idealism and pretentiousness of music thankfully died with the 70s and the 80s. People have wised up and realized that, yes, being fans of the same band(s) doesn't mean much at all.
I thought this game could not live up to the hype, but if you ignore the hype there is an amazing well crafted peice of work. I was expecting a better more rounded Halo 1, but the plot is now completely central and for that i am very greatful.
,tough cookies, play on a Keyboard Mouse adaptor if you want, playing on a controller is more comfortable as i dont have sit straight rigid in front of a computer. Halo 2 copes with aiming well, with help from autoaim. Some games are hindered without a keyboard and mouse, but halo dosnt feel crippled by it. fps' are not about how well you can aim a mouse and track an enemies head. If you want to do that you can play desktop wack a mole.
I noticed the mipmapping problems as well, though i cant say it bothered me sooo much, as it is in the cutscenes more than the gameplay, though i was still a bit miffed as to why it was so apparent. I im very happy that Bungie have decided to have all the cutcenes rendered ingame, i am fed up with low quality video (coghs *EA*) that is just only useful for skipping. There could be more vehicular levels, and more levels in general, but then again quality over quantity. I cant say the games is on the level of Deus Ex, but it is a must buy for all FPS fans.
To all those bitching about it being on a console
I prefer a fps to be elegant and atmosphereic. It is a breath of fresh air to have a game that does not have menus and menus crammed full of inventory, and a soldier who can carry 12 guns in his trousers. If Halo could be played with no HUD at all and with amo represented on guns, and sheild on the inner arms or whatever i feel it would be even more (like the 10 second widescreen bits at the start of a "level")
*************SPOILER ALERT************
The ending left me unhappy and impressed in equal measure. You know the end will come but your hoping it wont. Before the credits you get a hero going into battle battle, patrioticky sort of ending. You lay about for the credits, then BAM! one hell of a twist comes. Its one of those "how could i be so blind" sort of moments. i can compare it to the Codec messages at the end of the Metal Gear Solids.
All in all, any true FPS fan (who dosnt have preconceptions about how a FPS should be) will love this. Bungie has done a great deal right here so big props to them.
Give credit where credit is due...Microsoft does not make Halo. Bungie makes Halo. Microsoft bought Bungie. I like Bungie; I dislike Microsoft very much. Halo was nearly finished for the Macintosh http://www.macworld.com/1999/07/bc/18halo/(I believe this was going to be an exclusive Mac-only title, but I'm not sure) when Bungie was bought by Microsoft. If you want to really know where Halo got its start, you need to buy a Mac and find a copy of Marathon (not Marathon II or III), the original. Oh, and why did they make the adapter PS/2 only? Why not USB? Can the controller ports on the Xbox not handle a conversion from USB (I would think they would be able to)?
http://www.bynarystudio.com
Here's the correct and more permanent link.
(when they release a new comic tomorrow, this one will still refer to the correct one)
This is not my sig.
If you want to take a peek at the game manual, check it out at Bungie's site here: http://bungie.net/images/games/halo2/support/halo2 manual_EN.pdf
If you just want to see what all the fuzz is about and beat the game, I would recommend you rent it first. Otherwise, go for it. I assume the price tag is similar in the UK (it's around $50 here) so you're not spending your kid's college money. Plus there's always XBConnect and Xlink which allow you to play online should you ever feel like it without having to pay for XBox Live.
Its not an aimbot in that it does all the aiming for you, but it does help compensate for when you almost have and want to keep a target.