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Halo 3 Preorders Top 1 Million, Marketing Begins
Gamespot reports that Halo 3 has broken the all-time record for videogame preorders in North America. There are now more than 1 million copies of the title reserved across the continent. "The figure means that the Halo 3 launch could potentially be bigger than that of Halo 2. The then-Xbox-exclusive sold 2.38 million units in the US and Canada in the 24 hours after went on sale on November 16, 2004, generating an estimated $125 million. Halo 3 preorder customers' passion for the game is such that cost is apparently no object. As part of today's announcement, Microsoft warned that, despite its premium price point, the collectible Halo 3: Legendary Edition is on track to sell out before the game launches. The bundle, which includes a miniaturized version of the Master Chief's helmet, retails for $129.99 in the US, but is already sold out at several online retailers in the UK."
I'm ahead of these people. I ordered Halo 5 and already received it.
Marketing Begins?
I think with a million preorders, the marketing is pretty much done.
Holy Moly! Thats pretty impressive. If that was a music album it would already be considered "platinum". All that without any hardcore marketing. I guess it's true that the game industry is going to surpass the music industry, if it hasnt already.
WooT
Didn't it already start with that RPG thing that uses the real world similar to I love bees?
I like muppets.
It is shocking to most true gamers to see how a very medicore fps franchise can be forced out into the market just by brute force marketing money.
Halo 3 has been panned for its poor almost last gen looking graphics and poor networking compared to other big online games that have dedicated servers and large player counts, Halo 3 only supports p2p networking and 16 player games.
In the end the same people who bought Halo for the Xbox will buy Halo 3 for the 360 and for the rest of the gaming world that didn't give a damn about the franchise last gen will go right on doing so this gen. But it will be saddening to see the bought and paid for reviews pour in for the game as gamers where most of us still like to believe that the games market is a place where you live or die on actual game worth and not how many millions a company has to throw at reviews and the press.
I'm holding out for the version that comes with the working Mjolnir armor.
Isn't enough that I ruined a pony, making a gift for you?
You can buy 2 PS3 games and breakfast for 2 with that cash.
HAlo 3 and mass effect are the only two things that might tempt me to get a 360. I susupect they may eventually get PC editions.
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
I bought an Xbox for Halo and it was one of the best decisions I'd ever made; in my mind the game was damn near perfect. But Halo 2 was so dumbed down, yet overly complicated, it ruined what made Halo so appealing. The small amount of weaponry in Halo made combat relatively simple; there was a weapon for just about every situation. Halo 2 moved away from that, crowded the plate with many more weapons than were needed, added weapons which were clearly overpowered (and not available to everyone at once like the original pistol), and added in dual wielding. While Halo stood out from the FPS shooter crowd, Halo 2 sort of slinked back into the pack. The single player campaign didn't help, either.
I would like to buy an Xbox 360 eventually, but mainly just so I can play things like the old Kotor games (as my old Xbox is now broken) and maybe some new things like Oblivion. I was a long time fan of Bungie. Marathon, Marathon 2, Marathon: Infinity, Myth, Myth II. But the way Halo 2 turned out has ruined my faith with them. I might check out Halo 3 at some point, just to hope I'm proven wrong, but I don't have a lot of hope.
Most games don't come with behind-the-scenes DVDs nor helmets.
Yeh, but that's the super-deluxe version with a helment. Note: a NON-WEARABLE helmet (too small for even a child).
But I agree, that's a bit much. I pre-ordered, but only the regular version.
You can also buy 2 and a third normal Halo 3 games for that price.
The premium version isn't the only one, you know. Sheesh.
Comment of the year
From a company's standpoint. Toward the end of development, you're already probably over budget and short a few developers... and god knows when the soda/redbull/bawls machine was last stocked.
You use the last bit of cash to:
1. Pay off some bloggers to generate grass roots hype,
2. Pay a few key "journalists" to write a OMFG this game is going to MF rock \m/ > \m/
And begin accepting pre-order sales. Poof, instant PR budget so you can nail main stream media with everything you can now afford.
And maybe restock drink machine. (Don't worry about hiring more devs, you're just going to lay them all off anyway).
I enjoyed the games, but I really got in to the multi-player, as I feel like most people do these days. The thing I like about the Halo series though, is that they don't skimp (as much as other studios do) on the single player story line. I feel like some other games are rushed out to hit the multi-player markets and the story line suffers.
Halo 2 was released on the 9th. I still have the orange sticker on my box stating that it not be sold until 11/09/04.
I've been seeing advertisements for Halo 3 with the Previews of the last several movies that I've been to in the last few weeks. In fact, I am almost certain that there was ad for the game in the Previews of the latest Harry Potter movie that released on July 11th. So anyways it looks to me like they have already been marketing the game pretty aggressively and it's paying off.
Of course, simply stating that product X has taken 1M orders is marketing too: it helps those sitting on the fence feel like they can safely join the herd.
This is why many of these "new product coming soon or now available" PR pieces you see on SlashDot and other sites will frequently refer to a large number of early adopters: they want to make you feel safer as a buyer because you're going in with a crowd.
Hopefully those little freaks aren't back in Halo 3
Excuse me while I gather the virgin sacrifice and assemble the pentagram required to solve your problem
In the highly unlikely event of the game selling out, MS could push a button and produce 100,000 more in a single day. I really don't understand why anyone pre-orders so far in advance. The game will available everywhere with no difficulty at all. Preorder is a total and utter waste of time.
It's a BluerAy DVD player that can play games.
Alternatively you could look at it like this: I can buy the new 120GB Elite for $450, then get the Halo 3 Legendary edition for $130.00 and that still won't equal the cost of the 80GB PS3 Motorstorm Pack.
Better luck next time fanboy.
"Life's short and hard, like a body building elf." -- The Bloodhound Gang
Does that mean it qualifies as a "greatest hit"?
In that case, everyone that hasn't pre-ordered it would be able to pick up a copy for $20 the day it releases.
Hooray for fantasy logic!
oh marmalade.
"BluerAy"? Is that when The Fonz gets a job bluing steel?
In Repressive Burma, it's not just your connection that dies. slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=314547&cid=20819199
If everything I've been hearing about Warhawk is true, he might not be willing to swap.
For instance, this preview from GamesRadar titled "The online blast we'll still be playing when Halo 3 is a distant memory".
I just wish I could play co-op mode over the internet with original Halo for the PC.
Tsukasa: All I really want, is to be left alone...
Why is this game so popular? In which ways did it revolutionize the genre?
I never had a Xbox and didn't batter to get the PC edition. From what I understand, this is a fairly typical FPS just very very polished one. Much like Blizzard games which are not really revolutionary but are simply well done with a lot of attention to detail.
Man, it would be such ownage if it were though. They'd get it too, and everybody would be whining and moaning, threatening never to buy MS junk again. Even better over a million ppl would have a freakin' Spartan helmet.
...it would say "Moo."
Depends. I need the wireless adapter, so thats another $100 added to my cost, and I have an HD TV, so that another $100 for the HD-DVD player (and thats for a player thats been noted as being poor compared to the other High Def players on the market, and for a format that looks like it will be obsolete).
:(
I bought an XBox360 and I'm looking at selling it now (maybe before/after Halo3), and buying a PS3. I'm just tired of the poor workmanship (had to send it back to solve the RRoD once so far), and the poor way MS takes for granted the consumer. Sony may be charging a lot, but they at least have delivered a product that doesn't break, and that doesn't need a ton of add-ons. Compared to them, MS has delivered the console equivalent of their OS, Blue Screens of Death and all.
...those 1 million people who pre-ordered didn't think Halo 2 was overrated. I trust Bungie to provide a game that will be worth $50-60 dollars. I don't think it will be the world's best game, but it will certainly be worth the money, for multiplayer anyway. People seem to think that it's all-or-nothing for the Halo series these days, and that's just not true. Get down from your thrones made out of Valve games, people. I'm pretty sure it's legal to buy a shooter for a console that isn't the worlds best game and NOT get struck down by lighting (or an AWP).
Tell me something...it's still "We, the people"... right?
This article on Slashdot is itself paid marketing.
I'm glad so many people are getting something they apparently really want. I never personally understood what the attraction to Halo is. Always seems so paper thin.
Look, Zonk is obviously being disingenuous to say there's been no marketing for Halo 3. It's unbelievably innaccurate.
But he skews it for a reason. Similarly, Sony is at fault for Rockstar screwing up, etc etc etc. He skews Sony for a reason, too.
Remember when the PC World editor quit because he was asked to be dishonest in favor of advertisers? Why would anyone assume that hasn't been attempted here too? Only difference is, no editor quit.
This is a fun little site, but it has squandered its journalistic independence for a quick buck. There was that story a year back that Microsoft had given Zonk all those gifts... I can't recall all of it, but he got that huge plasma... Isn't it a very unprofessional to accept payment like that and then repeatedly bash competitors?
Sony would do the same too, I'm sure, if they had gotten tot he apple first. It's not that I prefer one company to another, but as a gamer, I know that the last thing I want it Microsoft ruining this industry. Games need innovation. Microsoft wants to slow innovation so it can run periodic subscription based services and make its shareholders a hell of a lot of cash. It will ruin this industry if Microsoft wins (and frankly, nintendo isn't in the serious game industry right now, but hopefully will be later on, they are in the Mario rehash, kiddie, and casual industry). Serious gamers have only two current gen consoles to chose from, and I hope people understand how much better it would be for Sony to dominate.
Look at what happened when Sony dominated with the PSone and PS2. Games everywhere! Creativity! Rich programmers! It's not going to be like that if MS wins. It wasn't like that when Nintendo was winning (remember how third parties were only allowed to sell 5 games a year so Nintendo could establish a couple of big characters and maximize profit? Sony acts differently.)
Too bad the PS3 costs $1354134513451345. But we all know that it was better to be a PS2 owner than an original XBOX owner, and I'm pretty sure the same will be true this generation, though MS has Slashdot's help with marketing.
What the hell makes the guy above you a shill? That he doesn't like Halo? Are you insane? Is Slashdot just a place where everything that could possibly be construed as Sony support = Sony shill?
It's a terrible game! And the Beta isn't that far from the game itself. The beta was just marketing.
And Halo is decidedly going to be uglier and certainly going to offer last gen level online support. It has taken no creative departure at all from the last two games. Look at Metal Gear Solid. That game has taken interesting departures each generation. It's a shame this next game is limited to the PS3, because it's going to be well crafted and interesting (I'm sure in a few years at most it will be ported like everything else is).
There are better XBOX 360 games. The parent simply pointed out that this is a great example of idiots buying things they are told to buy. You see it movies and you see it in Music, hell Sony is likely far worse about this in the aggregate (I'm sure you think I'm a fucking shill for disagreeing with you paranoid ass). Halo just isn't an interesting game. All the points you give to Halo are either simply crap or exist in any decent FPS. Too bad you're drinking the Cool-Aid!