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One Billionth Halo 3 Game Played

Posted by Soulskill on from the master-chief-is-a-busy-man dept.

adeelarshad82 writes "Bungie recently announced that Halo 3 has served its 1 billionth game. It's an important milestone which Halo 2 failed to reach. The billionth game was played at 6:36 PM PST last Saturday and lasted three minutes and 19 seconds. The total amount of active match time exceeds 64,000 years." Frank O'Connor, director of the Halo franchise, also made comments recently teasing future Halo games.

50 comments

  1. That's funny by Sethus · · Score: 0

    I think I got my billionth Double Kill the other day too.

    Booya.

    --
    Posting with out proof reading since 2001.
    1. Re:That's funny by Spy+der+Mann · · Score: 3, Funny

      I think I got my billionth Double Kill the other day too.

      Amateur. Call me when you get your trillionth Double Kill.

      - Chuck Norris

    2. Re:That's funny by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Chuck Norris got a double kill, a triple kill, a killtacular, and a running riot at the same time with one shot.

  2. 1 Billionth Burger? by mackinaw_apx+ · · Score: 1

    Mmm... sort of reminds me of fast food. One Billionth served... I wonder how long it took someone to eat the 1 Billionth hamburger?

    1. Re:1 Billionth Burger? by iYk6 · · Score: 1

      Except that it makes sense that McDonald's is able to count how many hamburgers they serve. They can check receipt records. But there is no way that Microsoft can monitor every single Halo 3 game.

    2. Re:1 Billionth Burger? by not+already+in+use · · Score: 1

      Something tells me you're not being sarcastic.

      --
      Similes are like metaphors
    3. Re:1 Billionth Burger? by Walpurgiss · · Score: 1

      I assume that while Halo3 probably runs matches on one of the clients, rather than running a server, the lobby/game searching feature is probably centralized.

      Thus they don't have to monitor anything except some count made by the lobby server that keeps track of how many game match-ups it creates that get played.

      So like McDonalds can check receipts, I'm sure MS can check server logs, and probably this is automated for them.

    4. Re:1 Billionth Burger? by iYk6 · · Score: 1

      I haven't played Halo 3, but according to the Halo 3 Wikipedia article, Halo 3 supports multiplayer via split screen or LAN, just like Halo 1 and 2. Assuming this is true, and I see no reason to believe otherwise, it would be impossible for MS to monitor every single game.

    5. Re:1 Billionth Burger? by Walpurgiss · · Score: 1

      That's true, anything s/s or LAN would not be counted, I think people have pointed out that bungie did not try to include those games in their numbers, so they are celebrating the 1 billionth xbLive matchup..

  3. A more accurate statement would be... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    One Billion Tea-Bagged!

    God, I love Halo. There's nothing like the prepubescent screams of your opponents as you tear their vehicle apart with a handheld turret.

  4. 3 mins 19secs by Hecatonchires · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Isn't that how long most Halo players last in the presence of a woman?

    --

    Yay me!

    1. Re:3 mins 19secs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Isn't that how long most Halo players last in the presence of a woman?

      Win.

    2. Re:3 mins 19secs by u4ya · · Score: 1

      give or take 3 minutes

    3. Re:3 mins 19secs by MooseMuffin · · Score: 4, Funny

      Perhaps. Luckily such a scenario will never occur.

    4. Re:3 mins 19secs by RuBLed · · Score: 1

      It is that long too even if they're all by themselves.

    5. Re:3 mins 19secs by Hogwash+McFly · · Score: 2, Funny

      Yeah, but you are including the three minutes required to put the condom on properly.

      --
      Mother, do you think they'll like this sig?
    6. Re:3 mins 19secs by Walpurgiss · · Score: 1

      Fail. Overshooting their stamina.

  5. wasted time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    i'm glad they broke down the time into days,years,etc so we all know how much time humanity has wasted on this blah game.

    1. Re:wasted time by incognito84 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Yes. Successful games like Halo 3 and the success of films like Harry Potter continually remind me that the general public has very poor taste. Now that I have that out of my system, I'm going to order another Vente coffee and continue writing my screenplay about gay cowboys while pondering why chicks are stupid for not digging tweed jackets with scarves.

  6. 64,000 years? by detox.method() · · Score: 1

    Of course that CPU time could'nt have been spent on anything more productive...

    1. Re:64,000 years? by superdave80 · · Score: 4, Funny

      ...said the man posting on /.

    2. Re:64,000 years? by Cheapy · · Score: 1

      You know, I keep seeing this post everywhere about this topic. Yes it could've been better spent elsewhere, but so could all those hours lost to the internet and crapping.

      --
      Would you kindly mod me +1 insightful?
  7. Hmm... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If Halo 3 has reached it's Billionth game, I wonder where Counterstrike: Source is at right now...

    1. Re:Hmm... by Walpurgiss · · Score: 1

      72,203,447,307.2 games. Roughly quintuple that if you include non-Source CS.

  8. English by Idiomatick · · Score: 1

    64,000 year eh. Even for /. that's pretty bad.

  9. Important milestone? Why? by !coward · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    No, really.. Why? I can easily see that it IS a milestone, sure, but an _important_ one? Why, exactly?

    We're not talking about sales figures here, it's also not a measure of the quality of the title (not that it doesn't have quality, only that "# of multiplayer games served" is hardly a metric for it -- I'm assuming that this is about ONLINE matches, not local single-player ones).. It _could_ mean something in terms of the game's longevity and reaching this mark in 1.5 years could be considered impressive.. But even here, I don't think I've ever seen other publishers announcing the number of online matches played on their games, and how fast they got to THEIR milestones, so again we don't really have that much data to compare this to and therefore no way to determine whether this is indeed impressive or not.

    I mean, I keep thinking of the likes of Counter-Strike (both versions of it), Team Fortress 2, Left 4 Dead, to name a few.. All Steam titles, and they regularly publish extensive statistics for the games they host and yet I've never seen them tout this particular metric.

    I dunno, it sounds like McDonnalds advertising style to me.. In fact the original announcement post pretty much mimmicks that campaign.

    Kudos to Bungie and all, and I can certainly see why THEY are excited, but other than the data they've provided for Halo 2, we really don't have enough to say whether this is truly impressive or just deserving of a lukewarm "well done".

    1. Re:Important milestone? Why? by Xest · · Score: 1

      I'd say a possibility is because there are still a shit load of people out there who aren't keen on the idea of playing online and to rack up these kind of hours is likely evidence that online play is becoming something more people feel they can partake in.

      I don't play online games much on consoles but Halo 3 is one of the few I have played online along with CoD4, CoD5, GRAW2.

      On the PC we have things like WoW which has no doubt racked up far, far more hours of course and probably even Counterstrike did, but we're talking about a market specifically aimed at online play there. I'd say it's a testament of the fact they've developed a game that millions (about 8 million in fact) bought to play through single player but have also implemented a multiplayer mode that many of those otherwise single player or coop only types felt they can have a go at too.

    2. Re:Important milestone? Why? by fyrewulff · · Score: 1

      It's notable because Halo 2 never hit it, and it's been up for 4 years now. It's currently sitting at 798 million.

      Also, 1 billion games recorded is quite an accomplishment for any game.

      --
      "We need to get over this notion, that, for Apple to win... Microsoft must lose." - Steve Jobs, 1997
  10. what could we do in 64,000 man hours ? by RGRistroph · · Score: 1

    What could have been done instead in 64,000 man hours of focused attention ? I bet Slashdot has an even greater negative effect on our nation's productivity.

    1. Re:what could we do in 64,000 man hours ? by Kral_Blbec · · Score: 1

      Watched 64,000 hours of spongebob? Seriously, consider the population that plays this.

    2. Re:what could we do in 64,000 man hours ? by chammy · · Score: 1

      64,000 YEARS if I read the summary right

    3. Re:what could we do in 64,000 man hours ? by shawb · · Score: 2, Interesting

      That's not 64,000 man hours. That's 64,000 man YEARS. About half a billion man hours. And that's not even including campaign mode, custom maps, waiting around in the lobby, reading FAQs and hint guides, making and watching machinimas on Youtube, and even more..

      --
      I'll never make that mistake again, reading the experts' opinions. - Feynman
    4. Re:what could we do in 64,000 man hours ? by revengebomber · · Score: 4, Funny

      Well, considering the average Halo player, you could probably get a LOT of coloring done.

      --
      09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
      45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
    5. Re:what could we do in 64,000 man hours ? by Walpurgiss · · Score: 1

      And only 15-20% outside the lines.

  11. yay, MS marketing crap by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Every product MS has ever made and sold they crow about the 100, 1000, or millionth item sold/downloaded.

    This story is marketing tripe...

  12. active match time exceeds 64,000 year. by Orionn2000au · · Score: 1

    Stop talking like a farmer.

  13. Geez... by feepness · · Score: 1

    They gotta come out with some new games...

  14. 64,000 Year(s) by Bloodmoon1 · · Score: 1

    Aside from the obvious grammar error, that's more time than recorded human history by a factor of... I don't know, 12? 14? Whatever, I'm not a math major. Imagine if all of those people had done something worth a god damn instead...

    --

    Request: ECM unit, 1000 km fullerene cable, 1 tactical nuclear weapon. Reason: Birthday party for foreign dignitary.
    1. Re:64,000 Year(s) by N1AK · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Like complained about all the time wasted posting and reading posts on Slashdot? People get born, live a little and then die. There is no secret formula to define true success, though some people will equate it with exploration and some others will equate it with living a satisfied life. If people want to use time (likely relaxation time anyway) to play games then so be it.

    2. Re:64,000 Year(s) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Presumably most of them were having fun. Isn't enjoying life worth the greatest god damn of them all?

    3. Re:64,000 Year(s) by Bloodmoon1 · · Score: 1

      Halo does not = success in any way. I'll cop to playing a few games, but really, it gets old after a bit. And after they redid the ranking system, I think everyone I knew that played the game quit.

      --

      Request: ECM unit, 1000 km fullerene cable, 1 tactical nuclear weapon. Reason: Birthday party for foreign dignitary.
  15. That can't be right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If I'm not mistaken, the average match time is then 64000 * 365 * 24 * 60 / 10^9 = 33.6 minutes?

    1. Re:That can't be right by luke2063 · · Score: 1

      33 minutes divided by number of players in the match, which varies from match to match

  16. Count LAN Parties? by Secret+Agent+Man · · Score: 1

    I'm sure HALO/2 reached this number through the sheer amount of LAN/offline matches played. Sure know my group of friends contributed significantly, anyway.

  17. Halo 3 does NOT serve though. by ifrag · · Score: 1

    Of course Microsoft is too cheap to setup servers that actually run the game on their end, which would benefit everyone by having a more ideal point of contact for all players. The matchmaking service is only matchmaking. The game itself is actually Peer to Peer, which of course causes lag when the best peer isn't very good. Even worse, it's probably more like the best peer with the proper ports forwarded. And when the host leaves the game needs to iterate back through that process to pick the next best peer, which might also be bad. So Halo 3 has linked it's billionth set of peers, which served themselves.

    --
    Fear is the mind killer.
    1. Re:Halo 3 does NOT serve though. by Drumforyourlife · · Score: 1

      I serve myself, but I simply refuse to serve my peers. :P

  18. oh boy. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Now if only it were a worthwhile game.

  19. 4000 empire state buildings by goombah99 · · Score: 1

    So that's about as many man hours as it would take to build every skyscraper in the world.

    One is tempeted to snark something like "what a waste of manpower" but chances are those folks would not be puting that lost time to productive use but instead idle hands would find the devils work. So perhaps another way to say this is that something like a billion petty crimes were prevented.

    --
    Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
    1. Re:4000 empire state buildings by SupremoMan · · Score: 1

      So you say all people who don't work 16 hour days, 7 days a week are wasting time? People have free time, and what they do with it is none of your fuckin' business.