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[OG_Original Gamer]

Only thing that worries me is bad copies. 4 mill is a lot of disc to press by Nov 7, which is what I presume would be the deadline. With a game as high profile as Halo2, MS is more than likely making sure theres's some tight quality control going on.

 

[DarienA]

Only thing that worries me is bad copies. 4 mill is a lot of disc to press by Nov 7, which is what I presume would be the deadline. With a game as high profile as Halo2, MS is more than likely making sure theres's some tight quality control going on.

The question is though, IS 4 million alot of discs to press? Do we know what their capacity is? Do we know how many plants they use, etc?

 

[Tortfeasor]

I thought Final Fantasy 7 for the PS1 had more them 1 million preorders, back in the day.

 

[PhatSaqs]

There's only 2 ways MS can possibly screw up Halo 2s launch:

- hire a team full of retards to handle it
- sabbotage

 

[Blazing Sword]

For anyone concerned with shipping, and when retailers get their copies, don't be. HALO 2 is supposed to be a worldwide launch. Which means in order to sell it in places like Europe and especially Australia, they will have had to ship copies days before hand,if not more, to make sure they are ready for the Ninth.

 

[bjork]

I'm going blind. what game is he playing?

I don't know, but that is the strongest table ever.

 

[FinFan]

For anyone concerned with shipping, and when retailers get their copies, don't be. HALO 2 is supposed to be a worldwide launch. Which means in order to sell it in places like Europe and especially Australia, they will have had to ship copies days before hand,if not more, to make sure they are ready for the Ninth.

Europe gets it on the 11th not the 9th.

 

[GhaleonEB]

For anyone concerned with shipping, and when retailers get their copies, don't be. HALO 2 is supposed to be a worldwide launch. Which means in order to sell it in places like Europe and especially Australia, they will have had to ship copies days before hand,if not more, to make sure they are ready for the Ninth.

But it launches on the 11th for most non-US territories.....

That said, with nearly 1,300 EB stores and most Gamestops having midnight sales, I'm pretty confident they will have them on hand, similar to the Project Gotham Racing 2 launch. I read elsewhere that Microsoft was planning to ship to stores on the 6th to ensure that everyone will have them on the 9th.

 

[Project Midway]

Is it true that MS changed the PAL date from 09.11 to 11.11 because 09.11 looks "wrong" to americans? september 11th you know... or is this just a BS rumor?

 

[snapty00]

Is it true that MS changed the PAL date from 09.11 to 11.11 because 09.11 looks "wrong" to americans? september 11th you know... or is this just a BS rumor?

I'm not sure, but I do know one thing: we should make a big deal out of them doing that.

 

[Blazing Sword]

Europe gets it on the 11th not the 9th.

If thats true, I wonder what happened to the 'worldwide release' it was supposed to be?

Either way, an extra two days is not alot of time. The copies will still have to be shipped before the ninth at least a day or two in advance of it.

 

[OG_Original Gamer]

The question is though, IS 4 million alot of discs to press? Do we know what their capacity is? Do we know how many plants they use, etc?

I worked at Panasonics DVD pressing factory for two years in CA. Today there are machines that are used to place the disc, booklet, boxart sleeve in the case that hold them and sometimes these machines can breakdown. There were occasions where we would get a whole spindle of disc that were faulty and had to be trashed.

There were a certain number of employees that would be set aside to do this by hand, its just not as fast as the machines.

Pressing errors do occur also, there would be a wavy texture look on the data side of the disc.

MS should have atleast 3-4 disc pressing and packaging facilities working on this project. Without any serious problems each facility should be able to produce 1-2 million copies in a week.

Wish I working at one of the facilities now, the person that handles quality control would actually get to play the game to ensure that the press was successful.

 

[Ghost]

I thought it was just through fear of idiot UK retailers releasing the game before the US street date.

 

[sonycowboy]

The question is though, IS 4 million alot of discs to press? Do we know what their capacity is? Do we know how many plants they use, etc?

For a single game... of course. However, Sony prints upwards of 10 million units EVERY SINGLE month, big release or no. During the holidays, they print over 50 million units in a month. And as it has been since Nintendo's heyday, guess who gets first in line?

BTW, Sony is currently at ~Approximately 610 million units pressed (as of June 30th) after 51 months. And the units have more than doubled from what they were in 2000/2001, as the userbase has increased.

 

[McFly]

Enter the matrix had 4mill preorders. It only sold 2.5mill because people realised how bad the game was and canceled most of them, but still, that game had 4mill preorders at some point, so this 1mill Halo 2 preorders is by far not a record.

Fredi

 

[Chi-Town]

Okay, after thinking about this...

Preorders are the number of copies stores order

Pre-sales are when people put down a deposit with the intention of buying the game

 

[Blazing Sword]

We are the XBOX...
Lower your Nintendo expectations and surrender your PS2's...
You WILL be Assimilated...
Resistance is Futile

 

[jedimike]

Enter the matrix had 4mill preorders. It only sold 2.5mill because people realised how bad the game was and canceled most of them, but still, that game had 4mill preorders at some point, so this 1mill Halo 2 preorders is by far not a record.

Fredi

Don't you love it when people don't read the thread before replying?

 

[SyNapSe]

Enter the matrix had 4mill preorders. It only sold 2.5mill because people realised how bad the game was and canceled most of them, but still, that game had 4mill preorders at some point, so this 1mill Halo 2 preorders is by far not a record.

Fredi

Once again, this article is referencing pre-orders on a customer basis. i.e. actual consumer demand. This is not pre-sales based on quantities ordered by retail outlets.

 

[Ghost]

Enter the matrix had 4mill preorders. It only sold 2.5mill because people realised how bad the game was and canceled most of them, but still, that game had 4mill preorders at some point, so this 1mill Halo 2 preorders is by far not a record.

Fredi

4 Mill was the initial shipment, it was not the number of pre-orders.

 

[PhatSaqs]

Ok quit owning me...

IAWTP

 

[DarienA]

Okay, after thinking about this...

Preorders are the number of copies stores order

Pre-sales are when people put down a deposit with the intention of buying the game

From the news article:

"About 1 million copies of "Halo 2" have been pre-ordered so far, making it the highest presale in the history of video games, the company said yesterday."

 

[Deku Tree]

Is preordering games as prevalent in Japan though?

I think consumers preorder games in Japan... does anyone know how many consumer preorders or 'pre-sales' there were for Dragon Quest VII in Japan?

 

[Drexon]

Ugh, I get so frustrated sometimes. Told my friend this news and he was all "lol@you, only kids will buy fps games", so I'm like "nonono, the target audience on this game is 16+ and I think the median age will be 19-20", and then I realized he was just another fpsofobe. -_- And when I think about it None of my friends want Halo 2, or even an Xbox. I dunno, It's just so frustrating convincing someone of something that you _know_ and just not making it.

 

[IJoel]

Ugh, I get so frustrated sometimes. Told my friend this news and he was all "lol@you, only kids will buy fps games", so I'm like "nonono, the target audience on this game is 16+ and I think the median age will be 19-20", and then I realized he was just another fpsofobe. -_- And when I think about it None of my friends want Halo 2, or even an Xbox. I dunno, It's just so frustrating convincing someone of something that you _know_ and just not making it.

Ditch your friends.

GAF on Xbox Live.







I kid, of course.

 

[SolidSnakex]

I think consumers preorder games in Japan... does anyone know how many consumer preorders or 'pre-sales' there were for Dragon Quest VII in Japan?

I remember it having atleast 2million pre orders. It sold through that in 3 days (which is how long it took Enix to ship that amont).

 

[Deku Tree]

preorders @ 750k according to these numbers

http://www.gamespot.com/xbox/action/halo2/news_6109802.html

 

[DopeyFish]

the presells for EBgames customers was over 500,000 a few months ago.

and that's JUST EBgames.

 

[sonycowboy]

the presells for EBgames customers was over 500,000 a few months ago.

and that's JUST EBgames.

NOT.

EBGames only accounts for ~10% of the US video game sales. While they do get a higher percentage of preorder sales, they aren't at 50% of preorders, not even close. And don't say that preorders are actually much higher than 1 million (although, they will continue to grow), as Microsoft would clearly trumpet this all over the place.

Also, at 10% of the industry, which is where they will settle into through the Holidays, let's say that sell twice their preorders, which would be 1 million. That would be 10 million copies of Halo 2 would be sold this year. Not going to happen.

That number is beyond ridiculous.

 

[IJoel]

By Chris Kohler, GameSpot POSTED: 10/06/04 04:21 PM

WHY!?

 

[Kobun Heat]

WHY!?

Just to spite you, obviously.

 

[SyNapSe]

Just to spite you, obviously.

haha!

 

[DarienA]

So the gamespot article confirms the one million price is an over-guesstimate AND it confirms that the XBL arcade games WILL be priced between $10 and $20 each.

Hmmmm

 

[IJoel]

Just to spite you, obviously.

RATS!

I knew you were maliciously laughing on the other side of the net!

 

[GhaleonEB]

NOT.

EBGames only accounts for ~10% of the US video game sales. While they do get a higher percentage of preorder sales, they aren't at 50% of preorders, not even close. And don't say that preorders are actually much higher than 1 million (although, they will continue to grow), as Microsoft would clearly trumpet this all over the place.

Also, at 10% of the industry, which is where they will settle into through the Holidays, let's say that sell twice their preorders, which would be 1 million. That would be 10 million copies of Halo 2 would be sold this year. Not going to happen.

That number is beyond ridiculous.

While I agree with you overall point, pre-orders are not evenly distributed throughout the retail spectrum. I don't think Wal-Mart or Target will have the same proportion of preorders as EB or GameStop. Likewise, Best Buy and Circuit City. Thus I would not be surprised to see EB have, say, 15-20% of preorders, though only 10% of total game sales.

 

[op_ivy]

Ditch your friends.

GAF on Xbox Live.







I kid, of course.

speaking of which, has anyone set up a GAF clan? can you even do that yet at seventhcolumn?

 

[TekunoRobby]

Microsoft has decided to clear up this mess:
http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/10/06/news_6109802.html

"Whether or not this constitutes "the highest presale in the history of video games" is also disputed. Some reports put preorders for 2002's Grand Theft Auto: Vice City at more than 4 million, but Microsoft asserts that to its knowledge, the title "did not presell more than 1 [million] units." The discrepancy probably arises from the two different definitions of "preorder." One definition involves retailers' orders, while the other involves customers whose money has been put down in advance of a game's release."

 

[Alcibiades]

Microsoft has decided to clear up this mess:
http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/10/06/news_6109802.html

"Whether or not this constitutes "the highest presale in the history of video games" is also disputed. Some reports put preorders for 2002's Grand Theft Auto: Vice City at more than 4 million, but Microsoft asserts that to its knowledge, the title "did not presell more than 1 [million] units." The discrepancy probably arises from the two different definitions of "preorder." One definition involves retailers' orders, while the other involves customers whose money has been put down in advance of a game's release."

Still, 750,000 and the commercials haven't even started.

I say an easy 2 million+ sold in November alone at least.

1.5 million that first week.

 

[TekunoRobby]

Still, 750,000 and the commercials haven't even started.

I say an easy 2 million+ sold in November alone at least.

1.5 million that first week.

Oh I agree, this game is going to be an utter monster in sales. It'll get to be 1 million easily before launch, that I'm sure of.

 

[Sai]

speaking of which, has anyone set up a GAF clan? can you even do that yet at seventhcolumn?

Nah, I believe we can only do that through the game.

 

[DopeyFish]

Microsoft has decided to clear up this mess:
http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/10/06/news_6109802.html

"Whether or not this constitutes "the highest presale in the history of video games" is also disputed. Some reports put preorders for 2002's Grand Theft Auto: Vice City at more than 4 million, but Microsoft asserts that to its knowledge, the title "did not presell more than 1 [million] units." The discrepancy probably arises from the two different definitions of "preorder." One definition involves retailers' orders, while the other involves customers whose money has been put down in advance of a game's release."

Microsoft asserts to it's knowledge? or is it supposed to be The Microsoft rep asserts to his knowledge?

 

[PhatSaqs]

That little blurb reads more like damage control than a news item

 

[sonycowboy]

Still, 750,000 and the commercials haven't even started.

I say an easy 2 million+ sold in November alone at least.

1.5 million that first week.

It'll be interesting. San Andreas will only get 5 days of sales in October.

So, will GTA: SA have shot enough of it's load to let Halo 2 be the top seller for November?
GTA:VC essentially sold 1.5 million for each of it's first 3 months.

I think GTA:SA tops for October, Halo on top for November, & GTA:SA regaining the lead for December. Scary numbers.

 

[sonycowboy]

nm. Sucky boards