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http://yahoo.reuters.com/financeQuo...tfh35280_2004-11-09_09-19-34_n09508174_newsml
Doubling the first one :O :O
Fans throng for first crack at new game "Halo 2"
Tue Nov 9, 2004 04:19 AM ET
By Ben Berkowitz
LOS ANGELES, Nov 9 (Reuters) - It takes a special kind of person to stay up all night and stand in a line nearly 250 people long just to buy a video game -- but for rabid fans of the first "Halo" on the Xbox video game console, it was well worth the wait to buy the new "Halo 2".
"It's just addicting," said Brady O'Connell, 22, a college student who joined hundreds of others late Monday night -- and early Tuesday morning -- at the L.A. pedestrian mall Universal CityWalk for the West Coast launch of the new "Halo."
Over the next three days, in eight languages and 27 countries, Microsoft Corp. (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) will release its most important program of 2004 -- not a new version of Windows or Office, but the epic tale of super-soldier "Master Chief" defending the Earth from a mysterious alien force.
Analysts expect Microsoft could sell as many as 10 million units of "Halo 2," and fans across America were all too happy to help.
"I just wanted to make sure I would get the game," said Mark Rodriguez, 21, an insurance agent who arrived at the Electronics Boutique (ELBO.O: Quote, Profile, Research) store at CityWalk at 10:30 a.m. Monday, a full 13-1/2 hours before the launch.
Rodriguez played the original "Halo" for "about two years, eight hours a day, like a regular job."
The crowd that joined him to wait for the gam
e was mostly young men in their teens and 20s, though a handful of toddlers and more than a few adults also took spots in the line. The store had at least 180 copies of the game on shelves, with hundreds more said to be in inventory.
But even before the game went on sale on the west coast, fans were already hard at work fighting the evil alien Covenant. Cam Ferroni, general manager of Microsoft's Xbox Live online game service, said Live broke its one-day record for most concurrent users in the hours after the first "Halo 2" releases worldwide.
"PRIDE"
While fans queued for a shot at the game, the development team from Bungie Studios celebrated the end of three years of development work at a party in Seattle.
"Pride" was how Bungie Studio Manager Pete Parsons described his emotions in the hours leading up to the game's launch. A core team of 65 worked on the project, helped by 8,000 Microsoft employees worldwide who helped test it.
"We spend all of our time making the game we want to make and hoping people will like it a lot," Parsons said.
People certainly liked the last thing he did -- the original "Halo," released around the Xbox launch in late 2001, sold more than 5 million copies.
With 1.5 million pre-orders at about $50 each, "Halo 2" is almost certain to generate bigger sales than the movie "The Incredibles," which made $70.7 million at the box office over the past weekend in the biggest three-day opening Walt Disney Co. (DIS.N: Quote, Profile, Research) has ever had.
More than 7,000 stores planned to open their doors seconds after midnight on Tuesday to sell the game.
"I'd say 60 percent penetration on the console is a good number, so you're looking at 10 million copies worldwide," said Michael Pachter, a games industry analyst at Wedbush Morgan Securities, estimating about half would be sold this month.
Microsoft makes a loss on each Xbox it sells, leaving it to make up the shortfall with software sales. A five million-unit game, even at wholesale prices, can mean hundreds of millions of dollars' revenue.
"It's definitely one of the biggest games of this generation of hardware," said Jeff Gerstmann, senior editor of gaming Web site GameSpot.com. "It doesn't get too much bigger than 'Halo 2.'"
GameSpot gave the game a 9.4 rating out of 10. "Overall, it's one of the very best action games available," the review said.
Doubling the first one :O :O
Fans throng for first crack at new game "Halo 2"
Tue Nov 9, 2004 04:19 AM ET
By Ben Berkowitz
LOS ANGELES, Nov 9 (Reuters) - It takes a special kind of person to stay up all night and stand in a line nearly 250 people long just to buy a video game -- but for rabid fans of the first "Halo" on the Xbox video game console, it was well worth the wait to buy the new "Halo 2".
"It's just addicting," said Brady O'Connell, 22, a college student who joined hundreds of others late Monday night -- and early Tuesday morning -- at the L.A. pedestrian mall Universal CityWalk for the West Coast launch of the new "Halo."
Over the next three days, in eight languages and 27 countries, Microsoft Corp. (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) will release its most important program of 2004 -- not a new version of Windows or Office, but the epic tale of super-soldier "Master Chief" defending the Earth from a mysterious alien force.
Analysts expect Microsoft could sell as many as 10 million units of "Halo 2," and fans across America were all too happy to help.
"I just wanted to make sure I would get the game," said Mark Rodriguez, 21, an insurance agent who arrived at the Electronics Boutique (ELBO.O: Quote, Profile, Research) store at CityWalk at 10:30 a.m. Monday, a full 13-1/2 hours before the launch.
Rodriguez played the original "Halo" for "about two years, eight hours a day, like a regular job."
The crowd that joined him to wait for the gam
e was mostly young men in their teens and 20s, though a handful of toddlers and more than a few adults also took spots in the line. The store had at least 180 copies of the game on shelves, with hundreds more said to be in inventory.
But even before the game went on sale on the west coast, fans were already hard at work fighting the evil alien Covenant. Cam Ferroni, general manager of Microsoft's Xbox Live online game service, said Live broke its one-day record for most concurrent users in the hours after the first "Halo 2" releases worldwide.
"PRIDE"
While fans queued for a shot at the game, the development team from Bungie Studios celebrated the end of three years of development work at a party in Seattle.
"Pride" was how Bungie Studio Manager Pete Parsons described his emotions in the hours leading up to the game's launch. A core team of 65 worked on the project, helped by 8,000 Microsoft employees worldwide who helped test it.
"We spend all of our time making the game we want to make and hoping people will like it a lot," Parsons said.
People certainly liked the last thing he did -- the original "Halo," released around the Xbox launch in late 2001, sold more than 5 million copies.
With 1.5 million pre-orders at about $50 each, "Halo 2" is almost certain to generate bigger sales than the movie "The Incredibles," which made $70.7 million at the box office over the past weekend in the biggest three-day opening Walt Disney Co. (DIS.N: Quote, Profile, Research) has ever had.
More than 7,000 stores planned to open their doors seconds after midnight on Tuesday to sell the game.
"I'd say 60 percent penetration on the console is a good number, so you're looking at 10 million copies worldwide," said Michael Pachter, a games industry analyst at Wedbush Morgan Securities, estimating about half would be sold this month.
Microsoft makes a loss on each Xbox it sells, leaving it to make up the shortfall with software sales. A five million-unit game, even at wholesale prices, can mean hundreds of millions of dollars' revenue.
"It's definitely one of the biggest games of this generation of hardware," said Jeff Gerstmann, senior editor of gaming Web site GameSpot.com. "It doesn't get too much bigger than 'Halo 2.'"
GameSpot gave the game a 9.4 rating out of 10. "Overall, it's one of the very best action games available," the review said.
