Tonight, there are midnight releases for a little Xbox game called “HALO 2,” some of you may have heard of it.
The original HALO was meant for the Mac platform. It followed the Marathon series of games and had many features in common with those earlier games. Both games feature a strong narrative, Artificial Intelligence characters, and a Xenophobic alien race. Not to mention good 3D engines and solid multiplayer gameplay.
Bungie was developing the original HALO for the Mac until they were bought by MicroSoft. Then, nobody had it until it was retooled to be an Xbox exclusive title. Then, they rushed it to meet launch date, and the last few levels suffered for it.
The sequel (also Xbox exclusive) comes out at midnight tonight, at retailers nationwide. Its preorders are estimated at 1.5 million units. 1.5M x $55 = One Metric Fuckton of Money.
I mention this because I’m wondering how many people are going to take the day off tomorrow, or fall ill.
Me? I’ve got this novel to write, although with HALO 2, Half Life 2, and World of WarCraft coming this month, (all one week after another, the 9th, the 16th, and the 23rd) I don’t know if I’m going to make it.
Update: I just did the math. Let’s assume that everyone picks up their copy of HALO 2 tonight. Let’s also assume that people bought the “standard” edition of HALO 2 for $50, and not the “Limited Edition” version for $55. At minimum, HALO 2 will gross $75 million, in ONE NIGHT of sales.
In comparison, the Pixar animated movie, “The Incredibles” opened up last Friday, and in three days, was able to gross $70.6 million.