TECHNOLOGY
Midnight at The Gamestop
For the past two years, the gaming world has been watching for the release
of Microsoft’s Halo2 like a farmer watches the sky during a drought,
listening to every distant rumble until one day the clouds finally rain down
a roaring torrent of ecstatic, chaotic jubilation.
To experience that joy, all you had to do was make your way to the nearest video game store last Tuesday where video game fans stood in lines for hours to be the first on their block to own Halo2 and, at the end of the day, by purchasing 2.5 million copies, give Microsoft a record $125 million for the privilege.
Halo2, no surprise, is the sequel to Halo, the original man-on-a-mission first person shooter (FPS) game that two years ago launched Microsoft’s Xbox game console. In the game world, consoles can run $300 apiece, inducement enough to convince Microsoft to spend two years developing Xbox as a competitor to the more established Sony Playstation 2. But consoles without games are like guns without bullets. And for the longest time, Halo was pretty much Microsoft’s only bullet.
“Sure, you’ve got a hard drive and more rendering power,” my Playstation friends would say (you have to know my friends), but we’ve got the fun games.” And they were, for the most part, right. But Halo -– developed by Chicago’s own Bungie Software – was exclusively ours.
Even if Halo were the only game ever developed anywhere for all time, I would die a happy camper because I have played it. I have played on all four levels of difficulty, explored the nuances of various gameplay styles, defeated exponentially more complex artificial intelligence modules, and competed with and against my friends in multiplayer matches.
As Master Chief, I have faced down the menace of the Covenant Alien forces, survived the Mutant Flood and, yes, saved our quadrant of the galaxy by destroying the game’s diabolical Halo (which is, how do I say this, a giant, hula-hooped cosmic time bomb designed to go off anytime you get near victory.)
I have played alone and at the office, where my colleagues and I have hooked up 3 or 4 consoles at our desks and blasted away at each other for hours on end. Except for the fact that Halo didn't support Xbox Live, my gaming world was just about perfect -- until word started filtering out about Halo2.
In the two years since the original Halo appeared, games for the Xbox have caught up with the competition available on PS 2. But overhanging every new game were reports that Bungie (now a subsidiary of Microsoft) was working on a killer Halo sequel that would put them all to shame. Halo wasn’t giving up the top spot in gamedom easily.
Starting about a month ago, the blitz from Microsoft began in earnest. Gamer sites began posting tantalizing previews (you mean we can play as the Aliens!!??) and predictions that we could now play not only against each other, but the also against whole world through the magic of the internet.
There was a report on one website that some retailers in France were releasing their top-secret copies of Halo2 two weeks early. Before I could get a plane ticket, another website said Microsoft was threatening massive fines for anyone who broke the embargo.
The official release date was set for Tuesday, November 9, and as the day of glory approached, network and cable news shows began speculating whether the opening gross for Halo2 could possibly be greater than “The Incredibles” (it was by $55 million.) Hollywood types talked about video games as the new cinema, and there were the inevitable warnings that there might not be enough supply to meet the demand.
The week before the release, I went to the GameStop down the road to place my order for a copy. The pimply-faced sales clerk informed me that I had two options. I could lay down a $5 deposit and pay the balance on pickup, or I could pay the full $50 retail price in advance and be placed in the VIP line on opening day.
“There’s going to be a line?” I asked.
“We’re opening the store at midnight on Monday night. We’re anticipating quite the rush,” he said. “We’ve never opened for a release like this before, but this is Halo2.”
“VIP, huh? That sounds like my kind of line.” Fifty bucks lighter, I walked out with the receipt burning a hole in my wallet.
That weekend, I heard more and more about the game. During dinner, a gamer buddy called to let me know that TechTV was running a 30-minute special on Halo2. I told my wife I was considering heading to the GameStop at midnight Monday night, you know, just to get it out of the way.
“Sure, honey,” she said, “and I’m going down to Marshall Fields to camp out for the 13-hour sale.” I nodded and laughed ... but I knew I was going.
I spent the rest of the weekend getting my house Halo ready. If you could really have multiplayer games over the internet, I needed to get my Xbox in the den connected to our cable router in the front office. Wireless adapters are unreliable, so I mapped out a cable run through 40 years of undisturbed spider webs in the basement, then headed off to Menards for a drill, drill bits, cable and cable hangers.
First I drilled the holes, going through two drill bits and severing a phone cable in the process. Then I shoved the $30 cable into the hole, across the ceiling of the basement, up through the floor of my family room, behind a shelving unit and finally into my router. I switched on my Xbox and waited to connect ... Nothing. Bad cable. Fuck.
On Monday, after work, I went back at it with a new cable from CompUSA (the world’s most overpriced computer discount store). I chose a new path through the basement, this time avoiding the phone lines, heater and hot water pipes. Finally, I had it. I turned on my Xbox. Good to go! And it was only 11:30 PM – still 30 minutes left to get down to The Gamestop.
I gingerly slipped on my jacket and tiptoed to the car, then gunned it. By the time I arrived, I was #83 in line -- and that was the VIP line! It didn’t take long to realize the Paid In Full option had been selected by nearly every Halo2 enthusiast in the city, thus making the “crappy” line about four times shorter. But I was stuck.
I called a couple friends who I knew were also waiting in line at their Gamestops. The Southside line was short, so one guy was in and out before I’d even reached the front window. My friend in Wrigleyville, meanwhile, got so caught up in the excitement he didn’t notice when he lost my connection entering the store.
As I waited in line, I found myself sandwiched between a young kid talking on what appeared to be a keychain cellphone and three dudes making up about half a ton of biker meat, and reeking of bourbon. The only woman to be seen anywhere was the girlfriend of the manager, who stood by the front door serving Coke and free fried chicken to us poor souls standing out in the cold.
It was almost 1 AM when I got home with my copy – 1:15 when I cracked into Xbox Live, joined my buddies first Clan and said hello.
“Wulfram” is my gamer tag, and it glowed with readiness in the 'pre-game lobby' screen.
“PumpkinEscobar18” soon logged in as well.
“Grifter33” came on shortly thereafter, and we all joined up with...
“Slayer1480” our Clan leader and, hands down, the biggest Halo2 psychopath I've ever met.
We signed up for a Team Skirmish, where Xbox's servers match up your group with those of similar skill, and started in on our first game. Together, we climbed into our Warthog assault jeep, studying the new terrain maps for clues. From the blips on the radar screen, we could see the enemy creeping up on us, so we decided to divide and conquer.
Several hours later, standing on a battlefield filled with the carnage of fallen aliens, I watched as my clan mates signed off one by one to get ready for work. The sun was peaking in the front window over the hedge. Half-empty coke cans and chicken bones were scattered around the floor. I was still happily blasting away at wave after wave of Covenant Alien scum when I heard a sound behind me. I paused the game and turned to see my wife.
“Hi honey,” I said. “Up so soon?”
She leveled her gaze at me in that way where I can never really tell what she's thinking.
“This won't take more than a minute. I just have to get to a checkpoint.”