Hunting 'Ha-' and 'lo' for video game

By Jim Stafford

Published: September 26, 2007

John Hilterman cut his final two hours of classes Monday at Edmond North High School so he could claim some prime sidewalk space outside the GameStop retail store at 2000 W Danforth in Edmond.

"Halo 3,” the shoot-em-up adventure game for Xbox 360 went on sale at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday, and Hilterman and friend Paul Zimmerman, both 17, wanted to be the first to claim their copies for $60 each.

So they showed up almost 12 hours early.

"We've got chairs and drinks and we've been hanging out with these guys here,” Hilterman said, pointing to the GameStop employee who was standing in the doorway of the store.

Of course, he could have meant the 60 or so of his closest friends camped along the sidewalk in a line that snaked around the corner of the strip center.

So, what's to like about "Halo 3”?

"It is ridiculously incredible,” Zimmerman said as he stood next to Hilterman. "It's a multiplayer, online game with amazing graphics and a strong story line.”

Hilterman cut in: "We've been waiting for it for months and months and months.”

Background

Produced by Microsoft subsidiary Bungie Studios exclusively for the Xbox 360, early reviews of "Halo 3” have called it a polished, high-definition, first-person adventure that affords users the chance to play the war game with hundreds of others online.

Microsoft won't divulge exact sales predictions for Halo 3, but seems confident of outdoing the "Spider-Man 3” movie, the summer blockbuster that grossed $151 million in its opening weekend — a comparison the company has embraced.

Released in 2004, "Halo 2” grossed $125 million during the first 24 hours of its release, according to company sales data.

"We know we're going to clear that," Microsoft spokesman Ryan James said.

The sales pitch

For months, the "Halo 3” hype machine has been in overdrive with star-studded events where celebrities effuse about how chic it is to be a "Halo” geek.

Apparently, the hype machine succeeded in driving fans in Oklahoma and elsewhere to local retailers on opening day.

Douglas Massey stood outside the Best Buy store at 2135 W Memorial Road just before 10 a.m. Friday, waiting to claim his pre-ordered copy of the game.

"It's just an amazing video game,” the 19-year-old Massey said as he described his interest in the game. "I think the best element of it is the story. There have been a lot of other video games that have had the same sort of material in them, but it's just the way they present it that makes it so attractive.”

When the store opened, the "Halo 3” game players quickly queued up at the sales counter.

Pushing a shopping cart in the back of the line that contained a toddler and a green plastic "Halo 3” box was a woman who only wanted to be identified as "Tiffany.”

"I don't think my husband wants everybody to know that he plays these games because he's a doctor,” she said.

Ready to play

Back at the Edmond Gamestop, neither Hilterman nor Zimmerman had any such inhibitions.

"I'm going to play all night (tonight) and play all day tomorrow and play all night tomorrow night, and then go back to school the next day,” Hilterman said.

Contributing: The Associated Press

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