Kotaku: NYC Halo 3 Launch

The Ride Of The Mongeese

Mike Fahey — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 12:00:37 MDT

I apologize for the ever-so-slightly crappy nature of this video, as I had to keep dancing on and off the sidewalk because of 'the man'. What you are seeing is the trio of Marines, each riding a Mongoose ATV, escorting the shining Halo 3 Hummer to the front doors of the NYC Best Buy amidst loud cheers from the fans and even louder Halo music and Larry Hryb narration. This is how the launch ends.

Finish The Launch

Mike Fahey — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 11:40:51 MDT

Midnight slowly approaches, and the festivities ramp up. Everywhere camera crews are coaxing large groups of players to shout, trying to punctuate their local news stories with the old cheering crown trick. The Mountain Dew people are there every time I turn around, passing around their cough syrup-flavored beverage. As hip-hop artists play Halo 3 inside, line sitters hold up signs making rude assumptions about the diet of a certain Florida lawyer. A group of guys are wandering around wearing GTA IV t-shirts, handing out posters and having people pose with them at the H3 launch. Good times are being had by all, but that clock is ticking...

Outside the Best Buy, security guards begin clearing a path from the street to the door, and everyone assumes that Master Chief is going to arrive in some spectacular fashion, but we were wrong. Master Chief suddenly appears in the store with Larry Hryb, and after a few moments he signals that it is time. Time for what?

Engines rev somewhere down the street, and around the corner come three marines, riding Mongooses. Mongeese? Either way, they look extremely cool. Then another engine revs, and in comes...a highly decorated Hummer. Damn, we were really hoping for the Warthog, but you take what you can get. Master Chief comes out of the store to sign off on the symbolic crate of Halo 3 games, and the selling begins. As the first two in line take the stage, a special guest comes up with them. It's Ludacris, who is there simply for the fact that "Hey everybody, it's Ludacris!" He doesn't really even say much of anything...he's just there to lend the game some street cred. Lovely.

The night begins to wind down and I start looking for a cab to take me to the airport so I can return to Atlanta, where my copy of Halo 3 was waiting for me. As I reflected on the events of the day, I realized that I just experienced the game industry's version of TRL. People lining the streets, random hip hop artists and athletes stopping by, PR and marketing people working the crowd - it was a spectacle of marketing and promotion done the way only Microsoft could do it.

Finally, it is done.

Master Chief Arrives Early

Mike Fahey — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 02:30:29 MDT

It was between 2 and 3 PM when Master Chief showed up at the NYC Halo launch, but this was no corporate-sponsored guy in a suit. This Master Chief was painstakingly crafted by a fan (and Kotakuite!) over the course of a year, using fiberglass, paint, and a whole lot more motivation than I can muster to come up with something pretty damn awesome. By the time Microsoft's Master Chief showed up at 20 minutes to midnight, his arrival didn't pack the punch they were expecting. As far as the people in line were concerned, he had been there for hours.

Darkness Falls

Mike Fahey — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 21:00:30 MDT

It's gotten dark in New York City, and I sit in a Starbucks down the street from the Best Buy, having officially drunken more coffee today than in the past five years in ordefr to secure this as a Kotaku field office. The crowd is growing thick as the hour draws closer, with as many curious onlookers as there are people actually waiting for the game. So far the celebrities have been limited to NY Jets football players, whom I couldn't name if I tried though there was a large blonde man we have nicknamed Thor. Adam Sessler and Morgan Webb are on hand to cover things for G4, so I took a picture covering them covering the event, as well as a pair of interesresting shoes and Bungie's Frankie concentrating furiously while taking a turn at playing the game.

Brought To You By Orange Sick

Mike Fahey — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 20:30:57 MDT

It's weird. Everyone at the Halo 3 launch here in NYC pretty much agrees that Mountain Dew Game Fuel is the most hideous thing to ever come out of the Mountain Dew scientists. At best, it's a mix of Code Red and Livewire. At worst, regurgitated original Mountain Dew mixed with Hostess cherry pies. Even so, they show up at the event and start handing out free shirts, doling out shot glasses full of the insidious liquid via marketing temps with ginormous backpacks, and suddenly everyone's going crazy. I had two cups myself. Two! I think you need to drink at least four to rank a free t-shirt, honoring your courage in the face of adversity. They even had 'Respawn' stations set up, where women were available to rub the kinks out of your hand, a statement that seems somehow jumbled, but really isn't.

Not Entirely True

Mike Fahey — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 19:33:49 MDT

Meet Alex. Alex is the second guy in line at the Halo 3 launch here in NYC. If you remember from earlier, I told you the first guy in line got there at 6PM yesterday. Those of you mathematically inclined might have already pieced this together. Alex was standing there, minding his own business, when someone handed him this orange sign and asked him to hold it up. It's been photographed, videotapes, and has appeared on the giant monitors outside of the Best Buy. The image will probably appear in local papers and on TV news stations later this evening. It's not entirely a lie, really. Alex has almost been in line for 24 hours, and 50% is totally considered almost in some countries. Silly PR peoples.

Oh Hell No

Mike Fahey — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 18:30:53 MDT

Screw this. I didn't sign up to have my soul devoured by a marauding hell-beast masquerading as a creepy-ass fast food mascot character. You guys can just imagine the rest of the NYC Halo 3 launch. I'm getting the hell out of here before it eats me.

A Best Buy Transformed

Mike Fahey — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 15:00:03 MDT

At first I wasn't sure I would be able to find the Best Buy that was holding the Halo 3 launch event in New York. After all, it is very big city, and I am a southern boy at heart. As you can see from this gallery, Microsoft and Bungie made it very, very hard to miss. Every window in store is emblazoned with Halo 3 pictures and logos, with one window sporting a selection of Halo action figures. The line itself, containing all of seven people when I got here, was set up outside the store, partially blocking a normally busy street. The other side of said street was also partially blocked by trailers and Halo 3 The Ride: The Car: Pontiac Special Edition. Inside the store is a mess of stages, lighting scaffolds, video cameras and monitors as Microsoft and G4 take over a corner of the Best Buy, hosting competitions for fabulous prizes. Larry 'Major Nelson' Hryb is on hand to help host the festivities and generally pretty up the place. If you squint your eyes and imagine the smell of excitement as you thumb through the gallery below, you could almost believe you were here with us.

First!

Mike Fahey — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 13:30:09 MDT

This fine young man is the first in line at the Best Buy on 5th Avenue in NYC, the site of the official Halo 3 launch in the northeast. He arrived last night around 6PM, spending the night in happy Manhattan for the chance to be the first to get his hands on Bungie's opus. He's also a regular Kotakuite, who goes by the comment handle Unndunn. With such outstanding Kotaku representation at the event, why am I even here? The answer is simple. Volume. Unndunn probably won't be seeing this for awhile, as he's busy being interviewed, reinterviewed, photographed, and videotaped by various media outlets. Then after midnight he will be dissected on live television to help us understand the Halo phenomenon. Go UnnDunn!