Why, Halo There

Welcome back. It's time for the first article in a semi-bi-annual series called, "What's up with the Halos?"

So...

What's up with the Halos?

Unless someone mailed you to Bolivia and you've been hiking through miles of treacherous rain forest to make it back home to your cat Mr. Finkleshucks, you've probably heard of a little game that came out last week called Halo: Reach.

I bought this game - and as it turns out, my purchase put the title over the $200 million mark in sells during its 24 hour launch period. This is the most money ever generated by a game launch.

So yeah, it's kind of a big deal.

What made Reach so popular? Was it the marketing machine that pumped out wave after wave of advertising and promotions? Was it the fact this will be the final Bungie-developed Halo game? Was it the buzz generated by the multi-player beta that's been running for months now?

Actually, no, it was something entirely different. And it makes my blood boil. BUBBLE BUBBLE BUBBLE!!!!!

A week ago today I was sitting at work with the familiar hype-tingle I sometimes get when a big game comes out. By this point, I had already decided to buy the game - when the hype-tingle tingles, there's no escaping. All that was left was to decide where to make my purchase.

Gamestop crossed my mind and I of course blacked out, waking up sometime later surrounded by bodies and destroyed property. About that time I caught glimpse of an ad from Best Buy, which told me I could get a $20 gift card for pre-ordering Reach.

It's against my religion to pre-order a game but nonetheless I was kind of shocked at such a good deal. I give you $60, you give me a game and $20 back? MADNESS! Still, I didn't have enough time to run by Best Buy. I shed a single tear at my misfortune and went on with life.

The next day, and I'm somewhat ashamed at mentioning this since it's so lame, I went to... Toy's R Us... and bought the game. This made me feel good, since I've got a lot of great memories of hitting up the Giraffe store as a kid and grabbing that slip of paper for the game I wanted, running to the front to give it to the creepy guy behind the glass.

To make it even better, for some reason they didn't have Reach on the floor, so I got to relive those memories! I tried to regale the young lady at the register with stories of my youth but as she slid her hand toward the panic button I got the hint to shut up.

Anyhoo, I got home and played the game, had a great time, yada yada yada... the end.

But not really! Why did Reach sell so much, why is my blood boiling (BUBBLE BUBBLE)?! Because the next day I went to Walmart and discovered that they too had a Reach promotion. They were giving away $20 gift cards as well!

Except there was no pre-ordering involved. You just bought the game and they handed you the goods.

My Vader-like shout of "NOOOOooooooOOOOoooooOo!!1!!" rocked shelves throughout the store. Man, I hate missing out on a good deal. :'-(

So, I wonder why Reach broke the records...you think it might have something to do with two of the worlds largest retailers giving free money away to buy it? I don't want to take anything away from such a great game but really?

Whatevs, I guess. Dear game retailers - please pay me to play games more often. Thanks!

Read my next post or the only pre-ordering perk you'll ever get is a swift kick in the pants. Swift as in a 67 mph brown rocket straight to the kiester. Squirt some tears, fancy!