Halo 3 is set to be released this Fall, but no official date has been announced yet. I decided to look around to see what the estimated release date was going to be, but to my surprise, nearly every place I went gave a different date. The dates ranged from July to November, so your guess is as good as mine, although four of the locations all said November 1st. It makes me wonder where all of these places are getting their dates from, because it’s clearly not Microsoft if they’re all different.
Here’s what I found:
- Toys R Us – July 4, 2007
- Circuit City – September 30, 2007
- Target – November 1, 2007
- Walmart– November 1, 2007
- Amazon – November 1, 2007
- Game Stop - November 1, 2007
- Buy.com – November 15, 2007
- Best Buy – November 15, 2007
Keep in mind, there are three flavors that Halo will come in with prices ranging from $49.99 to $129.99. You still have a few months to determine which version will be best for you if you haven’t already.
The game hasn’t even been released, yet it’s already breaking records. From the looks and sounds of it, Halo 3 could be the most anticipated and best selling video game ever. Many retailers have been accepting pre-orders for the game, and those are selling like crazy.
Just how crazy are they selling? Well Game Stop Corp. alone which includes Game Stop stores, EB Games, and Funcoland have sold over four million pre-orders in North America alone! That doesn’t even include any of the other retailers out there selling them.
To put this into perspective, here are some numbers that define just how big Halo 3 is going to be. When Halo 2 was released, between all the retailers, 1.5 million pre-orders were sold. Thus far, Gears of War has been the best-selling title for Xbox 360, and has sold four million copies worldwide.
If Halo 3 pre-orders continue to sell, Halo 3 will easily out-sell Halo and Halo 2 combined, which is simply amazing. From what I hear, the game is set to impress, and hopefully it does.
Source: Xbox Evolved [via CrunchGear]
I’ve never been able to see what all the hype is about for halo.
I’m a massive gamer (have my copy of crackdown with the halo beta), but halo seems so generic to me. It doesn’t really do anything new (Although I should give halo credit for the recharging shield idea), it’s always seemed like a vanilla shooter, even the story is rather lack luster (when compared to something like half-life).
I’m just not sure what it is that has made this game so popular.
I’ve watched people play it, but I’ve never played it myself, so wouldn’t really know. Maybe a few Halo fans will chime in with why it’s so great?
It’s a fun multiple player game that’s challenging but not impossible to play. The story line is imaginative but easy to follow. Also, You can’t dismiss the classic concept of good v.s. evil; people eat that stuff up. The Master Chief character is one bad *** marine who’s willing to give his life for the good of humanity.
Playing the game is fairly easy. In some games there are way to many possible combination of moves that’s it’s almost impossible to remember all them all. Not in Halo. There are enough to keep it interesting but not too many to get confused. There are a variety of weapons and vehicles but not too many to keep from mastering them all.
There are several different ways to play the game as well. You can play it as a shooter buy your-self or with a friend. You can bring several friends over and play against one another or on team. You can have up to four players per X-Box and you can connect consoles for a total of sixteen players! There are several types of team play as well like, capture the flag, king of the hill and the classic last man standing. You can choose which map you’ll be playing on, customize the types of weapons that will be available and set different rules for the matches. For example, players will randomly turn invisible or your invisible until your killed and the killer takes the invisibility.
There is so many different ways to play the game, the characters are fun, the story line is great, the game play is excellent. Really, there’s isn’t much not to like.
Wait how many Xbox 360’s are there? If there are 4 million proders the % of poeple buying halo 3 will be off the charts!
Retailers make up release dates, and the first of month X is their favourite placeholder date. I get tired of telling people this sometimes.
Even if they have been given details by MS, without official acknowledgement they’re totally free to change it.
I’ve played halo and halo 2, personally I’ll stick to PC shooters, I lost a lot of interest in that franchise when Halo 2 wasn’t released for PC until the near future. Seeing as I have no interest in the XBOX if they don’t release Halo 3 to PC I won’t be purchasing it
I’m all with Cory on why Halo is so great. It is the perfect game for when you get a bunch of people in the room and you are all fighting it out. There’s just so many variations and possibilities of what can be done that it is almost like playing something new each time.
As to why Halo is so great: it’s just fun. The story may not be the best but it’s decent. The feature set may not be so varied but it’s easy to learn. It’s a fun, simple (non-confusing) game with varying difficulty that anyone can find entertaining. It has unmatched co-op gameplay, and the multiplayer is some of the best out there.
As to why Halo 3 will sell better than both Halo 1 and 2: there will be more Xboxes. In its lifetime (four years) the Xbox only sold 24 million units. The Xbox 360 has been out about a year and a half and so far has sold 10 million units. Also, it is expected that many people will by 360s later this year just to play Halo 3. Then there is always the expanded margin of hype that all sequels generate, and the fact that Halo 3 looks much more promising than its predecessor, all of which combine to vastly increase sales.
Why Halo 3 won’t be the best-selling game of all time: GTA4. Grand Theft Auto has always traditionally outsold Halo. With more available platforms and a more mainstream fanbase, GTA has a market advantage. Combined with the fact that GTA4 is a revolution in gaming which promises to be an almost life-like experience, there is no doubt that Rockstar will once again beat Bungie in sales this year.
I am not much of a gamer, but I remember playing the first Halo pre-release at Comdex a long time ago. I have not played since then, but I thought it was an exciting game. Maybe its time I check it out again.
The official Date is – 26th September 2006
[xbox.com]