Halo 3 Prelaunch Party
September 26th, 2007 by timbotronWhen?: September 24th, 2007
Where?: The Microsoft Hall of Doom, Silicon Valley
What?: The HALO 3 Prelaunch Party
Who?: Blogadilla “reporter in the field” – James
Why?: ’cause it’s cool.
Here’s James’ report:
“This last Monday evening, I was lucky enough to be invited by Microsoft to the longest commercial I’ve ever been privileged to partake in. The interesting thing about it being that everyone there was already going to buy the damn product they were hocking. I speak of course of Halo 3, that dastardly game that has taken over the airwaves (as well as the inter-tubes) for a few weeks now, and is at this very moment hogging precious time on beautiful HD TVs the world over.
I attended a pre-launch party for this game-of-games, and it was an… interesting experience. First let me say that after having looked at some coverage of other pre-launches around the world, this one kinda sucked. There was some delicious food, and even more delicious beer (thank you Tide house, even though your bartender did try to sell me on it. Why the hell would I ask for an Ironwood if I don’t already like it?), but none of the huge excitement of the others. Sorry for the bad quality photos, my phone was having a bad day; please bear with me. Here (A) is what it looked like when I walked up. (click to enlarge)
This line carried a few dozen back, and took about 5 minutes or so to get through. Obviously we’re not talking the standard late-teen to college crowd, but rather the Silicon Valley tech geeks we all know and love.
I was soon presented with a sticker proudly showing my name, as well as instructions that I was to be escorted at all times, presumably so as to not abscond with a 360, and led into their cafeteria. At this point I was too overcome by hunger to take pictures, but I can tell you, this was a pretty nice feast put out. Good quality sausages, hamburgers, tapas pizzas with prosciutto and figs, a nacho bar, beer, a sno-cone machine, and cases upon cases of “Gamer Fuel,” an item which, I believe, is Microsoft’s first entrance into the food industry. (Back to the software guys) After I had my fill, I proceeded to the tournament registration table (more on this later). After a few minutes of total incompetence concerning how many people were allowed in the tourney, I got signed up and went upstairs.
Now, while I was in the cafeteria and surrounds, I was actually a bit surprised about the lack of Halo swag. Yes, there were posters of this (B) kind.
But overall, a bit subdued. Once I did go upstairs however, things rapidly changed.
I shit you not, there were Microsoft people every ten feet or so handing out t-shirts, small posters, and the like. There was also the Tournament Room which, I must say, was pretty well done. Nice lighting, tons of the afore-mentioned posters, and about 30 stations of Halo 3 set up. Here’s a really bad shot (C) of one small corner of the room.
Down the hall was a fondue fountain, more beer, a cotton candy machine (I guess tech geeks like fair food?), and the best Guitar Hero II room I’ve ever seen (D). Seriously, this shit was awesome! Sadly, do to the nature of the Halo-fever sweeping most of the people here, and the poor placement of this room, hardly anyone was there, as you can see. This turned out well for me however, as I got one of those 7 foot cloth posters of my very own for owning some fool on ‘Tonight I’m Gonna Rock You Tonight.’
In all my GHII excitement, I missed my tournament slot, damn those rock gods! I did, however, get to play in some of the open play rooms that were sprinkled around the place. These were a pretty ugly affair, with projectors in cramped meeting rooms, but hey, I got to play the game I came to play, and without the pressure to actually beat someone (E).
So, final thoughts: Microsoft’s Silicon Valley Campus is ridiculously nice, with beautiful artwork all over the place, and some of the nicest bathrooms I’ve ever seen. They know how to feed and entertain tech geeks, which isn’t saying a whole lot. A fun even to go to, and some decent swag to be had, but a little disappointing over all. I was promised a survey to fill out today, and entrance in a contest to win a Halo edition 360, but as with most things Microsoft, this release got a bit delayed.
(Master Chief is watching you masturbate (F)).
