unforum

[Clayfoot]

Re: Madness. For real.

[Avatrix]

Man, I guess I really did miss out not joining you last night. Actually, I think maybe I'm better off not having been there. What you should have done is started trying to one-up him.
"No no! Noah's Arc was the spaceship! Ezekiel is just the designs for the missles!"

[ironchefmike]

Re: Madness. For real.

[Thumper]

Went to the midnight madness event at EB in Rochester NY. Got there around 11:15, got #73 from the EB employee, and was told to report back in line and get in order around 10 to midnight. Did so, and it was amazingly orderly. No bickering or fighting, to my surprise. But the time midnight rolled around, the crowd had swelled to about 600, about 1/3 of those for Gamestop, and the other 2/3 for EB. Took over an hour just to get through the first 80 people in line for EB.



But I got my LE copy, and can't wait to watch the extras after I get some much needed sleep. I've spent the last 8 hours straight playing Halo 2 on Live, and have managed to get myself up to an experience level of 5.5 or so. Number 603 out of the top 1000 on Bungie.net!

[TridenT]

Well, while my report from last night isn't ironchefmike-tastic, I will go on and say that I had a boatload of fun and a bitter taste in my mouth all at the same time. I showed up at my GameCrazy at about 7:30 (wearing my black GameCrazy-logo t-shirt, no less) and speak with my favorite four people in town, the employees (Especially Steve, the only Aussie in Knoxville, TN, I think... he's the manager). Though small, there was a surprising amount of space in that little store, considering it was already filled to the brim with little kids clamoring.

Why were they clamoring at 7:30pm, you ask? Simple. In thirty minutes, those kids were going to be vying for the top spot in a Halo 1 tourney. The winner got a GameCrazy hat, an Xbox shirt and the Master Chief standee in the window (whenever they take it down, that is). Not a bad prize, considering all the participants were 16 and under. There were 8 XBoxes set up for this, by the way, networked in pairs to allow 16 players with half a screen each.

After the kids' tournament, numbers were again drawn for the multitude of older players who proceeded to appear out of nowhere. This included myself, and I went into the competition thoroughly expecting to take home the big kid prize -- a year's worth of XBox Live.. something I could definitely use come December when my current subscription ends.

I couldn't have been more wrong.

It was double elimination, and for each set of four people, the top two got to move on up. My very first match, I got handled. HARD. The score was something like 25, 18, 9, 3. It got to the point where, as the top player hit 24 kills, I went ahead and chucked some grenades at my own ankles, so that I could at least lay claim to killing someone. Not even my girlfriend's gentle touch at my side could calm my quivering lip. I was upset. Incensed. The winning pairs moved on up, and we losers got to pop on over to the loser's bracket. In my next match, I rampaged Battle Creek to avenge myself. I did well, but only because I was playing the guy who had 9 in my previous match, a little kid, and someone who's obviously beaten H1 on Legendary in one sitting. How that guy was in the loser's bracket, I dunno. I came in second, but I didn't feel good about any of it. So, up I went, but the next match wound up being my last, as I came in third against Uber-guy, and some dude from the winner's bracket.

So.. I made it to the final 8, but I'm very disappointed at the reality of my lack of skill. I was also kinda counting on that Live subscription, because now unless I get it for Christmas all you pals that added me to your Friends list won't ever see me again.

Then at midnight there was selling, lines, etc. I got out and went home, ashamed of myself for even thinking I was any good at Halo.

!behold > TridenT skill
TridenT skill >> confidence 0
!splotch

[Scarr]

[quote="TridenT"]Well, while my report from last night isn't ironchefmike-tastic,[/quote]



sorry i choked on my lunch when i saw that

[Kali]

Public Service Announcement
I'm trying to post this in a bunch of places so that anyone this helps will see it in time.

If you have not yet registered your xboxlive account, wait to do so until you acquire the game. Why? there's a 2 month free trial inside. At least, there was in my Limited Edition. I make no promises as to the regular version. Still, I think it'd be worth waiting to find out

So Trident... You can still join us for the live festivities.

[TridenT]

Yeah, thanks for the PSA, Kali. I remember vaguely pulling the 2 Month thingy out of my LE last night, but I'm pretty certain the memory got lost in the vague cloud of awesome that consumed me thereafter. Ironchefmike reminded me of that earlier... all is not lost... till February, at least.

Didn't mean to choke you, pal, but I -tastic a lot of things, so be wary.

!heimlich Scarr

[KirstenS]

Pretty quiet night for me. My EB started handing out numbers for places in line at 9. I got there at 9:30 and got number 19. Came back to the store at about 11:45, and there were only about 40 people total. I had my game and was on my way home by 12:15. We've been playing the campaign, with about a 6 hour break for sleep, ever since.

[fyzle]

midnight madness insanity

[thebruce]

blah! I can't beat fyzle... but here's my report anyway...

Pre-ownage:
- I was always debating whether I should go to the mall right after work (done at 6pm), or do the right thing and go to my other plans for 1/2 hour or so, and not ruin my reputation... did the latter, so I'm still a good man, and headed up to the mall with a friend. We got there about 8:00 or so, and walking in the entrance where the lineup would start, there were 3 guys just casually mingling - of course we assumed they were there for Halo. So we went in, got some food, looked around, just passing time waiting for another friend.

- 9pm hits, we go out, the guys are still there between the outside doors. Yes, they were there for the line. One guy was there at 5:50pm... I still wouldn't have been first in line even I had come straight from work... blah! oh well, so we hang out for a bit, and chat it up.

- the xbox... this is the best part of the story... I decided to take my xbox and a small tv to play while waiting in line, knowing it would get huge rep points with other people waiting in line . So we scope out the walls looking for a power socket... none. Except, on the inside, between the external doors, which are now locked, there's an outlet. And lo, the space between and under the doors is too small to fit a cable, and the unlocked door is on the far side of the entrance... forget that idea. We ask the security guy who's patrolling the halls if we can run a cable outide, and he firmly says 'nope, not happening'. blah! So... but hey, what if we try and set up the box inside between the doors? (at this time we didn't think smartly that rent-a-cop would be patrolling and returning). At this time a couple other people have appeared in line (so there's about 10 of us or so now, at about 9:30... so we run and grab the equipment, get inside and start setting up... hehe, we're all excited... I turn on the xbox, eject the tray, and place Halo in its home... and look, who walks around the corner - your neighborhood rent-a-cop... dejectedly, even before he arrives, we start unplugging. :'( He walks to us, notedly p1553d, waits for us to exit entirely, and locks the only unlocked door. *sigh*
So now I think, I really should who brought my inverter. hook up to a car... an hour of Halo MP is worth a dead battery right? jump start and an overnight recharge is a small price to pay... alas, no inverter... but buddy up at the front of the line says they have one at home... he calls his dad to bring it... an eternity later, we find out what took so long... Mr.Amazing walks up to our line with 2 dozen Timmy's hot chocolates! Our new hero... who needs MC? At this time there's now probably upwards of 50 people in line... the goods are handed out...

Now what fun is an event like this without the deluded fanboy college freaks? A guy runs up with a homemade speaker cone and starts flailing baout yelling incoherencies about Halo (actually he was pretty entertaining to be honest), and a partner dressed in a couple black boxes, obviously spoofing MC, but he's named PROBOT , no one knows... and he's got another friend who's filming. These guys are our entertainment...

Anyway, to make a long story not as long, MS rep guys come and he's pummeled by the halo freaks in front of us and around us (and one guy who uses F# as much as 'the')... (meanwhile I'm thinking, if I wanted to actually have a decent conversation or have a chance of being given some swag, why did line up at the front of the line with the crazy, least respectful fanboys?) So I try to hold some kind of a semblence of conversation while the fanboys are making 'witty' Halo comments and jokes (which I'm 100% sure the reps have heard before and are quietly sick of), ask him about ilovebees... he says he knows of it, but 'well you probably know as much about it as I do'... to which I (honestly) say 'no, I doubt that', at which point he changes the subject , at least, he isn't curious to know more...

For swag - again shut down by the 'front of the line crew', the 2 reps come out and start handing out Halo 2 lanyards and pretty sweet limited edition Halo 2 posters (gold/silvery trim) - starting at the middle of the line, to the end. At the end of that portion of the night, we ended up with a Halo 2 sticker, and a tiny Halo 2 button. *looks around*

So, we were told the line would be let into the mall at 11:00. 11:10 and we're still out in the cold. We realize that due to the 'unruliness' of the fanboys, they likely decided they wouldn't risk the chaos, and delayed our entry. A couple EB reps play with us, one casually (and humourously, I'd say) slipping us a finger as people impatiently jump at the doors and such... quite an entertaining time

Anyway, so we get in, I'm #5 in the line (teehee), and basically from then on it's 8-10 people in the store at a time, and they had deals and such, so I picked up a H2 t-shirt, but that's it... I ask nicely and respectfully if they have anything else or any leftovers to hand out (specifically, the posters and lanyards), so he goes to check the back... and comes back with a lanyard. That made me happy No poster unfortunately (I'd trade the lanyard, sticker and button for the poster), but that's all better than nothing... my other friends there also nab one each, but there were only 2 or 3 left after that... muahah... so I'm now a happy owner of Halo 2 and Halo 2 LE.

At the end of the night - no Halo 2 in line like I'd hoped. If there was an outdoors outlet, or we had tried the inverter earlier, it would have worked. But alas, I can say we got the xbox on and Halo in the tray...

I'll get some pics up in a bit...


Post-ownage:
(crosspost)
- didn't rest up on my sleep the day before, so I pushed as long as I could Tuesday after midnight - got 2 hours of campaign gamemplay before I was nodding off (while playing!), my buddy found that hilarious, me running into walls, or spinning in circles...
- slept, and slept in until around noon tuesday. my buddy missed his school class (college), and we were going to go out for breakfast... which we didn't... so we played a bit of 1 on 1 multiplayer to try it out. Then got some pizza around 1:30pm. Came back, ate, I continued my campaign fest around 2:30, and he went to his next class.
- Played until 8:30pm, straight, nibbling on the pizza here and there, and needed a break - my eyes were litterally pounding in my head...
- went to Rogers, bought Friends season 8, X-Men 2 (been looking for a copy casually for a while), and rented Dawn of the Dead.
- came back and started up again at 10pm. Buddy called and asked if I'd finished it yet. Said I was about 8 hours in, he said to let him know, cuz people say it can take at least 10 hours to finish
- sure enough, just after midnight, 'the end' (more on that next). So, slightly over 10 hours of gameplay and I finished Halo 2 (on easy , but exploring and taking in the scenery... gimme a couple plays through, and I'll see if it's finishable in 6 hours like Halo 1 )

[thebruce]

*sigh* this deserves a revival... if only for memory's sake not enough people have posted about their (mis)adventures at the midnight madness...

for now, here are the pictures I said I'd post, but I was waiting for someone else to post first... ah well.

[archon]

Not much to report on my trip. I went at 7:30 and waited until 9 when they handed out tickets for the line, so I was in the first batch. I went home and played Halo until ~11:30, showed up with about 6 minutes to spare and walked in, got my Halo 2: Limited Collector's Edition and walked out. I laughed on the inside at the gaggles of geeks.

The end.