It’s a gamer’s world
It’s the time gamers across the continent have been waiting for.
Halo 3, the highly anticipated game from Microsoft is being released at midnight. Video game fans are expected to line up outside of electronic stores when the small hand strikes twelve to get their hands on some of the first copies to be sold to the public. Listen to 660News tomorrow morning where you will hear all the action from the front lines– I’ll be hanging out with the hardcore gamers as they wait to rush into electronic stores across the city and get their beloved copy of the latest Halo game.
The first thing that comes to mind for some people is “anyone who goes that crazy for a video game is a geek.” If that is true then our city appears to be full of geeks. I spoke with many businessmen this morning who admit to being gamers who hide their addiction from some friends and co-workers. Also I spoke to the E.B. Games store in Chinook Centre and they have pre-sold 400 copies of the game. That’s just one location in the city.
Even I have been swept up in the latest craze of video games. While Halo 3 and X-Box are not my drug of choice … the Nintendo Wii is. I admit I am addicted to the Wii and have played it for hours at a time battling shadow creatures in The Legend of Zelda or hitting them out of the park in Wii Sports Baseball.
The gaming culture is definitely making an impact on the entertainment industry. Microsoft expects to take in more than $200-million from Halo 3 in the first 24 hours. If that is true the game would demolish the opening record of any entertainment franchise in any medium. That makes it bigger than any Harry Potter book, Britney Spears album or Spider-Man movie.
Some pop culture experts are making some risky claims leading up to the release of Halo 3. They believe the game will become a cultural phenomenon on par with Star Wars, Harry Potter and even (this is where it gets controversial) Beatlemania.
Whether you agree with the experts or not, you can’t disagree with the numbers and when 11:59 P.M. hits today we may see a new record set in the entertainment industry.
Stay tuned, I’ll let you know how it turns out.