Halo 2

At 12:01 am I became a proud Halo 2 owner.

At least, in theory I did. I didn’t actually get a copy in my grubby little paws until around 1:00 am.

I had prepaid for the game and it was waiting for me in the store with my name on it, I just had to wait in line behind approximately 200 other people who also theoretically owned copies.

Really–there were at least 200 folks there, and I think the real total was closer to 250. Fortunately most of them were groups of two to four folks who all intended to go home and get their game on right afterwards. There were probably 80–90 actual game acquisitors (is that a word?) ahead of me.

Overall it took me an hour to make my way to the front of my line.

Nick Hasulak (a student from our ministry) had bummed a ride off of me to pick up a copy. He hadn’t prepaid or preorder or preconsidered. He just decided to hop in my car and purchase the game for himself.

Here’s the kicker: he got his copy before I did in the “VIP” line for fully-paid preorders. I guess the store figured that since we had already given them our money they didn’t need to worry too much about customer service.

I’ll remember that next time I’m tempted to prepay.

I’ve now ratified my geekdom–I stood in line at midnight for a videogame.

Of course, Halo transcends social strata and so at least half the people standing alongside me looked like they had just stepped out of an Abercrombie and Fitch commercial… maybe this isn’t the act I’ve been looking for to firmly establish myself in geek circles.

Anyway, I’ve started playing and the game is incredible. It fully lives up to my expectations, at least so far.