14 DAY TRIAL // The ten years old Halo saga fans ares celebrating today the release of its latest – “Halo: Reach”, the newest of the popular science fiction game made exclusively for Xbox 360.
There are millions of fans that awaited this event and thousands of them attended launch parties held yesterday in London, New York ans Seattle.
Many lined outside their local video game retailer to be sure they will buy the newest installment of the game at midnight, while others made Halo-themed Mountain Dew and Doritos supplies in preparation for the many hours they will spend playing the game.
Frank O’Connor, Halo’s franchise development director, says without any false modesty that “the game is epic, and compelling, and I think people are really going to enjoy the characters.
“The game is true to its core, but it’s going to feel like a whole new world as well, and it’s exactly the kind of experience you want in an epic, sci-fi video game – or movie, for that matter.”
“Halo: Reach” is the fourth episode of the Halo saga but, just like the for the Star Wars saga, it is a prequel to the first “Halo”.
The action takes place on planet Reach, a sister planet to Earth, in the year 2552, just before the Covenants, a group of ruthless alien invaders, attack.
As this is the first episode of the series, the story and the atmosphere might seem familiar but the customization tools, the multiplayer possibilities and the super powerful game engine, will compensate entirely, according to O'Connor.
He says that “Reach” is “about people and their stories, and camaraderie, and the adventures along the way.”
O’Connor works for 343 Industries, the division of Microsoft Game Studios that supervises and develops the Halo franchise, after Bungie, the game's creator, and Microsoft split up in 2007.
The Halo franchise sold more than 34 million games since 2001, when the first installment was released, and players have spent over 3.3 million hours online on Xbox LIVE.
The game broke all records in 2007, when Halo 3 was released, and “Halo: Reach” is said to become the largest game release ever, as over 2.7 million people played the public multiplayer beta version.
Taylor Smith, Microsoft’s director of global marketing and communications for Xbox, says that “all of that energy, discussion and analysis has built into massive anticipation for this game to go on sale,” and though he did not specify how many copies had been pre-ordered, he said that “it’s definitely the biggest thing we as Xbox have done.”