Yup, that happened.  Anyways, now that I’ve already been to the midnight launch I figured it’d be time to talk about it a little bit.  Mind you, this isn’t a review of the game as that’ll come later, but rather just me rambling on about the hype surrounding the launch.

I showed up at Gamestop around 9:30, somewhat dismayed to be the only one there.  Call me crazy, but there’s a part of me that just loves being around other gamers as passionate about a launch as I am.  Not a few minutes later though, another guy showed up named Ryan and we talked about the return of the Halo pistol and some of the achievements that had been leaked.

Slowly but surely, more and more started showing up and forming an awkward line behind Ryan and I.  At 10:00 the manager saw fit to open the store back up to ring people out in advance.  At this point Ryan and I went inside and because my nickname is Dr. McClassy, I let him go ahead of me to check out.  I switched my reserve last minute from the standard edition to the collector’s figuring that Nicole and I only have two 360 controllers anyways and it is a pretty classy looking controller; better than the McFarlane ones anyways.

At this point, the waiting game began.  Geeks and fanboys started crawling out of the woodwork everywhere shortly after 10 while I walked around aimlessly for a few minutes, debating on whether or not to interact with people or read up on my Drizzt book I’d carted along with me.  After realizing that reading is for stupid people (not you guys though) I started talking with the manager about our own histories of gaming only to find that he too had come from a very geekish family with an old coax network his dad had set up while he was growing up.

This was fun for a while, until the reality of multiple sodas, a red bull, and my inexplicable belief that a large bottle of water might offset the negative health value of my previous drinks began their assault on my bladder.  Most of you know that GameStop doesn’t readily have bathrooms available so I had to go hauling ass across a 4-lane street to a McDonalds to relieve myself.

After experiencing the nirvana of sweet, uh, urin-y release I grabbed some nuggets and headed back across the street.  At this point the crowd had nearly doubled with a line out the door and around the block of some 60 or 70 people I’d estimate.  I regained my position in line at the front and waited patiently, this time opting not to drink my weight in sugar water.

Finally, the moment came and it was magical.  Ok, it wasn’t magical but I was certainly happy to get my grubby mitts on the object of my desire and drive home listening to the Halo overture.  Sadly, by the time I got home and Nicole got off work at her other job we were too tired to pop it in.  BUT- that won’t stop me from playing through it like a mad man tomorrow when I get off.

I’ve been to larger, more fantasticaly midnight launches, but this one was fun nonetheless, if only to experience the joys of bladder limitation.  Stay tuned for the full review of Halo 3: ODST!