Monday, October 29, 2007

Halo 3: The night before launch - scenes from the Duke City

This originally ran Sept. 24th on abqtrib.com

As midnight approaches, the Duke City is getting ready for the arrival of Bungie's futuristic first-person shooter, "Halo 3," arguably the biggest video game release of the year.

Several stores, including Gamestop, EB Games and Hastings, are planning midnight release parties for the Xbox 360 game. You may even find a copy of the video game at participating area 7-Eleven stores.

According to their Web site, 7-Eleven stores will accept “presell” orders for the game at $59.99 where available, and will sell the game in stores starting at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday.

Hastings around town will have 89 copies of the title per store, but most are for preorder customers.

"We're open from midnight until (for "Halo 3")," said Charles Padilla, a store associate at the Hastings location on Coors and Montano.

Not to be left out, several Albuquerque gaming centers are planning "Halo 3" tournaments and midnight parties.

Insomnia Gaming Center, located at 1331 Juan Tabo Blvd. N.E., Suite 2M, is planning on having a "Halo 3" LAN party that's open to the public. According to the gaming center's owner, they will have copies of the game after the anticipated midnight release.

"We'll stay open from noon Monday and won't close," said Keith Kruger, who owns Insomnia. "We'll have copies of the game 10 minutes after midnight."

Ninja Monkey Gaming Center's La Cueva location is planning a "Ninja Monkey presents 'Halo 3' tournament" Saturday. There will be cash and prizes given away, and costs $10 per person who wants to participate.

"It's going to be really big," said Sean Sorlie, Ninja Monkey Gaming Center manager.

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