An ancient evil has awakened. Halo 4, the next installment of the wildly popular science fiction video-game series, was released last Tuesday, November 6 to be met with great success and much critical acclaim.
After awaiting Master Chief’s return for five years, gamers around the world lined up Monday night to snag their Halo swag at midnight. Over 10,000 stores in over 40 countries worldwide had midnight openings for Halo 4, which has become the most highly anticipated game of 2012. Success was almost instantaneous; within the first 24 hours of its release, Halo 4 sold over 3.1 million copies worldwide, 1.9 million in the U.S. alone. Though solid numbers have yet to be confirmed, it has been predicted that the award-winning video-game has sold over 4 million copies within the first week of its release. If this is true (which it likely is), then, considering that each copy of the game costs $60, the game has already grossed an awe-inspiring $240,000,000 in total sales in less than a week. Thus, even Marvel’s The Avengers, which had the highest grossing entertainment launch of 2012, has usurped this title as it was less successful in its opening weekend than Halo 4, which is officially Microsoft’s most expensive video-game ever created and possibly the most expensive video-game ever.
In addition to having many midnight openings, Microsoft also had several launch events at midnight for Halo 4 around the world, the most notable of which took place in London. A 52 foot diameter, 3.2 ton lighted LED glyph from Halo 4 was flown above the Thames river in the heart of London (see the pictures above). It was one of the largest light displays ever, and it was the largest artificial object ever given permission to be flown above a well-populated city. Hundreds of fans (along with the Master Chief himself) lined up to see the incredible display, as well as to play Halo 4 with various celebrities. For the full story, click here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2228555/Halo-4-launch-Giant-UFO-London-But-dont-panic-just-stunt.html
Halo 4 has revitalized the beloved Halo franchise. Gamers and critics alike are praising Halo 4 for ushering in a new, next-generation standard of gaming which will revolutionize gaming itself. Indeed, Halo 4 has raised the bar to an all-time high that is impossible to surpass… unless Halo 5 does so. Which it likely will, but let’s save that for another time.
