Halo Launch Party Recap
November 14, 2001
On a brisk Saturday night, in a small hotel in the heart of downtown
Chicago, Bungie threw a party that had hundreds of fans clamoring to get
in. What was the occasion? Not Alex "The Man" Seropian's triumphant
performance in the NYC Marathon the previous weekend. Not the
successful test-firing of the giant slingshot that will eventually
launch our enemies into the sun. No, it was just a little shindig in Bungie's
mother city to celebrate the impending release of Halo. And like the game that
inspired it, the sheer magnitude of the Halo launch party quickly
spiralled far beyond the modest expectations of the people who had
planned it.
The relatively small group of Bungie fans who had RSVPed for the party
swelled to an enormous number after Xbox.com wrote a story about the
upcoming event. Toss a huge number of people into a tiny hotel, add a
heaping helping of technical and organizational crises, and you've got a
recipe for disaster. So why was the Halo launch party such a smashing
success?
Maybe it was the lovely
introductory cinematic
provided by Bungie's own
Sin-O-MatiXXX Team: Joseph Staten, Marty O'Donnell and Jay Weinland.
Their homage to the opening scene in
Patton got some big laffs and put everyone at ease.
Maybe it was all the stuff we gave away: Xboxes, copies of Halo, and
spankin' new Halo t-shirts we'd received only an hour before the party
started. Free stuff is always cool.
Most likely, though, it was a combination of two things: Halo, which is
an instant party all by itself - especially when it's projected on four
10' screens or played with 16 players on the same map. The other key
element was the Bungie Community, who came together for an evening of
friendly ass-kicking, and who carried the party along with their
unadulterated enthusiasm.
The Bungie Online Team would like to thank every single person who
attended our party for making it such a great experience for us and for
each other. To those of you who couldn't attend for one reason or
another (try as we might, we just couldn't fit more people in the space
we had), we hope you'll join us next time. The Halo launch party and
the five (so far) Bungie FanFests prove that any time we get together
with our fans, a splendid time is guaranteed for all (with the possible
exception of hotel catering directors).
For extensive launch party coverage straight from the attendees
be sure to visit halo.bungie.org's
launch party coverage page.