Microsoft is setting its sites high for Halo 3, shooting to have a $155 million dollar debut of the game. To put some perspective on it, Halo 2 launched with over 2 million copies sold in 24 hours for around $125 million.
While one would think the 155 Million dollar number might be a little high, especially considering the 360 install base is about half of what the original Xbox was when Halo 2 launched, there’s a few things to consider.

1) The majority of Xbox 360 owners right now are the hardcore gamer, and are typically the gamer that will buy Halo 3.

2) The base price of Halo 3 is $10 higher than Halo 2 was.

3) There are a $69.99 version and a $129.99 version of the game. All signs right now point to some incredible sales numbers for the $129.99 version, known as the Legendary Edition.

When you add up some of these things, you can see Microsoft doesn’t even need to sell close to 2 million copies and easily achieve the $155 million dollar mark. Microsoft is already guaranteed AT LEAST 60 Million Dollars in sales from pre-orders alone. And that would be if and only if they preordered the original version.

So will Microsoft hit the $155 million dollar target? My guess is they break $160 million.
Variety.com - High ‘Halo 3′ hopes

technorati tags:halo3, microsoft, money, lots, of

I know…this blog looks like it’s turning into the Halo blog. But damn…can you blame me?

I arrived home yesterday to find a nice surprise on my doorstep, one of those new swanky Halo 3 Zunes.

The packaging is all decked out Halo style, and the Zune itself is packed nicely in it’s little box. I haven’t seen a packaging set-up this nice since my iPod. The Zune itself comes with a pair of headphones, case, usb cable and install CD. This special edition one comes preloaded with tons of Halo content including: 10 Halo related videos including Episodes of Red vs. Blue, all 3 Halo soundtracks, and over 100 Halo related images and concept art. In fact, it looks like some of the concept art might give away some clues as to what is going to happen in Halo 3.

The Zune software and marketplace seems solid. One really great thing is for those of us with an XBox Live account, you can simply sign in with this account and associate your Gamertag to your Zunetag (sorry..no Achievement points…yet). You can then use any MS Points from XBox Live to purchase songs and download alblums.

Of course the defining feature of Zune is the ability to transfer songs wirelessly between Zunes. Unfortuantely I wasn’t able to test that out as I don’t know anyone WITH a Zune. There are rumors that the newest firmware will allow you to hit up the Zune marketplace wirelessly from various hotspots which would make it a much more attractive feature.

Build quality is solid and the screen is gorgeous. The headphones out of the box lack some punch, but paired with a set of quality headphones that audio quality is noticeably better than an iPod, and just about equal with my Creative Zen Vision:M. The software works well, and one nice feature is the ability to transcode your videos on sync to the size and format needed for the Zune.

Any Halo fan looking for a new music/all-in-one player should look no further than the H3 Zune. The Limited Edition Halo 3 Zune goes on sale exclusively at Gamestop/EB Games on June 15th for $249.99.

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Synergy is one of those buzz words I was never fond of. In fact, at my previous place of employment, it was thrown around more than a midget at a cannon factory. But today, I’m going to use the word, as it’s simply the best word I can think of as to Microsoft and their ability to synergize their brands and platforms together.
multiplayer beta of Halo 3 will ship with copies of Crackdown. Suddenly the interest in Crackdown becomes 10 fold greater. Most figured this was Microsoft’s admission that Crackdown was a poor game, when in fact just the opposite is true. The game was released to critical success, and gamers enjoyed it thoroughly…for a few weeks. You see, Crackdown just didn’t have the longevity to make it all the way from its late February release all the way until Mid-May when the Halo 3 beta would actually hit. More on this later.

So time goes on and the Halo 3 hypo-meter is dies off a bit. Suddenly we start to see bits and pieces of information on Halo 2 for Windows Vista. Penned for an early May release most people write it off. While not significant, this gets the Halo name out there again. Slowly but surely the Halo buzz begins to build, and message boards begin talking about Halo 3 again.

Now as we approach the actual beta period, people need to dig out those copies of Crackdown again. What better way to do that than to release some premium content. So gamers dig out Crackdown again, start playing it and realizing that it’s still fun. Along with a free download that adds a lot of missing features, a fresh content pack becomes available and quite a few of these gamers will decide to drop the 10 dollars on it. This holds them over for a week or so until….the Halo 3 beta.

So the MP beta lasts 3 weeks or so. People realize how fun Halo still is, and they still have that itch for more things Halo. What better way to solve that than to go back and play some Halo 2…or better yet the newer, shinier Halo 2 for Windows Vista which hits shelves a week into the beta. Shortly after this happen, E3 is going to come around where I assume the single player portion of the game will slowly be unveiled. The hype train continues to roll carrying it through most of the summer.

I’m not sure what Microsoft will do for the August-November time period, but I assume they won’t let Halo be far from gamer’s minds. And lets forgot tie-ins like the recently announced limited edition Halo Zune. If this doesn’t help get the word out on Microsoft’s music player….nothing will.

The point of all this is, what sometimes seems like minor coincidences turns out to be carefully planned marketing strategies. These strategies sometimes don’t reveal themselves for months, even years later when the entire spectrum of it can be realized. Microsoft is continuously creating an amazing extended marketing campaign that Synergizes multiple brands and platforms…and they are all riding on the Master Chief.

Look ma, no popins!

An interesting thing happens when reviewing a two and a half-year old game. The first thing you realize is two and a half years isn’t quite long enough for that game to fall into the retro category. The second thing you realize is that two and a half years is a long time in terms of gaming and graphics.

Halo 2 for Windows Vista is such a game. Microsoft’s 10 million copy seller makes it’s way to the PC, or more specifically makes it’s way to Windows Vista almost 30 months after the XBox release.

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Oooooh. Purdy, gritty, and Halo. G4TV has the Halo graphic novel up for review.