"Halo: Reach," the most anticipated video game of the year, will be released tomorrow. But a few Fargo-Moorhead stores will be opening their doors at midnight tonight to allow anxious gamers the chance to get the game in hand early.
Best Buy, behind the West Acres Mall in Fargo, will allow people to start lining up at 9 p.m. outside the building's east side door.
Inside the mall, Game Stop will also be selling Halo: Reach at midnight. People can enter the mall after-hours through the entrance between Herbergers and JC Penney. The store will pre-sell copies of the game between 9 p.m. and midnight. Then at 12:01 a.m. the store will check receipts and hand people their copies of the games. Gamers who haven't reserved the game can also pre-purchase "Halo: Reach." Game Stop's other location on 45th Street South, will also be open at midnight. People will be allowed to line up outside that location at 9 p.m.
"Halo: Reach" is the latest installment in the Halo video game series that used first-person shooter perspectives and space fantasy combat to become one of the most popular video games in the genre's history. Th franchise's previous release, "Halo 3," broke sales records when it was released in September 2007 with $170 million in sales on the first day it was available.
Industry analysts will also be watching to see if "Halo: Reach" can top the sales from last year's juggernaut, "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2." Though, since "Halo: Reach" is only available for the Xbox 360 console, there's some hesitation about predicting the game will outperform "Modern Warfare 2."
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Still, executives for Microsoft, which manufactures the Xbox 360, have said they expect "Halo: Reach" to sell more copies than the next "Call of Duty" game, which will be released later this year.
