In the span of five days, I was asked to cover a couple of Halo 3 launch events for the community on GamerscoreBlog. One was a celebrity launch event in Los Angeles, the other was a private community/press preview in NYC.

Employer: Microsoft (Volt)
Responsibilities: Community Management, Photography, Writer, Blog Administration

• Halo 3 Press/Community Preview Slideshow
• Halowood Celebrity Event Slideshow
• Gamerscoreblog Event Coverage Post

Halo 3 Press/Community Preview:

Halowood Celebrity Event Photos:

Original Post:

Since everything seems to be happier in Betaland, I’m hoping it’s safe to post about the events that surrounded the launch.

The past couple of weeks have been crazy for me. I went to Washington to hang out with some incredible GamerchiX, was interviewed by TriXie, did a Halo 3 event last night and hung out with some more awesome GamerchiX in NYC today. I’m a little tired and I’m only half way done this month!

Anyway, last night, I was lucky enough to help staff the Halo 3 event in NYC. A sister event was also occurring on the other side of the country in San Francisco. Chris was on hand at that event and his photos can be found here.

Frank O’Connor and Harold Ryan from Bungie were on hand to walk press members and community folks through some shiny, happy Halo 3 multiplayer maps. The attendees were then let loose on their own to try their hand at some “fun-for-all fragging” using one of the many networked 360s that had been set up.

     

While the theory was to limit time on each console, it seemed like nobody wanted to move. They were enthralled by the game and I witnessed more than one person who was playing eye other open seats around the room and fake like they were getting up to let someone else play while in actuality, they were hitting the bar and swooping in on the other empty seat. Vultures I tell you! This is what Halo 3 has done to people!

The community turn out was astounding. I couldn’t have been happier to meet some familiar faces as well as some fresh, new faces. Some of those in attendance were, Jason and Sherveen from MyGamercard.net, Sal from PreGameLobby, David from Tied the Leader, Drea from GamertagRadio, Lee and Matt our area Xbox MVPs, and Michael from XboxDomain and also Xbox MVP.

We all sat and talked about how everyone felt about the game. Some have been fans of the franchise for a long time whereas others had never really jumped on the bandwagon but all agreed that it would be a huge hit.

Twitchy fingers finally got everyone up and onto a console to try out the available maps. Some “got it” right away while some took a little longer….Ok *I* took a little longer… I admit it… I’m going to go and cry in a corner now since it took me about 10 minutes to figure out how to pick anything up…Not too handy in an oddball match but hey, I’m a newb and so will you be, at some point. At least, that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it. During one of my games, I was partied up with Acdbulls – and Xbox MVP from Mexico – very random, yet cool.

As the press started to trickle out, the community members commandeered the back lounge area and set up a friendly tournament between them. Sherveen and Matt also  set up a game with GamerAndy’s Adam who was at the San Fran event.

All in all, the night was a lot of fun and as always, I loved hanging out with the community.

Four days later, I was off to LA, CA for another Halo 3 preview event. This time, it was to show the game off to the pretty people who grace our televisions. Yep, I attended the celebrity event, aptly named, “Halowood”.

Fast Forward Four Days …

My whirlwind May continued Tuesday with an event in Hollywood … err … HALOwood, California. I flew in on Tuesday morning and met up with Major Nelson and Video Monkey before heading over for a quick bite at In-And-Out burger and then to Quixote to check out the setup for the event. Behind tall wire fences were mounds of sand, odd looking pieces of machinery, concept art spread on the floor, military-style crates, aircraft-type seating, rows and rows of Legendary SKU helmets, monitors showing footage from bungie studios, chains, eerie trees, bars with video being projected on them, glowing blue crates and several 40″ Sharp monitors with 360s attached to them. It was a Halo lover’s paradise.

     

After grabbing our credentials, we went back and checked into our hotel. I caught up on some email and got ready for my first “red carpet” event. I was kind of intimidated by the thought of there being so many famous people around but hey, they are just people, right? When we got back to the venue, we set up our workstations in the PR room and headed outside where Major and Monkey shot some video footage while I snapped some stills.

     

At 8:00, the press started to arrive so I asked one of the organizers very nicely if I could have a spot to get some shots for you guys. I was put at the very end with a perfect view of the entire walkway. Only after tonight did I learn that what may seem to be the perfect spot one second, will often turn into a free-for-all mess the next. Let’s get one thing straight – I love photography, I love taking photos of people, I am not, however, paparazzi and really have no urge to fight people to get in someone’s face. Not being that way but being in a press line can be problematic. This became apparent when a certain person whom I know quite well decided that my Microsoft placeholder was better suited to her and her video guy. Grrrr I don’t envy these press photographers at all having to fight for space like that.

I put my claws away and found myself a new spot to shoot from. I recognized a lot of people but it wasn’t until after I’d uploaded a bunch of pictures that I realized exactly who they were. For example, it didn’t help that Ryan Cabrera had newly flowing brown locks. I knew the face but the hair completely threw me off. Others who walked the asphalt carpet were Dane Cook and stunning girlfriend Raquel Houghton, John Salley (who, thankfully, avoided being asked if he liked playing with balls by an unnamed reporter), Jon Heder, John Hensley, Stephan Bender, Channing Tatum, Jesse Metcalfe, Shawn Maguire, Victoria Pratt, Matt Leinart, Evan Ross, Geoffrey Rush!? and The King from Burger King. It was scary how good looking all these people were – well, except the King…He was a little creepy.

     

After about 2 hours, I headed inside to see if I could catch some celebs playing without being too intrusive. Jon Heder was very into the game. He seemed to be pulled off constantly to do interviews but would get back into it when he had the chance. Aisha Tyler was trying her hand at it, too. Many girlfriends were also trying it out, some showed frustration while others got their gamefaces on. It was definitely a riot to watch and I give them major kudos for trying it out.

     

After grabbing a bunch more shots, Major, VideoMonkey and I headed back to the hotel to finish working and try to get some sleep before flying home the next day.

Tired? Definitely. Worth it? Absolutely.