By snoadmin
A presidential election only comes once every four years. Unfortunately, there is a significant group of people who have been waiting for more than four years for this day, and it is not because of the election.
“Halo 4” was released yesterday, the first official sequel to the hugely popular game series in five years. Gamers lined up for hours outside of Gamestops and Best Buys everywhere so they could pick up their $60 copy of the game at midnight.
Many gamers like Cal State Long Beach graduate Thomas Kroupa could not even wait until the morning to pick up their game. For gamers like Kroupa, Master Chief is more important than president.
“There are a lot of things more important than the president to me right now,” Kroupa said. “… I’ve been playing these games since the first one came out.”
The game is the first to be developed by Microsoft’s in-house company, 343 Studios, instead of the game creators, Bungie. Early reviews have said that the developer switch does not hurt the game and, in fact, might have even made it better than previous installments.
The game follows the familiar hero of the Halo franchise, Master Chief, and his trusty holographic sidekick Cortana, as they crash land on a mysterious planet populated by an entirely new kind of intergalactic villain called the Didact.
Halo has had the same primary antagonist, the Covenant, for the entire series, so new enemies to kill should make the game fresh again. Critics have praised the story, music and gameplay so far, which could be a bad thing when it comes to the vote.
With these new features, Kroupa said he wasn’t willing to leave the game.
“I wasn’t planning on voting. I’m completely okay with being a shut-in and just playing this game all day,” Kroupa said. “I’m kind of a hard case on this one.”
He is not alone. According to a survey from IGN.com, one of the most popular gaming news websites online, 53 percent of gamers said they were more likely to wait in line for the new Halo installment than to wait in line to cast their vote.
Video games are one of the most profitable products in the entire world, and the Halo series has proved to be very popular. There is good chance that gamers who skip the vote to play the game in swing states like Ohio and Florida might make a difference.
