'Halo 2' launch gets red-carpet treatment

A Times Square countdown of a different sort is planned for next week. It will not involve a sparkling ball descending a pole or herald a new year.

But this countdown, expected to draw thousands into the streets surrounding the Toys R Us flagship store, may mark a new height in video game promotion.

At 12:01 a.m. ET on Tuesday, "Halo 2," a sequel to the best-selling game ever developed for Microsoft's Xbox, will go on sale amid a blast of rock music, celebrity sightings and packaged pandemonium in Manhattan. At the same time, some 6,800 stores in the United States, and others abroad, will open in the first minutes after midnight, putting the game into the hands of those who have reserved it--Microsoft reports 1.5 million advance orders--and others willing to part with $50.

"Halo: Combat Evolved," a first-person-shooter game developed by Bungie Studios, involves an interplanetary struggle between Earth soldiers and an invading swarm of battle-ready buggers called the Covenant. Since its release three years ago the game has sold more than 5 million copies.

"Halo 2" is one of several highly anticipated video games to arrive --many with Hollywood-style fanfare--as the holiday season nears. Others include "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas," released last month for PlayStation 2; "Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater," for PlayStation 2; and "Half Life 2," for the PC.

In the days before the "Grand Theft Auto" release, some New York streets were plastered with posters announcing the game's arrival. Other developers have held parties and rock concerts, with fully wired kiosks loaded with samples of the new games.

"This is a huge year for the big blockbusters," said Peer Schneider, the network director of IGN.com and GameSpy, which focuses games and entertainment and digitally delivers video games and game-related information worldwide. "There are so many of them coming out that even some of the big games can get lost."



	For the latest breaking news, visit NYTimes.com Sign up to receive top headlines Get Dealbook, a daily corporate finance email briefing Search the jobs listings at NYTimes.com Search NYTimes.com:

As with movies, game-industry experts say, the pressure to recoup costs and make big profits is forcing video game companies to spend more on helping to ensure that games quickly find a playing audience.

"These games cost tens of millions of dollars to develop, and now marketing costs are in the tens of millions of dollars," said Peter Moore, vice president for marketing at Xbox International.

Further, P.J. McNealy, an analyst for American Technology Research, said some game companies, worried that their games might go unnoticed, are delaying certain releases until early 2005, when it is widely thought that the competition will be less fierce.

"Unless the games are an established franchise, it's going to be hard to get above the noise level," McNealy said.

At Valve, developer of the highly praised "Half-Life," which has sold more than 8 million games since 1998, preparations are humming ahead of the Nov. 16 release of "Half-Life 2." But the company's marketing director, Doug Lombardi, said Valve shies away from the event-based marketing he calls "vanity promotion."

Instead, Lombardi said, Valve concentrates on reaching its core constituency online, through news releases, graphics, trailers and--most important--software tools that permit players to alter "Half-Life" or create entirely new games called mods.

"If you spend a bunch of money, and a number of people show up and party, is that going to be good for the broader aspects of the product?" he asked.

Jason Enos, the brand manager for Konami's Metal Gear franchise in the United States, said the secret to sustaining and maintaining a successful franchise was reasonably simple. "The game has to be innovative," he said, "and it has to bring fresh, new and exciting features to the game."