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Archive for the ‘Launch Party’ Category

Homefront Launch Event At GameStop

Tuesday, March 15th, 2011

I’m no stranger to launch events at my local GameStop, and for Homefront we decided to do something a little different. With the approval of the store manager, I was allowed to promote my own website as well as give away a few goodies to the other attendees. Of course this meant I had to dress the part, and since I am the Tactical Fanboy…

That means lots of MultiCam. Specifically a 5.11 Tactical MultiCam Rapid Assault Shirt, Arc’teryx Talos Pant, Eclipse Releasable Body Armor Vest, and a Crye Precision Airframe helmet to top it all off. With the chops on it I think it looks like a modern Hoplite helmet, but maybe that’s just me.

The main attraction at the launch event was a viewing of Red Dawn. Partly because both Homefront and the afore mentioned film are written by John Milius, but mostly because of Patrick Swayze and Charlie Sheen. As expected, copious amounts of jokes involving Roadhouse and cocaine were involved. Also, Dirty Dancing and tiger blood. Never gets old, really.

We also happened to use the special carnage counter found on the DVD as a vehicle for the giveaways. It’s a large banner that shows up periodically during the movie and counts how many casualties for both Soviets and civilians as well as the number of explosions that occur. The attendees tried to guess how many of each before the film ended. Those that were closest won one of several prizes, as seen below.

The lucky winners:

A few other goodies, like misc. patches and load-bearing clips were given away as secondary prizes. I also got my ass handed to me in Marvel Vs. Capcom 3, twice*.

*(Thankfully) not pictured

When midnight rolled around, I was first in line once again. Three launches in a row, suckers! All kidding aside, I also got the copy of Red Dawn as a bonus, since I didn’t actually own the film. That should complete my John Milius collection, I think.

As for Homefront, I’m enjoying what I’ve played so far. The campaign’s pretty ‘meh’, but the online is pretty damn fun. If you’re looking for a decent multiplayer experience, you could do way worse.

And now, for all the new readers I (hopefully) recruited at the launch event:

I’m a proponent of using social media to my advantage, despite not totally understanding why it’s so popular. So add me via the following methods to keep up with the latest Fanboy news, or play a few games online. Whatever works best:

Xbox Live: Tactical Fanboy

Twitter: @Tacfanboy

Facebook: Tactical Fanboy

The Gunny Does Bulletstorm Right

Tuesday, February 22nd, 2011

In case you didn’t know, Bulletstorm came out today. Sadly, I missed the launch party, so there won’t be any entertaining article about me standing outside in a sixty-person-long line for 2 1/2 hours. However, to make up for it, allow me to link to a couple of videos that perfectly demonstrate what Bulletstorm is all about. As a serious bonus, these videos star both R. Lee Ermey and Brian Posehn, who are both seriously hilarious. Seriously. I also must warn you these videos are definitely NSFW, due to rampant, creative swearing, hyper violence, and multiple references to Full Metal Jacket. Enjoy!

Link: Bulletstorm FMJ Parody – NSFW

Dead Space 2 Launch Party

Tuesday, January 25th, 2011

Unlike most launch parties I’ve attended, I was actually the first to arrive. And by arrive, I mean arrive early. By 30 minutes.

My enthusiasm left me out in the literal cold.

But it was worth it, because I was the first in line!

Now, compared to the high-capacity Reach or Black Ops parties, this was more of a very small social gathering. There couldn’t have been anymore than 10 people in the store when midnight finally arrived. That’s not to say it wasn’t fun, just a different kind of fun. Discussions with the employees about comics, movies, video games, pop culture, and anything else a fanboy would love to talk about led to the time passing by quickly and with a lot of laughs. I also received some cool promotional materials just for being there, such as an advertisement banner and an oversized game box. And then there was the prize for being first in line: the amazingly awesome necromorph drawing!

Overall, it was one of my favorite launch parties yet. It was fun, I got cool stuff, and most importantly I got the game quick so I could go home and play it. BTW, Dead Space 2 is terrifying! It doesn’t disappoint.

Black Ops Midnight Launch

Tuesday, January 18th, 2011

Once again, I attended a launch party at my local Gamestop, this time for Black Ops. I arrived early at around 9:30, and still ended up as number 45 in line, since the staff was taking pre-orders as early as 7 PM. Despite this, the evening was enjoyable enough. A makeshift tournament of Modern Warfare 2 was among the available entertainment with a five dollar gift card as the top and only prize. I did sign up, but was quickly distracted when the staff put up a demonstration copy of Black Ops on the PS3, so I forfeited the tournament to try the new CoD instead. I played a few rounds of mulitplayer with some of the other attendees and was very impressed with the game, especially when compared to Modern Warfare 2. There were also refreshments in the form of pizza and a local band named Arete played at the event. The eventual wait in line passed quickly, and I rushed home with my new prestige edition, eager to bust out my new RC-XD car.

Halo: Reach Launch Party

Tuesday, January 18th, 2011

<a rel=”attachment wp-att-15402″ href=”http://soldiersystems.net/?attachment_id=15402″><img title=”Believe it or not, this is a chick… and she games [and eats] competitively.” src=”https://soldiersystems.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Reach-Event-0071-322×430.jpg” alt=”” width=”322″ height=”430″ /></a>

 I recently attended one of the many midnight launch parties for Halo: Reach thrown at various retail outlets across the States. Not sure what to expect, I found the local GameStop where I pre-ordered my copy already full of people barely after 10:00 P.M. I prepaid, got my pickup number, and waited in the store. There was pizza and soda, but very little in the way of entertainment; Halo Legends was playing along with the same continuous loop of Halo: Reach related videos, so I spent most of my time conversing with the other fans in attendance about the game itself. About fifteen minutes before twelve, we were all told to wait outside the store in number order. The first ten people got Reach related swag in the form of a poster or display item. I was number 25, so I got jack. Even so, not a bad night at all. 

Since we were allowed in only 5 at a time, I had to wait a little after midnight to get my long-awaited copy, but when I finally did, I rushed home and started to play. This is definitely the best Halo title yet.  And no, I didn’t get her digits.