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Halo 3 Takes Toll on Workforce

washingtonpost.com — Call it the Halo holiday, or the Halo bug. Some gamers are going to be a little sleepy this week at work or school, if they show up at all. With yesterday's release of Halo 3, the highly anticipated video game for the Xbox 360 console, many gamers are taking some personal time.

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  • whatthefu, on 10/10/2007, -8/+13That's pretty awesome. But can't people wait?
    • acu8509, on 10/10/2007, -17/+3the weight is a hell of a lot longer when you dont have a 360 to play it on.
      • themastersb, on 10/10/2007, -3/+9Weight? Long? I don't think weight can be measured in length can it?
        • bugsy187, on 10/10/2007, -2/+6Thanks for clearing that up. It's nice of you to set time aside for commenting when you're not folding socks, ironing your underwear and sorting your jar of jellybeans by color. We must have had no idea what he was trying to say.

          Here's a typo for you....

          their're

          Have a ball.
      • BlackMask, on 10/10/2007, -13/+2Yeah I mean when every now and then you have to send that ***** in for repairs only to get ***** by MS with a refurbished dildo, which would again break down sooner than the previous one did, you don't really wanna doubt that the weight isn't a hella lot longer
        • Whaines, on 10/10/2007, -1/+6Every time I show BlackMask's comments I remember why I blocked him.
          • skyfire1, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1Because Kevin Rose got his ***** sucked by every blocked person on Digg. That's why.
    • jacen, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4Um.... no. Obviously, as the article shows.

      Personally, I requested the day off weeks ago and got it. But if they decided to work me that day, I have too strong of a work ethic to have called in sick.
    • mojaam, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6No it's not awesome, my roommates decide to do a co-op thing last night until who knows (I didn't sleep until around 2:30a), when I have an 8:30am exam to take in the morning. Halo is freaking drug!
    • gimlik, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3I know I couldn't. Took not one, but two days off :)
    • skyfire1, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2I haven't gone to school since Wednesday.
  • gregdogum, on 10/10/2007, -2/+35Hmm... I gotta be in at work in 6 hours... ah, I'll just keep playing.
    • BlackMask, on 10/10/2007, -26/+3Have some towels ready too. You never know when you will see the rings! Make sure you learn the towel trick before planning on playing Halo3 for more than 6 hours. Oh in other news I have been playing Warhawk on my ps3 almost every day for the past month for 9 hours a day non-stop and i haven't shut down the ps3 ever since i bought it. and when i'm not playing it's folding@home.

      So much for the hype. MS do know how to make money out of ***** jaggy products that has no anti-aliasing and next-gen graphics.
      • rochdale, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6oh my word, where did that tirade come from?
      • Chicito, on 10/10/2007, -0/+8Another butthurt PS3 fanboy /sigh
    • paranox, on 10/10/2007, -2/+9If you posted this comment, you are obviously not playing. Therefore you have no reason to be awake.
  • jwmcevoy, on 10/10/2007, -31/+5FYI - Halo 3 sucks if you have dialup. Even with my AOL speed booster, I can't seem to connect.
    • Bartboy919, on 10/10/2007, -4/+19Dialup? I though Broadband was required for Xbox Live.
    • AwesomeMonster, on 10/10/2007, -3/+10Welcome to the world of tomorrow. You are going to find that most every online game sucks with dial up.
    • Lyanto, on 10/10/2007, -3/+15Lol, AOL speed booster. All that does is compress stuff (mostly text) before sending it to you.
    • skywake, on 10/10/2007, -2/+20AOL? get off my internets!!
    • pikpikcarrotmon, on 10/10/2007, -10/+14What are you, Jewish? It's like five bucks more per month to have internet that doesn't suck.
      • 1longtime, on 10/10/2007, -13/+5Thanks for the Jewish stereotype, jerk.
      • pikpikcarrotmon, on 10/10/2007, -4/+13You're welcome. Pansy.
      • smergs, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3Believe it or not, there are still some rural areas that do not have the option for broadband. My parents just got DSL about a year and a half ago finally. The guy came out to install it and was like... oh.. I don't know if you are going to be able to get it out here but we'll try. To his surprise they got it to work but they said they would charge them for the DSL Lite package because they couldn't get the full speed where they live.

        More in line with the story, I sure as hell took off of work on Tuesday to play the game.
    • Murdats, on 10/10/2007, -1/+10life sucks if you have dialup.
    • BlackMask, on 10/10/2007, -9/+2news flash: halo3 sucks if you can't play it on your 3fixme due to RROD. What are you supposed to for the 5 weeks that MS would take to replace your brand-new RROD-ed box with a ***** refurbished one? musterbate?
      • moleboy, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2to put it simply, yes.
      • MikeWanDo, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2Please enlighten me on how to musterbate. I've never done it before. Though you could try masterbating.
    • rotorhead47, on 10/10/2007, -3/+3Dude, AOL speed boost? That is soooo lame. Try netzero. We have spam blocker. I am clocking in at 56K baud, duplex. All broadband does is give an outlet to the military-industrial pop-up ad conglomerate a chance to send you ads. With Netzero dialup its pure action all of the time. and Halo 3 sucks becuase it is so violent. thats whats wrong with our society. why is the master chief a hero? its another example of us detroying "aliens" like the arbiter. Just like when we have killed hundreds of thousands of millions of innocent peace loving iraqis.
    • Butros, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4HE'S JOKING PEOPLE! jesus...
  • GCarden, on 10/10/2007, -12/+2Ironically, I really WAS sick the day this came out and I don't even own a 360. :(
  • carterbaldwin, on 10/10/2007, -4/+25*cough hack cough* Yeah, I've got a really bad case of, uh, the Flood. *cough* it is TOO a real disease. *hack* I'll be back at work around monday. *cough sniffle cough*
  • qasabah, on 10/10/2007, -6/+49In Iran we don't have Halo 3 like in your country.
  • Eshestun, on 10/10/2007, -21/+13Already beat.
    Short and clone of Halo 1 and 2.
    Looks like overhype for Halo really does exist.
    • Sedako, on 10/10/2007, -9/+5The game play in the single player campaign has never been the strong point of the series.
      • Eshestun, on 10/10/2007, -10/+7But it still is a point, and it is very disappointing.

        The online play isn't exactly riveting either. I thought it would've changed from Beta, but I guess not.
    • BlackMask, on 10/10/2007, -19/+2Warhawk for the ps3 doesn't have single player yet its multiplayer features can lock you up in front of the TV for 8 hours straight. And with all seriousness, Warhawk's graphics (although most people call it cartoonish) is way more better than that jagged BS called Halo 3. Hell Resistance's graphics is 10 times better than this and the game's multiplayer never suffered even though it too sold a million copies and more.

      I'm seriously no fanboy and I have possibly all the trailers, gameplay movies and even played the beta on a friend's console and this, my friend, is no way interesting when you keep in mind the big and sick FPS games that are coming out for the ps3 on november and in 2008. I know fanboys still say ps3 doesn't have good games but 2007 isn't the year of sony. Give it time or send your 360 in for repairs and suck your thumbs.

      I have COD4 for the ps3 preordered. Good luck with your sucking your own thumbs while waiting for MS to send your box back while I will be playing the game online. Oh and UT3 is going to have keyboard and mouse support for the ps3 right outta the box. and read this fannies: http://www.joystiq.com/2007/08/03/keyboard-and-mou ...
      • taxman, on 10/10/2007, -1/+10"I'm seriously no fanboy"

        ha ha...........understatement of the year!
    • moleboy, on 10/10/2007, -2/+7Well maybe if you stopped and savored the campaign a little more. My god I've had so much fun with it. I still haven't beaten it yet, even though I could have on the first day. I'm looking forward to getting a chance to play some 4 player co-op.
    • MagicCake, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I thought it was great. So screw you.
  • xerus, on 10/10/2007, -2/+25You can beat the game and still make it into work for the second half of the day...
  • inspecality, on 10/10/2007, -2/+8I got it at midnight Tuesday with my friend, then played from 1 AM to 9 AM on legendary co-op. His power went off, so I packed up my TV/360, went home, played matchmaking until his power came back on, and finished the fight. All in all, I slept for about 3 hours on Tuesday.
    • hockey, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Your dedication inspires me man. I need more practice.
  • drakethegreat, on 10/10/2007, -0/+8Just finished playing for 6 hours today after class. That was after around 10+ hours yesterday and 4 hours the night it was released. Yet I'm not skipping class for it. Was tired as hell at my project dev. class though.
    • hockey, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1It's a valid excuse. Any sane prof can see that.
  • gcnaddict, on 10/10/2007, -1/+24This is how Microsoft deals with competing employers. ;)
  • NikoKun, on 10/10/2007, -2/+32haha Take that economy...
  • tmyprod, on 10/10/2007, -8/+17If this is was halo 3 has done, imagine what Starcraft 2 will do.
    • iirrkk, on 10/10/2007, -14/+4meh, not as exciting.
    • leonhyral, on 10/10/2007, -0/+14Multiple the effect of Halo 3 on the American public tenfold. You now have South Korea.
    • psbpv3o, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7yeah korea will just shutdown. All they need is some power to run their computers and many could last a couple of weeks.
  • khyberkitsune, on 10/10/2007, -3/+8And I'll bet lots of people lost their jobs, and didn't care, either!
  • LOLSteelBullet, on 10/10/2007, -8/+3Good for them. Stuff like this shows that employer doesn't have control over the employee as much as they'd like to believe.
    • frishack, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3you sound like you're 14 years old, and don't have a clue about life.
  • Srcc, on 10/10/2007, -3/+2This seems like just the sort of article MS would have its PR people push. I'm sure some people will skip work... but enough for a bunch of news outlets to write surprisingly similar stories about? Probably not.
  • RidiculousHat, on 10/10/2007, -4/+21Shame on gamers for letting their obedience to technology impact their education and work.
    I'd write a longer comment, but I really shouldn't be on digg in the office...
    • rochdale, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5I can smuggle you in some heroin and chewing gum, if you swap me some smokes.
  • generalzod1, on 10/10/2007, -3/+7This is a poorly written article.
    • generalchaos316, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2Lol! I have yet to comment on Digg yet, but I felt compelled to do so after reading this piss poor worthless article. I'm glad at least SOMEONE beat me to it. I'm sure he was given the assignment and tried to make the best of it...but you can clearly tell that he was talking to a few people in line at his local GameStop while picking up his copy, typed it up on his cell phone while waiting to cash out, played all night and called in the next day...
    • Klarth, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7this iz a porly writed coment
  • zeifers, on 10/10/2007, -2/+11i took some time off for metroid prime 3
    • ninjakoala, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Over here in Europe we're still waiting. Thanks Nintendo.

      Oh well, Halo 3 isn't a bad diversion till then ;)
    • thetrza, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3haha, what an idiot.
  • Frnnkdlxx, on 10/10/2007, -8/+4I think this will be a blessing in disguise. America is already affected with the workaholic syndrome. We are basically slaves to the workplace and statistically we are the hardest working nation on Earth. It's time that we recognized that there are other things to interest oneself in, and that the corporation or company is not your master. YOU are the master of IT.

    .... Oh wait.. Globalization has brought Indian, Chinese, and Mexican workers closer to putting our jobs at jeopardy.. I TAKE BACK EVERYTHING I SAID! DESTROY HALO!
  • cavie2002, on 10/10/2007, -3/+15i told my teacher i was sick on Tuesday and she asked me if i got th flood virus
    • smek2, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7Wow, you can really be proud of yourself.
  • philhatesyou, on 10/10/2007, -16/+3If you like Halo, then you're probably too dumb to be productive at work or to be studying anything real at school, so let's not pretend this matters.
  • tommytime101, on 10/10/2007, -6/+1i called in yesterday and today!!!
    • KingGoonie, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5thats.. sad.
      • devate, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1No kidding. I really hope some of these people bosses check digg and see exactly why their employees called in sick.
    • KingGoonie, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3sorry, this woudl have been a double post, so instead i edited it to say um.. that this woudl have been a double post.
  • smek2, on 10/10/2007, -10/+6I don't get this Halo hype. Really, i just don't get it. I'm not playing it, so i don't know if it's any good, but i'm willing to believe that it is. But still it's a ***** game. C'mon, you calling in sick for a game? Your behavior hardly makes me believe you really got jobs at all. Most of you surely living comfortably at hotel home, get food from mama and pocket money and stuff.
    • KingGoonie, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7I completely agree, but would like to see the demographics for this. Again if your calling out of your career.... loser. If your calling out of McDonalds though... well who cares.
    • MagicCake, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2I'm inclined to agree with you... I bought it, and it was awesome, but I don't see why anyone would feel the need to skip work for it. You're right, it is just a game.
    • PlaceboNation, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2Absolutely agree on both comments. We are already behind technology wise. Our dollar is dropping and these ***** call off for Halo. No really, the last two sucked, why are you calling off? That ***** would taste much better after you get home from work and know that on top of having a bad ass game in your possession you also did your duty as a man/woman and a citizen.
  • casemon, on 10/10/2007, -4/+2no dig for corporate hype fud article (much more effective and terrible than ads even)
  • KingGoonie, on 10/10/2007, -7/+5Wow... what losers these people are. I don't mean people who requested vacation time... I mean if you have alot of days stored up and want to use one and submitted for it ahead of time ok (And by alot of days I mean at least 10... because to waste a day on that a game otherwise...)... but for people to call out "sick" to play? Thats kinda pathetic and I'm thinking no one over 18 did it... I mean its a game! Think about it. Thats sad.

    And for that other article... Halo 3 only had the biggest opening ever because of its cost. Spiderman 3 sold moreof tickets in its first day... and Harry Potter sold at least 3 times the amount of books in its first day... So lets not get crazy. (and im basing these comparisons on if Halo sold 2.5 million, might of sold a little less or more, but thats what I'm giving it.

    And it won't even get in top 5 if most sold game ever, let alone the top 1... I mean jeez if every single 360 owner bought a copy it still wouldnt be in top 15!
  • Aharoni, on 10/10/2007, -0/+9I called in sick... and I don't even own an Xbox 360!
  • iherbivore, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6Why does everyone call in sick? I merely asked for the day off so I could play Halo, and told my son's teacher he was taking a vacation day. What a bunch of liars.
    • KingGoonie, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2See that isn't bad... again unless you had few vacation days left and wasted one. But calling out sick? I mean why!??!!? You know when the games coming out, so why not request it beforehand?!?!!?1
    • devate, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1You kept your kid home from school for a video game? WTF?? I think there is priority problem here.
  • Hewolf1982, on 10/10/2007, -1/+7Boy no wonder most the people in this country can't locate America on a world map. Were to busy not going to class and work to play a damn video game. I own a 360 and I bet it will be there when I get back from work/school.
    • KingGoonie, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2Probably why they can't use simple mathematics to figure out why Halo 3 isn't the biggest opening in entertainment history. Heres a hint: GROSS involves money. BIGGEST is a term kinda geared more towards volume... So Halo 3 isn't the biggest... and is not bigger then Spiderman 3's weekend, nor even close to Harry Potters first day. BOTH of those other things had bigger crowds...
      • Hewolf1982, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Who the ***** cares what game/movie did better. Does it better your life in anyway. Why people need to argue over ***** that has nothing to do with anything is beyond me.
        • KingGoonie, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Hewolf, have you seen the 1000 digg articles about it (though granted only one got the main page, check out how many people are posting...) How Microsoft is bragging they had the biggest entertainment event ever? So apparently quite a few care... I'm simply saying its not true... and if you know simple math you can figure that out... which ties in to people taking off of school, which is the comment the guy said that I replied to.
  • shibainu, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1which was bigger? madden or halo. alot of people took off for "maddenoliday"
  • Etimmeh, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Is it bad that I want to wait till I've completed Bioshock before playing Halo? I brought the limited edition yesterday morning (when it was released in the uk). I feel like I'm wasting money if I start playing a new game before completing something else. Also I'd never see any endings.
    • KingGoonie, on 10/10/2007, -2/+2Its not bad. I'm the same way. I am backed up on games for the Wii because I still have to finish scarface... and the reason I didn't finish that is because the rule is "one game per system" at a time for me... not one game overall. So I am simultaneously playing Picross, Scarface, GTA:Vice City Stories and just got FF6 a few days ago.. so its hard to finish one when I'm playing all of them lol (Ok granted 2 of those games I'm playing on the DS so perhaps the one per system rule doesn't apply to that, but technically FF6 is a GBA game).

      I wanted to get Mario Strikers but haven't yet because I'm not done the above games. And now I'm not getting Prime 3 either yet for the same reason... Actually those might be games I get at end of year or later since Galaxy is coming out soon so I will have to put that ahead of everything... then Smash... lol. Actually I never played Prime 2, so I think I might even have to get that before 3.
      • Etimmeh, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Strikers is a great game. There is obviously the championship aspect of it, but like mario kart it is something that is most fun when played with friends. I don't mind not completing it because I've done most of the challenges and completed the first two cups, and it still gets a lot of multiplayer game time. Similarly the DS doesn't count, main game there is meteos. I've had FFIII since May and haven't completed it yet though. Everything goes on hold for Smash Bros though, I managed to complete all the cube challenges and I intend to do the same on the Wii
        • KingGoonie, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2And my nephew has strikers and is telling me how great it is... thats more incentive to get it since I could play him online as well as the normal search for competition thing.
          But I am not sure if he set it his wii for online yet, he hadn't last time I was there but said he now is, but still doesn't know much about how to get online in games and stuff... So I guess I will help him out with that next time I'm there, and then when he is all good to go I will get the game.
      • devate, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I know how it goes being backed up on games. Hell, I still have games for my GC that I haven't finished yet (Baten Kaitos, Viewtiful Joe 1 and 2, etc.) on top of the ones for my Wii and I'm not even going to go into the older systems I own. I know it's really sad but I haven't finished Twilight Princess yet, lol. I probably won't buy any new games for a while so I can go back and finish off some of my old ones.....I hate leaving things unfinished. You should definatly pick up Prime 3 when you get a chance, but you should really play through Prime 2 before playing 3.....urgh....too many games to play and not enough time, lol.
  • Freetime000, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Monday one of my employees tells me he's standing in line for Halo 3 that night... It's now Thursday and he's still "sick" He better let me borrow the game for the weekend as a jesture or good faith.
    • devate, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1You're far too forgiving, just tell him to either show proof that he is actually sick or have his ass to work on friday or he's fired. Then follow through if he doesn't show for work or produce proof that he's legitimatly sick.
  • warchant, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1this is the very reason i didn't buy the game this week...next week however...
  • skyfire1, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Halo 3 makes me glad I sold my Wii for $300.
    • OAKsider, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1And X360 at a loss after getting bored another Halo.
  • JoeRW, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Im going to be 'sick as a dog' when HL ep2 comes out, Crysis, Assassins Creed, and maybe even Mass Effect and Call of Duty 4. No lies in my email to management. Sick dogs still play stick.
  • DarthBrady, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I took 2 days off a month in advance.
  • stash4me, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0I was tempted to call in sick after picking up my pre-order @ midnight, but my wife would have pwnd me. :(
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