At 12:01 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 25, Halo 3 was released.

At 11:45 p.m. Monday, Sept. 24, at least 85 people were waiting in line outside the Asbury Plaza EB Games in Dubuque, Iowa, for a midnight release party.

Some came out of fear that there wouldn’t be enough copies of the game for everyone. Others came because of false rumors that it was being sold early.

One popular reason for people being at a game store so late on a weeknight was clear, though; people love the Halo series.

“Halo 2 is still the most-played Xbox Live game, and it’s three years old now,” Aaron Locke, store manager of the Asbury Plaza EB Games store in Dubuque, said. “Most Xbox Live [users have moved] to the Xbox 360, and Halo 2 was released for the original Xbox. Obviously that title is gonna be overthrown tonight.”

The third game in a series of first-person shooters for the Xbox and Xbox 360 gaming consoles, Halo tells the story of the Master Chief, a super-soldier fighting for Earth against the Covenant, an invading race of aliens bent on destroying humanity.

EB Games had really good launches for Madden NFL 08 and Guitar Hero II, Locke said. He thought it wasn’t unreasonable to expect a couple hundred people to come by 1 a.m.

Earlier in the night, a tournament was held with prizes awarded. Six sweaty gamers continued playing until 11 p.m. when everyone who wanted to get their copy had to line up outside. Several National Guardsmen sat out front with a –Humvee, and some of them tried to recruit.

“The reason we came down was to see if any people were interested,” Private First Class Nick Kelly, of 11 Bravo Infantry from Dubuque, said. “We figure if you like that kind of stuff, you might like the army.”

If someone was interested, a soldier would write down the person’s name and number and give them a call with more information.

One soldier was there for other reasons.

“I’m just a big Halo fan,” ROTC Cadet Ryan Bankson, a sophomore political science major from Loras College in Dubuque, said. “I had to get Halo 3. It owns.”

“I really liked the first and second ones,” Mike Omara, a Best Buy employee waiting in line, said. “I have to see the end. I’ll probably play it till I go to work tomorrow.”

“Then I’ll go to sleep for four hours and go to class,” Nick Matous, Northeast Iowa Community College mathematics sophomore, said. “Dude, I’m gonna be so [screwed] tomorrow.”

Mike Lunn, a junior UW-Platteville business finance major, drove 20 minutes to Dubuque to avoid the chaos of a midnight rush at Platteville’s Wal-Mart.

“Even though I’ve got a [ton] of stuff to do tomorrow, you gotta do what you gotta do,” Lunn said. “[Playing games] is what I love to do. It’s my break away from reality I guess.”