Halo 5 Guardians Official Midnight Launch in Penrith NSW

Well it's official. Halo 5 Guardians is now available to purchase and play until your tea bagging heart is content. For Halo 5's release, Microsoft teamed up with EB Games Penrith (Westfields) to run the midnight launch event. The Aussie Gamers Express team were invited to join in on the festivities.


It has been a couple of years now since I have attended a good midnight launch and I had almost forgotten what they could be like. The Halo 5 midnight launch was held in a venue that was well suited to the needs.

All of those hungry Halo fans were looked after with free hotdogs, pizzas, coffee, frappes and a whole heap of more free things to put into your mouth. The evening kicked off at 9pm and already there were about 50-100 people hanging around making their final payments for their beloved Xbox One game. While we all waited for the clock to tick over there were entertainment vices set up to keep us all busy. There were 8 TV's set up with Xbox One's which were connected to a LAN for some gaming on the Master Chief collection. A competition was also held where trophies were awarded to winners. On top of that there was a DJ pumping music through the shopping centre which gave off a night club feel.

Now I must give a special mention to the EB Games staff of the evening. They were are extremely pleasant and made me think that they must have been on some sort of special pay rate for the night due to their extremely helpful and pleasant nature. They were all lovely and a pleasure to speak with.

As expected, we got a visit from Spartan Locke and the Master Chief himself. The armour suits were absolutely amazing. Along with the official characters there were a team of excellent home made cosplayers that turned up too (thanks Max).

The most important part of the night would have to be the part where everyone picks up their long awaited game. I predicted that it would take approximately 10 minutes for everyone to filter through and pick up their game. I was impressed to see this feat done in about 8 minutes. Which means that most of the eager gamers were on their way back to their Xbox's in no time at all. Everything seemed to run smoothly and it was executed by the EB Games staff with smiles on their faces.

I look forward to the next one.

Lucas Aurelius