UPDATED for the next hour or so; recent posts on top.

8:37 PM Portrait of the Gamer as a Young Man: 

That’s Jack. He has a Halo 3 logo painted on his skull.  You’ll see more of him in a minute.

Saw some more levels. Prepare yourself: there’s a sand planet level and an ice planet level. I can’t think of a game that doesn’t have those levels. The Curious George Phonics Circus level had an ice planet level. Final verdict? It looked like Halo, all right. The vehicles had an odd weightlessness to them, as before. The needler gun looks useful, finally. The graphics are brilliant. The –

Oh, you don’t care. You want the kid again, don’t you? Of course. He has his game face on:

Verdict of the evening, Jack?

Two thumbs up! We second that.  

7:26 PM

Back from the demo room. Smells . . . dormy in there. It’s a bit surreal to watch other people play the game. No, that’s not the word. It’s a bit boring to watch other people play. That’s it. They sit immobile, eyes fixed on the screen, fingers working in intricate combinations that make minute adjustments twice a second.

AAUUUUGHH! DUDE! THAT WAS SWEET!

That's a direct quote, too. It came from a boisterous team on the other side of the room; they may have gotten a head start with the beers. The cola kids are more restrained, and perhaps more lethal; they look immobile, but their concentration is total. They are in that world. They're the ones you'll find online at 3 AM Saturday morning.

Overall mood: it’s great. It’s Halo! As one guys said: "More weapons, more vehicles and you can rip off a gun turret and carry it around."

“You could do that in Halo 2,” someone corrects.

“Right, well, you can still do it.”

How does it look? Frankly, it’s hard to tell on most of the screens, but the sharpest screens in the darkest part of the room show definite improvements in graphics. It’s gorgeous. Also bloodless, which is interesting; for all the talk about the Horrific Effects of gaming on the youth, there’s no gore in the multiplayer combat. No severed limbs, no fountains of Type O. You die, you fall down, you get up again. Yes, it’s a bad lesson, and teaches people that violence has no consequence, just as Pac-Man taught a generation that eating round dots turns your pursuers into blinking ghosts, and Donkey Kong made us all a little more confident around barrel-throwing monkeys than we should have been.

Going back for another look. Just had to get a little fresh air.

7:04 PM Just talked to Steve Loethen, Microsoft Developer Evangelist. He’s wearing a kilt. Why? “FREEDOM!” he shouts with a big wild grin. (I hope he’s referring to the Mel Gibson movie. On the other hand, this is a game about commandos.) So how's it going?

“The public support for this game is such that it’s probably going to be the biggest entertainment launch in history," Steve says. "Bigger than Harry Potter, bigger than Spiderman.”

Two or three?

“Three. We’ve presold 3.5 million copies. I was at Best Buy at two, three this afternoon, there were guys lining up for it. And these are guys who’ve already paid for it. They just don’t want to wait too long after midnight.” He grins again. “The buzz is just amazing.”

He fills in the details on this soiree: There are 14 such events around the country. Arranging online battles with the different time zones was too much bother, so the various regions are having their own online tournaments. Right now the Minnesotans are competing among themselves for the right to represent us in the struggle against the Dallas, Chicago and Detroit clans. It’s like Rollerball, without the violence and threat of James Caan’s bare butt.

No pictures until midnight, alas. Liveblogging will also be a big difficult, since the Microsoft wireless is not available to outsiders. I’m using a device we techies call “a long pink wire” to connect to a wall port, so I have to return to the spot to update. On the other hand, it’s right by one of the buffets. It was just restocked with 58 pounds of chicken satays, which I suspect will remain untouched. People are here to game, not slather bird chunks with peanut sauce.

Heading in now to look at the game. I’m almost afraid to look, really. It’s been built up into this HUGE INCREDIBLE THING so realistic you will never leave your house because actual nature will look like an 8mm B&W home movie from 1956.

6:40 PM Blogging from an obscure corner of an office tower in the southwest Metro. Mere yards away, Halo 3 is being played; there’s a sound of explosion and an overall sense of sparkly effervescent testosterone. Dominant aroma: those ubiquitous BBQ meatballs. Lots of cold cuts, sliced wraps, beer and wine. Given the target market, you think a Hefty lawn bag full of Cheetos and cold pizza would be sufficient. The green leafy healthy wraps are untouched. You understand why. It’s green. Could be kryptonite.

Two gamers sighted. They look about 12. Combined. They’re trying to get beer. They’re carded.

Swag thus far: a wristband. But I’m sure it’s a collectible wristband.

Updates will be placed at the top of the post. Here we go!