A Thursday night seems a strange time to launch a video game, especially if said game is one of the most anticipated games of the past two years. This is a game, though, that will make people stay home from work to play. Epic Games was only too kind in giving gamers a perfect excuse for a long weekend.

Gears of War 2 was released at over 20,000 retail outlets across the globe at 12:01 AM on November 7th. One of the largest launch parties worldwide was held at the Gamestop/EB Games at the Universal CityWalk location in Los Angeles, California. Approximately 1,000 people attended the midnight launch. Earlier in the day, gamers picked up wristbands that would allow them access to a fenced-off area directly in front of the stage. Regular lines were allowed to start forming at 11 o’clock in the morning on November 6th.

By 6 PM, about half of the 100 people granted access to the sacred corral had parked themselves comfortably on the concrete, mere feet from the stage. Meanwhile, the line of regular Gearheads started in front of the Hard Rock Café just across from GameStop, and slinked around the building into the darkness. One young man in a homemade COG uniform was admired by everyone, and posed obligingly for countless photographs.

At roughly 10:00 PM, Xbox Live’s Major Nelson welcomed the crowd and introduced Epic Games’ most favored son, Cliff Bleszinski, design director and proud daddy of Gears of War 2. Cliff shared his excitement and enthusiasm with the cheering fans, who were waiting to get a glimpse of the game in action.

They would continue to wait. Major introduced members of “Nightmare Armor,” a group of people who make COG armor costumes for commissions and wear their own outfits to special events. Major then talked up the crowd and selected five people at random to play the multiplayer part of the game. The gamers selected ran from veteran players to people who had no idea what their gamerscore was. They were introduced to everybody and ushered inside to waiting consoles.