If you have noticed smaller class sizes lately, it might not be a result of withdraw passes. Likely, your classmates are still enrolled in the class. So where are they?

They’re playing Halo 2.

Possibly the biggest Xbox game of the year, Halo 2 hit campus last week after three years of anticipation.

Frank Shoultz, sophomore, went to the local Meijer’s store at 3:30 a.m. on Nov. 9, the first day Halo 2 was allowed to be sold in stores across the country, to buy a copy.

So far, he likes what Halo’s developer, Bungie, has done with the game.

“The graphics are a little better,” Shoultz said. “The menus are more organized.”

After making his purchase, Shoultz stayed up until 7 a.m. playing the game before getting some sleep.

Shoultz is not the only person who stayed up late to buy Halo 2.

250 people lined up in front of the EB Games in Toledo for the game’s midnight release.

“It was a circus, it was huge,” Mike Kohn, employee at EB Games, said.

Roughly 400 people pre-ordered Halo 2 at Kohn’s store alone, with an estimated 2 million pre-orders at video game retailers across North America.

In a press release, Microsoft claimed to sell over 2.3 million copies on Halo 2’s first day on sale. The company estimates that it made over $125 million in one day, a figure larger than any motion picture’s opening day sales in history.

Tony Georges is one of the many, who contributed to that figure.

The sophomore said Halo 2 plays faster than its predecessor and has several new features he likes.

“Dual wielding adds a lot more strategy,” Georges said. “Dual wielding” is a new feature to Halo 2 that allows players to carry and fire two guns at once.

The game’s single-player campaign mode is similar to the original Halo’s, according to Georges. “It’s kinda like more of the same, but if it’s not broken, don’t fix it,” he said.

Matt McCracken, a freshman, also likes Halo 2 but has some criticisms against it.

“I like the first [game’s] multiplayer [mode] better,” McCracken said, adding that the original Halo’s multiplayer maps are better than some of the sequel’s offerings.

Another of McCracken’s complaints is aimed at the active camouflage power-up that both Halo games feature. The active camouflage renders a player almost completely transparent, but players with the power-up are more visible in Halo 2 than the original game, said McCracken.

Despite all that, McCracken still enjoys Halo 2’s multiplayer mode. He connects his Xbox to the University network to play games against other Halo 2 players across campus.

This practice is not uncommon, and 30 to 50 players or more can be seen playing Halo 2 over the school network on any given night.

Halo 2 also features multiplayer over “Xbox Live,” Microsoft’s online gaming network. The game comes with a free two-month subscription to Xbox Live, a service that normally costs about $40 for a year.

Shoults does not plan on playing on Xbox Live, however. “It’d be a waste of money because I can just play with friends and it’s the same thing,” he said.

Georges, however, plans on playing Halo 2 online once a version of the game is released for the PC.

“It’s awesome,” Georges said. “If you haven’t played it, definitely play it.”