Ok, so I went to the Bellevue event. It sort of sucked for me, had to work and then I got there at about 10:15. There were about 300-400 poeple when I finally arrived and they gave out most of the stuff they said they would. Bungie & BB employees went up and down the line giving out hats, shirts, glowing molecule balls (nothing to do with Halo), pamphlets, the 4th Halo book "Ghosts of Onyx," and the Action clix figurines (though there were only about 20 of those).
After the line started to move I saw some of the people from the front with the fold up chairs, but i never saw anyone with the Halo edition Zune's, which is the only reason I went. When I got in the store they had a line that led us past the Halo 3 360's, Halo 3 controllers, the several different editions of the game (still couldn't beleive that I got a Legendary edition), and 360 pro's.
The only real negative thing I have to say about this and launches similar to it, is that the retailers and promo people never have a real idea of how to keep things ordered. They were simply throwing swag out willy nilly, and most if not all of the bigger ticket items went to really annoying a-holes to the front who were yelling at staffers to give them stuff. In addition, about forty people cut to the front within the last 40 minutes, same thing happened to me with the 360 launch two years ago.
I guess I expected them to hand out stuff to true fans of Halo (no offense to anyone else). Meaning I thought people would get rewarded for trivia queries, or interacting with people, maybe even a raffle. Eh, what do I know?!
All in all, satisfied I went, got a couple of hats and shirts, one set for my friend, and secured a Legendary edition. But I may just be getting too old for these types of events. I always seem to get the shaft becuase I am not the type of guy who cuts in line, yells at people who are doing their job or pushes others so I can catch a free piece of swag. Oh well, no more waiting in line for launches for me.