Activision and Infinity Ward have held the Modern Warfare 2 carrot just out of our reach for what feels like ages, but tomorrow, or tonight at midnight, the already feels like game of the year, hits shelves.

Analysts are predicting the game to sell over 3.5 million units on day one, toppling Halo 3’s mark, and based on the gargantuan reserve rates, that end seems extremely likely.

In my small town in New Hampshire, the GameStop I’ll trek to tonight, one of two in the region, has a whopping 250+ reserves for the title, according to a GameStop employee I spoke with today.

Yeah, people are pretty excited about the game, if you are, feel free to vent/comment/peacefully talk about the game in the comments section of this story. We’re calling this the official Modern Warfare 2 forum!

Here, I’ll start.

Again, it’ll have a very, very short campaign. Friends who’ve played early copies tell me less than six hours, but also related how facemeltingly amazing the single-player is, in that short window.

But if you’re like me, and I’m willing to bet you are, the real draw, and lasting appeal in MW2 is its multiplayer. It was here, in CoD4, that I racked up too many hours to admit, and if the sequel plays out the way it so very looks like it will, I’ll be spending hours and hours of time (which I don’t have) in the matchmaking fragging, knifing, and shooting my way to Xbox Live glory.

Sadly, I’m tied up at work until 3:30 a.m., guesses as to my nightly career endeavors are up to you, but I’ll be skipping out at 12 to snag my copy.

Odds are your GameStop is holding a midnight release, but before you head out, I’d drop them a line, just to make sure.

Eddie Makuch is Blast's Director of Video Game News. Reach him at Makuch.E@BlastMagazine.com. Follow him on Twitter @EddieMakuch.