At least in my area... The closest gamestop to my house is a small store and they are around 300 preorders of Halo 3 (all versions). I was at the largest gamestop in my area this weekend and they were over 500. The manager heard me ask about it and chimed it that it is "accelerating" as the game gets closer and expects to probably reach close to 1000. I realize its a stretch and is anecdotal, but assuming roughly 4000 stores in the U.S. and 500 units sold/store, that's a whole lot of preorders not counting other big box retailers... Could it be they reach 2.5 million preorders/sales the first week? The retail prices are 59.95, 69.95 and 129.95. Assuming out of 10 sales it would be 7 regular, 2 limited and 1 legendary, a weighted average retail price would be around $69 bucks. 2.5 million copies sold in the opening period would be $172.5 million right out of the gate. Didn't Microsoft state they wanted this to be the biggest opening number for an entertainment title (both video game and movie)? I think that record stands at about $150 million for Spiderman 3 in the U.S. but I could be wrong. I don't think there is any reason at this point why they won't only beat that number but smash it to bits... Ask your local eb games/gamestop what they are up to... I'm just curious. I ordered a "Legendary" and will see how it goes. If they are on Ebay for high dollars, I'll pick it up and Ebay it and then get the regular version as I don't really care about the extras. If too many Legendary Editions are made and there is no Ebay market, I'll just cancel the preorder and spend the cash on a regular edition. Just as a side note, I sold TWO Limited Bioshocks for $119 each... Some people just can't wait or don't plan ahead.

*Edit* -- I should have added that I'm in a smaller market and my numbers probably don't represent the bigger picture very well.  The total population of the major city where I live plus all the surrounding smaller towns is about 1 million total.  I suspect the numbers are just vulgar in places like LA, NYC, Chicago, and so on. 

Crazy thing is, pre-order reports are nowhere near the 7/2/1 ratio for the various editions.

It's been more like (according to reports), 4.5/2/3.5

I assume everyone is worried they won't get their copy of H3 day-one, and are therefore reserving it.

Either way, that Tuesday will be madness at my local EB. They already have 300+ preorders for it. I was one of the 80 that preordered Oblivion when it launched, and THAT was madness.

I also have noticed that Halo 3 has two SKUs consisently in the top 15 at Amazon and the Legendary is always in the top fifty for the past few weeks...

Halo 3 is even ahead of Metroid Prime 3 right now which is even more stunning as I thought MP3 would easily beat it for at least this week.

I don't know where they are at in total pre-orders but the marketing monster seems to be getting everyone hyped really well.

There are around 8 or 9 game stops in my area and when my brother placed the preorder for us he went to the most remote one but I'm pretty sure that there are atleast 750 at that one gamestop. I think the numbers are going to be huge. I can't wait to see what the official sales are.

Whoa!  even if you pull that back a bit to, say, 5/2/3, that's still a net out at about $83 per unit sold.  At 2.5 million copies, that's, uh, a lot of money. 

Let's hope that none of these ppl who preorder it or who plan to purchase it are disappointed with it.

I pre-ordered mine last year and I'm still gonna go to a midnight launch somewhere just to enjoy the Hype.

 I don't want to bet a lot on that.

What is interesting is that Preordering games is actually quite frustrating outside of the specialty shops. For instance I want to get the game through my local Walmart. However the site is not allowing for site to store pickup. They are only allowing for shipping. Which is actually quite pointless. There is also no reservation service either.

I rather expect that Microsoft will not short the demand. However you can never be one hundred percent certain. Unfortunately even if it had site to store. I would still need a damned copy of the email. Which means when I get off work that night I would have to drive home get the email hoping they sent it, and then drive to the store.

I suppose I will end up being one of those people in line. I would rather get it at midnight and be uncertain rather then preorder it and get it one or two days later. I want to be one of the first online. Then again the local Walmart allowed people to preorder the Harry Potter book so perhaps I will have to check inside.

 Are there no boutique stores near you?  If you are planning on showing up at one for the midnight launch and you have not prepaid, you are probably not going to be a happy camper.  If you haven't paid in full for it you will have to wait in line to pay the balance and could be there for quite a while.  On the few occasions where I have preordered, I paid IN FULL.  I showed up with my driver's license and walked out in a few moments.  I NEVER want any part of a midnight launch without having paid 100 percent up front before I arrive.... ESPECIALLY not when there are 300+ people in a store the size of my master bedroom.