I don't think it will do as well as Halo 2 because of the incredible hype of other games this year, the lower install base (chart halo2 around week 150?, halo 3 around week 93?), RROD and Disc drive problems may inflate the installed number (I never got mine fixed, I traded it in for my Wii, before warranty extensions),

Guess: Halo 3 will get mediocre reviews and less word of mouth than 2, cutting off its legs. GoW, Bioshock, etc. will be competing. But really, who knows?

I am surprised at the lowish attach rate of Halo 2. Halo 2 was by far one of the most solid experiences of gameplay, graphics, and fun on Xbox. I would think more than half would have a copy, could this be from piracy, rentals, Xbox owners who bought it for Zapper.

Edit: Fixed link. 

 So true, but GT kinda saves their ass on that front they still have that world wide juggernout. Also GTA is still on Ps3 and not on the wii it could be way worse.

Like if GTA4 was 360 exclusive ouch.

^Well, 360 seems to have episodic contest which is exclusive. First one comes in early 2008, next one comes in late 2008. The question is.. How much does this episodic content expand the game?

 True, also how many of them will actually know it has that ?

^I am sure MS will advertise it well. Probably even be on the front of the box.

Tribes is the best fps

Microsoft doesn't get to dictate box art from other publishers do they??

Halo 3 will sell no less than 7m units. The pre-orders by consumers is absolutely staggering.

Consider this: Halo 3 has been the #1 purchased game from EB.com (their 360 section) for nearly the ENTIRE YEAR. More than ANY other game that's come out. Its just ungodly, the number of preorders.

Anihawk over at NeoGAF works at an EB/GS. He stated they already have 344 pre-orders as of last week. Only H2 had more pre-orders (at near 400). So it's pre-order status at his place is very close to H2, and still has 2 months to go before launch.

I asked my local EB/GS the same question: it's a small EB/GS (in a mall), and they already have 200+ H3 preorders. Thats 600 PREORDERS between TWO stores. Those are copies with down payments. H3 is bound to do great numbers. Where it goes from there, though, depends.

Also, btw, Halo 2 is still selling on Xbox at 6k units a week. Not much considering it's total gross, but it shows that it's still selling after 3 years.

And FYI, I dislike Halo, and agree with others - it's not the best FPS out there. I never had much desire to play it, and probably wont (4p campaign co-op would make me change my mind quick, though). Nevertheless, it won't stop the game from doing gangbusters, because it still has one of the best pedigrees when it comes to co-op online, and will continue to have that title till H4, or another game can best it.

I expect Halo 3 to be the second biggest console game this year only behind GTA because that is multiplatform.

Also, enough with the Halo hate, the game is great get over it and go play PC FPS if you don't like it instead of coming here and bitching about how bad it is.

That Penny Arcade bit makes me laugh so hard has anyone ever been proven so wrong? They basically said the game was crap and it went on to become the definition of console shooter, the game to save the xbox and one of the best selling games of all time.

If everyone likes Halo so much, why doesn't Metroid Prime sell as well?