And so it begins...  Panic and FUD trolls start your engines!  Here's good news you need to spin!

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=29021

Matt Martin 15:44 (BST) 26/09/2007

"Day one sales already rivaling DVD and CD products

UK retail has reported that copies of Halo 3 are flying off the shelves, with High Street outlet Woolworths praising the "record breaking" sales.

As numerous retailers up and down the company took advantage of the anticipated release by opening at midnight or early this morning, some are suggesting the game may even beat day one sales of the biggest DVD and CD releases.

"Halo 3 has been flying off the shelves this morning," said Gerry Berkley, trading manager for games at Woolworths.

"In the first two hours that our stores were open it sold thousands and thousands of copies, breaking all previous first morning sales records for a computer game.

"If sales continue at this rapid pace, it could end up being the biggest ever first day sales number for an entertainment product, beating any CD, DVD or book that has gone before it," he revealed.

Specialist retailer Gamestation also saw a successful launch, as it opened over 190 stores at midnight throughout the UK, and provided a link-up for customers in two different cities to play against each other.

"Our midnight openings were a great success. Big crowds showed up with customers and staff alike in great spirits," offered Jenny Leach, senior product manager for Gamestation.

"The live link-up between our Birmingham flagship and Edinburgh stores added another exciting new dimension to the launch, providing extra entertainment during the lead up to midnight."

Don McCabe, managing director of Chips, said that some stores were close to selling out already, and he expected to be ordering more before the weekend.

"It's gone very, very well indeed," he said.

"In hindsight I wish we'd ordered more. Quite a few shops are heading for a sell-out by the end of the day and we'll be restocking for the weekend.

"Microsoft and (distributor) Gem have done a very good job, they deserve praise for keeping the supply lines strong and giving us everything we've asked for," he added.

Following a successful launch in the US, Microsoft treated a select audience of UK gamers to a special red carpet screening of Halo 3 last night at London's iMAX cinema."

Yep. I'm sure the numbers will be astonishing.

1st day sales
2.5 mill in NA
500K in UK

 Thats quite ironic coming from you.  There cant be many fanboys dumb enough to expect Halo not to do great,  its all MS has so no shiet they would go balls to the walls to make it a huge success.  The amount of marketing and the average consumer = success.

With 360 tracking slightly higher then xbox, and no word on any sequals.  Halo 3 could come close to the 10 million mark world wide. 

...any sales numbers for the "record breaking" game?

Did anyone think Halo 3 wouldn't have a fantastic launch?

Well, while I was shopping at my small local comic shop yesterday , which also sells video games/consoles, Halo 3 was sold 3 times - 2 times the legendary version(which apparantly was sold out after that) and one time the 360 Halo 3 edition with Halo 3. I was there for about 10-15 minutes at ~ 1-2 pm.
So I guess it's selling quite well over here in germany aswell.

I picked up Halo 3 and so far I am a little underwhelmed. Gears is a better game imo. I remember when I played Gears for the first time, I was like wow. With Halo I haven't had too many wow moments. I'll see if that changes as I get more into the game but my roommate is back to playing Gears of War after a couple hours on Halo. He's addicted to Gears bad though.

I went over to the gamestop near my office today looking for something used and to try to find out of the October Buy 2 get 1 free on used rumor is true... They were SOLD OUT of Halo 3. He wasn't sure how many they got but he didn't have any to sell... I thought MS pumped something like 4 million into the channel? How on earth could they be sold out? Manager asleep at the wheel?

It will be interesting to see 1st week sales. I bet MS has a deal with NPD to get some solid 1st week numbers...

Really? I played Gears for 15 minutes and was like "Wow, this game is awful". And yes, that's actually serious. Though 15 minutes isn't fair.

Come on, 3.6 million first week! Let Fuzzy be right for once.

Not trying to suggest that Halo 3 isn't a great game, but does anybody know how much money was sunk into marketing this thing.

And if nobody knows, could we estimate by using the marketing budget for your typical blockbuster action flick?