The Bungie-developed Xbox 360 title has now beaten previous records set by movie release Spider-Man 3 and novel Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

“Halo 3 has become a pop-culture phenomenon,” said senior regional director of the entertainment and devices division at Microsoft UK Neil Thompson. “Not only is Halo 3 setting sales records, it’s also redefining entertainment. Within the first 24 hours alone, we’ve seen more than a million Xbox Live members worldwide come online to play Halo 3 – that makes September 25 the most active Xbox LIVE gaming day in history.”

Bob McKenzie, senior vice president of merchandising for GameStop added: “With consumer demand for Halo 3 and related products, we expect it to be the biggest video game title generator in GameStop's history.”

“The initial demand we’ve seen for Halo 3 has been astounding, and the game is on track to become the number one gaming title of all time. Halo 3 is a genuine entertainment phenomenon and our customers have responded very enthusiastically to the release,” said Jill Hamburger, vice president of movies and games at Best Buy.

According to Microsoft, more than 1.7 million copies of Halo 3 were pre-ordered in the United States before a single store opened its doors at midnight on September 25th, making Halo 3 the fasting pre-selling game in history, surpassing the previous record-setting pre-sales of Halo 2.