Halo 3 North American Pre-orders Surpass 1 Million

With the highly anticipated Halo 3 for the Xbox 360 scheduled to ship in North America September 25, Microsoft has confirmed that over 1 million copies of the game have been pre-ordered from North American retail outlets, marking the fastest pre-sale in video game history, according to the company.

As previously reported, Halo 3 will be released in three editions, including the expensive Legendary Edition, which includes a replica Master Chief helmet, a version that Microsoft notes has seen strong demand and is expected to be sold out before the game launches in September.

Additionally, Microsoft has also revealed initial details regarding promotional efforts put behind the game, seen by many as one of the most important Xbox 360 releases to date, including partnerships with companies and brands such as Mountain Dew, which will release a new Halo 3-branded soft drink called Mountain Dew Game Fuel on August 13.

7-Eleven stores will also promote the game's release by offering Halo 3-branded collectible Slurpee cups, as well as through contests and prizes, including the opportunity to win a minor role as a voice actor in Ensemble Studios' upcoming Halo Wars.

Other promotions will come from Automobile manufacturer Pontiac, which will host its own Pontiac Gamers Garage events, offering consumers the opportunity to play Halo 3 before it is released. The company will also give away 1,000 copies of the game, as well as a special Halo 3-themed G6 GXP Street car. Comcast also plans to hold exclusive Halo 3 video content, including user-generated movies and machinima, on both its website and through its On Demand service.

Finally, Microsoft has revealed that Halo 3 is the official sponsor of this summer's Projekt Revolution music tour, and that special game-related events are planned for select cities during the summer tour.

"This September, Halo 3 will push video game entertainment into the forefront of mainstream culture," said Chris Di Cesare, director of creative marketing at Microsoft. "Teaming up with some of the world's strongest and most recognizable brands is trailblazing new paths and cementing video games as big entertainment on par with major event films, and is a testament to the excitement and anticipation intrinsically linked to Halo 3."


Source: Gamasutra

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Halo 3 Tops One Million Pre-Orders

...and we're just getting started!

We just released an announcement that one million of you have already pre-ordered your copy of the game. Retailers have told us that the presales for Halo 3 are the fastest in video game history. In fact, demand has been so strong for the Legendary Edition that it is expected to be sold out by the time the game launches on Sept. 25. Surprised even us.

We're also unveiling details of upcoming promotions in the US, from brands like Mountain Dew, 7-Eleven, Pontiac, Comcast and Burger King. Check it out:

• Mountain Dew will unveil the first beverage co-branded with a video game, Mountain Dew Game Fuel. Game Fuel has the same great taste of Mountain Dew with an invigorating blast of citrus cherry flavor and added caffeine for maximum intensity. Game Fuel will come in 20-ounce bottles, 2-liter bottles and 12-packs of 12-ounce cans and will be available nationwide for a limited time starting Aug. 13, 2007.
• In a few select markets, Mountain Dew will offer a special-edition aluminum bottle of Mountain Dew Game Fuel with an exclusive design created by Bungie Studios, the developers of Halo 3. This bottle will be available in very limited quantities, making it a highly sought-after collector’s item.
• 7-Eleven today confirmed its plans to support the launch of Halo 3 through a variety of in-store promotions, including three Halo 3-branded collectible Slurpee cups. In addition,7-Eleven will run a Halo 3 promotion with Mountain Dew Game Fuel and Doritos, with thousands of Halo 3-themed prizes, including, as grand prize, a chance to win a minor role as a voice actor in the upcoming Xbox 360 video game, Halo Wars, by Ensemble Studios.
• Pontiac will host Pontiac Gamers Garage events in select locations, providing consumers with a chance to play the game for the first time before its release. In addition, in support of the launch of its upcoming high-performance G6 GXP Street, Pontiac is offering 1,000 consumers a chance to win a copy of the game; one lucky gamer will win a limited-edition Halo 3 G6 GXP Street car.
• Burger King Corp. will continue its sponsorship of Xbox 360 with national, in-restaurant support from Sept. 24 through Oct. 22. Halo 3-themed packaging will offer customers access to exclusive content by logging on to http://www.bk.com/halo3 beginning Sept. 23. Graphics will be featured on select packaging, including the 42-ounce cup and King FRYPOD.
• Comcast has also joined the Halo 3 campaign and will host exclusive video content, including user-generated movies and machinima, on its Web sites http://gameinvasion.net and http://www.ziddio.com. Comcast will also feature standard- and high-definition Halo 3 videos on its signature ON DEMAND service.
• Halo 3 is also the official sponsor of the Projekt Revolution tour this summer, which includes bands Linkin Park and My Chemical Romance. Exclusive Halo 3 VIP events will take place in select cities on the tour, where attendees will receive Halo 3-themed merchandise and have an opportunity to meet the members of Linkin Park.

We'll try to bring you more info for the curious among you. For now, you can find pictures of some of the upcoming items from our friends at XboxFamily.com, one of our favorite new Xbox sites (thanks again for your help, guys).

For more information, check out the press release. I'm hungry. When's lunch?

Source: Gamerscore Blog

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Edit: You can see some of the product and promotional tie ins in this video from the Wall Street Journal:

WSJ Video

Hehe, I remember when EB Games said "4 Million have been preordered". This seems much more realistic because no one really needs to preorder unless they're getting the Limited Edition or Legendary. It's very easy to find the standard copies in the strores, even on the day after opening day. That was the case with Halo 2.

well its safe to say that this game will sell...atleast a million copies on day one///crazy


I hope MS though pushes a mass supply out and that everyone is able to get a copy

Yeah, I thought that 4 million number was a load of BS, people believed it though:

http://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=559617

It looks like this will come close to, or even beat, Halo 2's pre-order record (1.5 million). I wonder which SKU is leading the pre-order amount.

I asked my local EB Games what their most ordered was and IIRC, he said Limited was leading, then Legendary then the Regular edition.

I had my Halo 3 Legendary Edition pre-ordered last november .

I am going out to pre-order mine today, I have been meaning to for a while but just haven't gotten around to it I will be getting the Limited edition, my friend wanted me to order him one as well, do you know if you can order one for someone else at Gamestop without them being there?

Wonder how many they will sell though. A good majority must be 13 year old teens wishing they could pick it up at launch.

getting a patriotic tear in my old jaded eye...halo, xbox, pontiac, bk and mt dew...rally round the alamo.

plus both neighbors beat in soccer. country's on a roll....

getting a patriotic tear in my old jaded eye...halo, xbox, pontiac, bk and mt dew...rally round the alamo.

plus both neighbors beat in soccer. country's on a roll....

1,000,001.

I pre-ordered today.
Paid in full, I'll just go and pick it up on the 25th

I lil bird just told me that the 1 million units figure is a bit dated...

i should pre-order mine before i dont get one lol

and to think I'm part of that million plus reserves

For huge games like Halo, its pretty senceless to pre-order and they are going to manufature 5x more disks than they actually need.

I remember for halo 2, there were "limited edition" halo 2's floating around for a good 6-months on store shelves.

Don't worry, there will be plenty to go around.
I pre-ordered simply to get the payment over with. It will seem like I'm getting a free game on the 25th

true but ull notice a lot of places give away free stuff if u preorder from them thats the incentive. Also big places like futureshop and bestbuy knock a couple of bux off if u preorder and pick it up from them on day one.

I played on halo for the first time on xbox last night (i dont get much chance to play it these days) and OMG the pistol is stupidly overpowered and its got a zoom. I played 4 player split screen and whooped virtual ass with just the pistol and a few grenades

Yea, without a doubt, there is a huge weapon imbalance with the Pistol in Halo 1. But they didn't have to go ahead and completely nerf it (twice) in Halo 2! And from what I heard, in Halo 3 it's not much different. We'll see what the final build brings about...

The Halo 1 pistol is undoubtedly one of the most loved and hated video game weapons of all time.

It wasn't so great for campaign, but that thing was stupidly overpowered in multiplayer. I was one of the "loved it" crowd

halo 3 sucks, i'm cancelling my pre-order

just kidding. i pre-ordered from gamestop, but best buy had a better deal later on, so i pre-ordered there as well. i still need to cancel my gamestop pre-order.

We're saved!

:E

I have that Mt Dew Game Fuel!

Yum!

i pre-ordered mine today

No wonder Bill Gates isnt the richest person in the world anymore, whats he going to do with a million copies of Halo 3

J/K

That's a lot of preorders!

Wonder how many preorders there will be for the PS3 port...

im kidding! hah you just had to check, didn't you... ;-)

I'm still waiting for Legendary Edition listings here in the UK, and confirmation on the price.

If it's around £70-75, I could be tempted.

You're a bit late I think. Most sites have already had the Legendary edition up for preorder and actually taken it down due to their stock. I think only Play.com has yet to put it up on their site. AFAIK £70 was the confirmed RRP? Could be wrong but that's what everyone has been using so far.

I heard that the factory producing the Spartan helmets actually burned down, so stock is pretty limited.

Anyone know of anywhere in the UK that hasn't stopped pre-orders for the Legendary Edition? I think PC World still has some stock, but they're a last resort