Halo 2 Shatters Movie Records

Now there are piles of money and there are piles of money, but the whopping sacks of cash that the creators of Halo 2 are currently carting around could probably sink the Titanic. Which is ironic really, given that, at $125 million, the game's first day sales have outperformed any Hollywood blockbuster's opening weekend. Ever. According to Microsoft, the sequel to the immensely popular Xbox game sold more than 2.38 million copies on its release, which, if you hadn't guessed, is one hell of a lot of games. Not even Spider-Man with its record-breaking $114 million opening weekend can hold a candle to Halo's launch, making this a very good day for the folks at Bungie software, who made it all possible. Now it doesn't take a genius to guess that the movie rights to Halo 2 will soon find themselves snapped up - after all, if they can adapt House of the Dead then surely Halo is crying out for screen treatment. In the meantime you can just bask in the knowledge that when you were queuing outside HMV at midnight last night, you weren't (as everyone said) beyond redemption, but simply contributing to the biggest launch in entertainment history. That's your story anyway, and you're sticking to it. Hail to the Master Chief! You can read Empire's review of Halo 2 in the next issue but in the meantime why not check out our brand new games section here.