With the release of Halo 3 soon upon us, the hype surrounding the game has gone into overdrive with some in Microsoft saying that it may outsell top films in their opening weekends.

It seems that the target for Halo 3 is $155 million (£70 million) which would put it in front of the current record holder Spider-Man 3 which took $151 million.

Chris Di Cesare, Microsoft marketing boss, made comments regarding Halo’s performance by saying that movie-like marketing would boost sales, and with the tie-ins that Halo 3 has had, like Pontiac, Burger King and 7-Eleven, and the pre-orders of over one million, who’s to argue.

"When we opened to $125 million (Halo 2), that really caught a lot of people's attention. It showed that videogames were no longer that thing that kids play in their basement", Di Cesare commented to Variety. "We're confident we can do better."

He went on to say that he realises that it isn’t a straight comparison, as video games are more expensive than a cinema ticket, therefore less games need to be sold but, nevertheless, the number are impressive.

"I recognize it's not apples to apples. But it's big business any way you cut it", continued Di Cesare.