While we here in Europe are a day behind with the launch of Halo 3, Microsoft has announced that the game has been officially titled the biggest entertainment launch in history.

The figures for this side of the Atlantic are still to be filed but State side sales have topped $170 million in the first 24 hours, and that’s not including Canada or Mexico.

The record was previously held by Spider-man 3 which pulled in $151 million in its opening weekend.

The sales haven’t come as too much of a surprise as Halo 3 racked up 1.7 million copies in pre-sales in the U.S, in itself a record, breaking that set by its predecessor Halo 2.

"Halo 3 has become a pop-culture phenomenon. Not only is Halo 3 setting sales records, it's also redefining entertainment," said Shane Kim, corporate vice president of Microsoft Game Studios.

"Within the first 20 hours alone, we've seen more than a million Xbox LIVE members come online to play Halo 3 – that makes September 25 the most active Xbox LIVE gaming day in history."