Microsoft: Halo 3 has already crossed the million seller mark

With the release of Halo 3 less than 12 hours away in some parts of the US, Microsoft is already reporting more than a million pre-order sales of the highly anticipated game for the Xbox 360.

From Games Industry Biz:

With less than 24 hours to go before the game's launch, Microsoft has reported that it has already sold more than 1.5 million copies of Halo 3 in the US.

"The excitement and demand for ‘Halo 3’ has transcended a typical video game release and we’re preparing dedicated registers for its midnight release in our 24-hour stores,” said Darin Dickson, video game merchandise buyer, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. “It’s clear that this is one of the most anticipated games of the year."

Microsoft is really counting on some of those numbers to be new XBox 360 owners as it has continually pinned Halo 3 as a console selling game, not just another software title. We'll have to wait for the official numbers but as has been seen in the recent up-tick of the Sony PSP sales following the release of Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core, good software will always sell the hardware.

Anybody planning to be at one of the stores to purchase Halo 3 at midnight?

(What? You thought we'd let you miss out on the hype?)