GAME backs Halo 3 with 150 midnight openings

Retailer expecting thousands to collect pre-orders

High Street retailer GAME is due to open 150 stores at midnight for the launch of Halo 3 next week.

The retailer expects thousands of customers to queue for their pre-ordered game, and will also be opening stores early on the morning of September 26.

"Halo 3 will be a huge event in towns throughout the UK, so we’re pulling out all the stops to help our customers start playing it as soon as humanly possible," said Robert Quinn, operations director at GAME.

"Over 800 GAME staff will be on duty at midnight to serve customers and keep the shelves full.

"Halo 3 is hotly anticipated by thousands of customers who have reserved it months in advance, and we are working flat out to make sure our customers are first to get the products they want," he added.

Earlier this week Microsoft revealed that it would be hosting the UK's official Halo 3 launch at London's iMax Cinema, complete with celebrities, competitions and screenings.

Final Fantasy VII sells nearly half a million in first week

Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII was released in Japan last week and sold 487,000 copies in the seven-day period.

It was a bumper week for software sales in the territory, with two new Pokemon titles taking second and third spots yielding a top three sales figure of over 1 million units sold.

Elsewhere Mario Party 8 was the sole Wii entrant in seventh, with Wii Sports and Wii Play both dropping out of the top ten last week.

The full sales top ten is as follows:

1. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (PSP)

2. Pokemon Fushigi no Dungeon: Toki no Tankentai (DS)

3. Pokemon Fushigi no Dungeon: Yami no Tankentai (DS)

4. Fate/Tiger Colosseum (PSP)

5. Another Century's Episode 3: The Final (PS2)

6. Taiko no Tatsujin DS (DS)

7. Mario Party 8 (Wii)

8. Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles - Ring of Fates (DS)

9. Sengoku Musou 2 Mushouden (PS2)

10. My Housekeeping Diary (DS)

17,000 PSP Slim units sold in first week

Redesigned handheld sees strong initial sales

Sony has revealed that the recently launch PSP Slim & Lite has sold around 17,000 units on its first week of release in the UK.

The Slim & Lite launched on September 14 and was backed by radio and online advertising campaigns that have helped boost Sony's handheld sales in the run up to Christmas.

"The first week sales have come in at 17,000, so around a four fold increase on the previous week," said a spokesperson for Sony Computer Entertainment Europe.

Earlier this month sales of the PSP were at an all time low according to Chart Track figures, but this was a result of Sony offloading the last of the original PSP stock before the introduction of the new model, said Sony.

"Of course we expected the previous weeks to be low as we moved the old stock through the channel in preparation for the Slim & Lite sku coming into retail, but now we are back on track and preparing for the launch of new products such as Go! Explore and Go Messenger."