'Halo 3' 1st-day sales at $170 mn

LOS ANGELES, US: Microsoft Corp on has said its "Halo 3" video game had $170 million in sales on its first day, easily surpassing its predecessor, 2004's "Halo 2," which racked up $125 million in the first day.

Microsoft is counting on the alien-shootout game, the final chapter in a trilogy, to boost the company's money-losing entertainment unit to profit this fiscal year.

The game which debuted this week is also key to Microsoft's quest to widen its lead over rival Sony Corp in the battle for industry dominance of the current generation of game machines.

One of the strength's of Microsoft's Xbox 360 console is its ability for online play, and Microsoft in a statement said that more than a million members of the Xbox Live online service played Halo 3 over the Web within the first 20 hours. Sept. 25 was the most active day ever for the online platform.