Halo breaks the four million mark

Xbox launch title Halo: Combat Evolved has now sold over four million units, according to figures from publisher Microsoft, with over 500,000 units of the two year old game being sold in the run up to Christmas.

Although those impressive sales were certainly helped by bundling deals and a price-cut in the United States, the fact remains that it's a huge achievement for the game, which is now owned by almost 30 per cent of Xbox owners.

The game was bought by Microsoft Game Studios along with developer Bungie prior to the launch of the Xbox, and has proved to be one of the best purchases the company has made in the games industry - with anticipation already running high for the second instalment in the franchise, Halo 2, which is set to arrive this summer.

Bungie had this to offer as comment on the sales milestone: "At the current sales pace, there will be more copies of Halo than there are human beings on Earth, by the year 3254. It is expected however that at least one new generation of the Xbox will be here by then."