Looks like the Halo 3 team hit its goal: to be the biggest launch day in the entertainment industry - that's the biggest game or movie. According to this Reuters report launch revenues exceeded Halo 2 and also Spiderman 3, the biggest movie, by quite a distance.
More impressive than the queues outside stores, is the fact over one million gamers got online to play against each other in the first 20 hours after launch.
Disclosure: Microsoft is a client (but not the Xbox crew).