I wasn't the first to say that Halo 3 would sell a lot of Xbox 360s for Microsoft. In fact, I was among the last but I myself strongly believe in this prediction. Heck, even some Elite sales are ensured by this amazingly well put together FPS from Bungie. The confirmation though, comes from Shane Kim, corporate vice president of Microsoft Game Studios. In his opinion, the multiplayer Beta of Halo 3 was "staggering!"

"The participation in the Halo 3 beta was staggering," said Shane Kim. "Witnessing such a great reaction to a small portion of the game has been inspiring. It's a testament to the fervor and anticipation that surrounds Halo 3. We're confident that on Sept. 25 Halo 3 will drive an unprecedented wave of new gamers to the Xbox 360 platform and Xbox Live."

Some Beta facts reported by Microsoft revealed that 820,000 unique participants racked up more than 12 million hours of online gameplay, which is... a lot!

But you don't really need anyone's predictions to see whether Halo 3 will sell Microsoft some units. Look back and see what Halo 2 did. The world was thrown in absolute Halo-frenzy even with the release of the first installment of the trilogy, Halo: Combat Evolved. The second installment did even better for Microsoft's systems, so we can only imagine how well Halo 3 will do for the 360.

Plus, the company has released the machine quite some time ago, so normally, a price reduction would be in order now, but with Halo 3 on the way, ensuring the sale of many more Xbox 360 units, you never know what Microsoft is going to do.

Let's just hope that they do consider a price cut eventually. Everyone deserves to get a glimpse at this sensational piece of first-person shooter, developed by Bungie, and to fully enjoy the Xbox 360's capabilities so far.