Salvation in 'Halo'?

Microsoft hopes that its new "Halo" futuristic shoot-'em-up game, which is exclusive to the Xbox 360, will persuade more consumers to choose its game machine over the PlayStation 3 from Sony or the Wii from Nintendo.

Early sales results are strong. Microsoft on Wednesday said its "Halo 3" alien-shooting game brought in $170 million in sales Tuesday, its first day in U.S. stores.

That makes "Halo 3" the biggest entertainment release in history, Microsoft said in an e-mailed statement. More than 1.7 million copies were pre-ordered, the Redmond, Wash.-based company said.

Bill Gates was at a Best Buy store in Bellevue, Wash., on Monday night as the third installment of "Halo," the hit video game from Microsoft, went on sale at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday. In advance of that moment, Gates was hand-shaking his way down the line of customers. Among them was R.J. Bollard, 18, who said 73 cents was all he would have left after buying the game.

"I don't know how I'm going to feed myself," Bollard said.

The success of "Halo 3" is critical for Microsoft, which has struggled to get its Xbox game players into homes around the world. While it is primarily a game machine, the Xbox 360 also plays DVDs and movies downloaded from the Internet. Microsoft views the game machine as a vanguard into the home, where it may serve as an entertainment hub.

But the game machines have not been profitable.

Although the Xbox — and "Halo 3" — appeals to hard-core gamers, Microsoft's game machine has been outsold lately by the cheaper and less powerful Wii.

Microsoft has sold 9 million Xbox 360s since the introduction of the console in 2005. But Nintendo has sold just as many Wii machines since their debut late last year, largely because their simplicity appeals to a broader group of game players. The PlayStation 3, which also was introduced in late 2006, has sold about 4 million units.

"Halo 3" might also help to restore the Xbox 360's image, which was tarnished by serious design defects that caused as many as one-third of the machines to suddenly stop working. Microsoft said it had corrected the problem and was fixing defective units free of charge.

For the serious gamer at least, all was forgiven Tuesday morning. More than 10,000 stores across the country, many of them converted into miniature carnivals Monday night for fans awaiting the game, opened their doors to long lines of "Halo" fans who started camping out for the game as early as Sunday afternoon.