Mark Halo 3 in the record books. An announcement by Microsoft Thursday revealed that the latest installment of the widely popular Halo trilogy has brought in over $300 million in its first week of sales, making it one of the fastest selling video games of all time.

This news is just icing on the cake for a game that stunned the entertainment world by bringing in a whopping $170 million in the first 24 hours—the most profitable entertainment launch in history.

The wide appeal of the game, which allows players to battle against aliens as a genetically enhanced super-soldier, certainly didn’t find exception on Biola’s campus.

Freshman Steven Tiss, whose room has been the site of much alien-slaying as of late, was one of the 1.7 million people who pre-ordered Halo 3.

“I wanted to get it right away,” Tiss said, talking over the shouts of Halo gamers in his room. “It’s fast-paced, shooting action—what more could you want?”

The Halo trilogy’s story is set 500 years in the future when humanity is at war with a fanatical alien group called the Covenant. Halo 3 starts off right where Halo 2 ended, bringing the gamer right onto the battlefield as if they’d never left.

Halo 3 was produced by Microsoft and developed by Bungie Studios, which just Friday announced that it would breaking off from Microsoft to become an independent company. The studio didn’t reveal any specific discontent with Microsoft, citing rather on its Web site that it wanted to be free to “unleash” its imagination.

According to the release, both companies have retained a long-term publishing agreement for the Halo titles.