Microsoft pins game unit profit on "Halo 3" launch

By Nicole Maestri and Daisuke Wakabayashi

NEW YORK/SEATTLE, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) began selling "Halo 3" on Tuesday, hoping the acclaimed alien shooter game will widen its lead over Sony Corp (6758.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) in the battle for industry dominance.

Some game enthusiasts lined up before dawn at a Best Buy store on New York's Fifth Avenue to grab a good seat for the launch extravaganza while others took advantage of the retailer's offer to let them pay for a copy of the game and pick it up at midnight or the next day.

Alex Escobar was the first one at the store's checkout counter, turning in a receipt to pick up his advance order.

"It is worth it. It is time to finish this fight," Escobar said, echoing the tagline for a game featuring a futuristic soldier battling to save humanity from an alien onslaught.

What had been a only a modest gathering earlier in the day had swelled to a crowd of about 500 people that cheered as buyers entered the store, resembling other big consumer debuts this year, such as the last "Harry Potter" book and Apple Inc's (AAPL.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) iPhone.

"Halo 3" is seen as the $30 billion video game industry's equivalent of a new Potter book and Microsoft is counting on the game to finally push its money-losing entertainment unit into profitability.

"This is a critical holiday in terms of winning the next-generation console fight versus our competition and nobody has anything to go up and match 'Halo,'" Shane Kim, vice president of Microsoft Game Studios, told Reuters Television.

Microsoft is backing the game with a marketing blitz that includes celebrity-studded midnight sales events at some 10,000 retailers across the United States.