The release of Halo 3 gave Xbox 360 hardware sales a huge spike, doubling the previous week's figures, according to stats aggregator Chart-Track.

The organisation, however, will not release exact figures as to exactly how 360s were sold.

Also revealed was the fact that Halo 3 put £17 million through retailers' tills through software sales alone between its Wednesday launch at 12:01am and midnight on Saturday. The game made up 68% of all software sold for the 360, giving the platform its best ever software sales week.

The impressive hardware sales boost managed to put 360 sales above those of the Wii for the first time in 26 weeks. A Chart-Track representative confirmed to SPOnG that the home console sales rankings ran: Xbox 360, Wii then PS3. The DS Lite still outsold all three, however.

The game also jumped to Charts glory, storming the Number 1 spot and becoming the second best selling UK title ever during a first week of sale.

It also emerged today that Halo 3 has topped the Japanese software Charts, a surprising fact given the 360's sluggish performance in the territory.

You can read SPOnG's full review of Halo 3 here.