Xbox Gaming in South Africa

With a successful beta behind them, Microsoft and Epic Games have announced that Gears of War 3 has reached one million pre-orders, officially making it the fastest pre-ordered Xbox 360 title ever.

A total of 1.29 million gamers fired up their Lancers during the four weeks that the beta was running, with Epic Games' Cliff Bleszinski calling it an "overwhelming success".

“While the beta was a fun way to give players an early taste of our game, it also provided us with invaluable feedback to help us refine and polish ‘Gears of War 3’ to ensure it’s truly the culmination of the trilogy we promised to the fans,” said Bleszinski.

Here are the rest of the statistics from the multiplayer beta:

• 1.29 million people participated in the beta
• 145 different countries participated in the beta
• 249 years worth of matches played
• More than 11 million matches completed
• More than 927 million kills recorded
• More than 131 million executions performed
• More than 23 million deaths by chainsaw
• Nearly 23 BILLION bullets fired
• 460 million ribbons and 294 million medals earned      
• 435 thousand people earned the beta exclusive Thrashball Cole skin to use in the retail game when it launches in September
• 234 thousand people earned the beta exclusive Gold Retro Lancer to use in the retail game when it launches in September

Gears of War 3 is set for release on 20 September.