Halo 2 fans queue all night

Thousands of US computers gamers last night queued for up to 13 hours to snap up one of the most highly anticipated and highly hyped games of the year: Halo 2.

"I just wanted to make sure I would get the game," Mark Rodriguez, a 21 year-old insurance agent, told Reuters. He queued at an Electronics Boutique store in Los Angeles CityWalk for an astonishing 13 hours before the game's official launch.

To see what all the fuss is about check out our sister title PCW's review here.

The latest version of the flagship title for Microsoft's Xbox platform saw US gamers converge at thousands of launch parties as retail outlets extended opening for the game's official launch at one minute past midnight US Eastern Standard Time last night.

The 9 November launch will extend beyond the US to Canada, Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore and Taiwan as well as throughout Latin America and Australia and New Zealand.

However, British Xbox gamers will have to wait for two days until 11 November, when the game will be unveiled in the UK, Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Sweden.

"With more than 1.5 million copies already pre-ordered, day-one sales of Halo 2 look to herald the biggest 24 hours in entertainment retail history," said Peter Moore, corporate vice president of worldwide publishing and marketing for Xbox at Microsoft.

Halo 2 will be sold for a recommended price of $49.99.