Most competing publishers steered clear of releasing games against 'GTA IV,' with the notable exception of Nintendo, which slated its latest 'Mario Kart' game for release on the Wii just two days before the Rockstar epic.

In March, financial analyst Michael Pachter of Wedbush Morgan Securities predicted that Take-Two would ship 6 million copies of 'GTA IV,' a massive initial delivery of games. Giant sales of Rockstar's game had been expected.

'GTA IV' was the first installment to launch on both machines, only skipping Nintendo's Wii among the modern gaming consoles. Previous 'GTA' games launched first on the PlayStation 2, helping the platform maintain a solid lead over the original Xbox.

That ratio may prove a key factor in the ongoing console battle between Sony and Microsoft. Zelnick did not reveal how the sales broke down between PS3 and Xbox users. We believe these retail sales levels surpass any movie or music launch to date.' In a statement to investors, Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick said the game's 'first week performance represents the largest launch in the history of interactive entertainment. (Worldwide figures for first-week sales of 'Halo 3' were not available at press time.) In the U.S., 'Halo 3' sold 3.3 million first-week copies, according to sales-tracking firm NPD. Those figures break the previous opening-week record of 'Halo 3,' which netted $300 million in sales in its first week. According to a release from the game's publisher, Take-Two Interactive, it took in $500 million after selling 3.6 million copies on its first day of release. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 crime adventure in Liberty City sold 6 million copies worldwide in its first week of release, exceeding analysts' predictions. Now Rockstar Games has some even bigger numbers to boast about: the sales of 'Grand Theft Auto IV.' First it earned an unprecedented streak of perfect review scores.

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