Halo 3: ODST tops UK charts

Halo 3: ODST is top of the All-Formats Top 40 chart this week following its 22nd September launch on Xbox 360.

Tuesday was an unusual slot, but apparently that didn't put off shoppers, with 64 per cent of the game's first-week sales going through in its first 24 hours.

According to data compilers Chart-Track, however, the Rookie hasn't quite got the beating of the Master Chief, whose last outing in Halo 3 enjoyed the fourth-best first-week sales for a single-format release in recorded history. ODST managed 12th.

Elsewhere, Professor Layton and Pandora's Box puzzled nobody by taking second spot ahead of last week's number one, Need for Speed: Shift. Layton's last game, The Curious Village, saw its sales go up by 36 per cent, too - enough to bump it to 18th.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 was another new arrival at seven, while NCsoft's ambitious MMORPG Aion swept in at 11, making it the highest-placed PC exclusive.

Further down there was a new entry for MySims Agents at 16, and re-entries for Madden (32), the immutable LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga (33) and Guitar Hero: On Tour Decades (36).

With apologies to games like Risen and Beatorator, next week's number one will be FIFA 10. See this week's top 40 below.