According to Microsoft UK Head of Gaming and Entertainment Stephen McGill, they were originally planning to conduct a midnight launch event for Halo 3 but the Westminster council advised that they should not go with it due to security reasons. We guess we don't have to remind you how big of a fan gamers in UK are.

Anyway, to compensate for this McGill said that around 1,000 retail stores will be opened by midnight so eager fans can get their retail copies as early as possible. To make things easier to understand - Halo 3 will be available on the eve of September 26 but no street events will be taking place.

"We are pleased to confirm that over 1,000 retailers around London and the rest of the UK will be opening up at midnight to ensure fans can get their copy of Halo 3 it as soon as humanly possible - including many Game, Gamestation, HMV and Virgin Megastores stores", said the official.

Aside from that, gamers will also have the chance to party with Halo 3 fanatics at UK's biggest cinema screen BFI IMAX (in Waterloo) on Tuesday, September 25, as many celebrities will be going head-to-head against lucky fans on the big screen.

Tickets and other giveaways are also available in The Daily Telegraph this Saturday and on Kiss FM next Tuesday. Those stores which won't be able to serve customers on the eve of launch will open very early the next day.

Yesterday, Microsoft sent in a love note and beer to gaming site Computer and Video Games (CVG), in an amusing take on the £146 difference between the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 (PS3). Well last night, during the PS3 launch in Europe, several MS pranksters pulled off some acts to disturb the event.

Before we continue, we better make sure that you guys are getting the distinction. The beer and the note, that was Microsoft itself. This next instance was committed by some MS supporters. With that out of the way, here's the story:

The first incident happened in Paris. As it goes, a big boat sailed past the long queue of people waiting to get their hands on the system. The said boat was Xbox 360-themed and carried the message, "Xbox 360 love you" (alright, "heart" or "less than three" for the nitpicky ones out there). See for yourself in this image from Kotaku. Meanwhile, we'll leave you to formulate your own conclusions.

The next stop for the pranksters was big ol' London. As you all know, it was where the "big event" was held, with Sony having partnered itself with Virgin Megastores. Just before midnight on the night of the launch, the line of people was rather long and the London midnight air is not exactly good for one's health. Luckily though, some friendly dudes gave away free chairs for people to sit on. To PS3 fans' surprise, the chairs sport the message "Shouldn't have kept you waiting" and the website "www.shkyw.org." We head over to the said URL and found the message... well, you better just see for yourself if you haven't already.

Talk about cutthroat marketing.