BandwidthCamp

Variety got the details on what Chris Di Cesare, Xbox director of product marketing, did to make Halo the biggest grossing video game in history.

This time, Microsoft has ramped up its ad efforts across the board to top the $125 million earned in the first day of release by the first “Halo” sequel, developed by Bungie Studios.

Comedy Central kicks off the effort Saturday with “Fully Loaded,” a series of two-minute interstitials hosted by “Mad TV” cast member Bobby Lee and airing throughout the night on the cabler.

They were taped at a celeb-filled “Halo 3″ party at the Venetian Hotel’s Tao Beach nightclub in Las Vegas timed around MTV’s Video Music Awards and the unveiling of “Halo” star Master Chief at the Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum.

On Monday, Spike TV’s “Game Head” vidgame show will host a live feed from the “Halo 3″ launch event at Best Buy’s flagship store in New York City, breaking into a broadcast of James Bond actioner “GoldenEye” throughout the night.

I’m not a Halo fan, but I do love the marketing and risk Microsoft took when it came to marketing this franchise. Ryan Mugford, Director of Worldwide Business Management, Entertainment and Devices Division at Microsoft Corporation is giving a keynote on Thursday at Media Strategy Forum. This week will be Halo week as everything has been leading up to today’s launch.

Update: AdAge has a run down for one of the ads used in Halo.

Update 2: Wal-Mart Canada Matches U.S. Halo 3 Pricing. Goldman Sachs analyst Sarah Friar is indicating she expects Halo 3 to ship 4.2 million copies into the retail channel by month’s end.