While the Master Chief might very well be the Zac Efron of Microsoft pin-up shooters, Marcus Fenix has now secured his position as the bad boy alternative after Gears of War 2 pulled in 2 million worldwide unit sales over the weekend.

According to Microsoft figures, 1.5 million people logged into Gears of War 2 on Live during the weekend following release, tallying 15 million gameplay hours and 19 million Achievements collectively while setting a new Xbox Live record for concurrent players in the process.

When Halo 3 was released last September, Microsoft kept figures for the amount of units shifted in the game's first 24 hours of sales very close to its chest, although the Redmond giant was happy to publicise US pre-order figures of 1.7 million copies.

We very much suspect that Gears of War 2 hasn't worried Halo 3's impressive sales records for the first weekend of sales. Nevertheless, with 2 million copies shifted on a single platform, this puts Gears 2 firmly into GTA IV and Halo 3 territory.

Shiam Jai, the first UK customer to get his hands on a copy of the game, had the following to say about his purchase (presumably with a Microsoft Taser inches from his eyeball):

"I've been waiting two years for this moment and now I've finally got my hands on it. It's going to be the greatest game of all time, made even better by being able to play it on the greatest console of all time.''

Better than SEGA's Mega CD? Surely not. Let us know your thoughts in the comments...