WHATS NEW October 10th 08

With FIFA 09

likely to top the charts

for quite some time (well, at least until October 24th) it’s not surprising to see that most publishers have shied away from unleashing their big releases this week.

One notable exception is Fracture, LucasArts’ first original IP in quite some time. On the surface it’s appears to be a fairly standard third person sci-fi shooter, but its use of ‘terrain deformation’ differentiates it from the crowd, and it could well appeal to the next-gen market.

Joining Fracture will be possibly the favourite to challenge FIFA 09 at the top of the charts next week, Warner Bros’ LEGO Batman. The previous Star Wars and Indiana Jones outings for Travellers Tales’ LEGO franchise have performed brilliantly at retail, and with 2008 having already been dubbed ‘the year of The Bat’, there’s every reason to expect LEGO Batman to do the same – but will it be enough to topple FIFA?

Elsewhere EA releases NBA Live 09 across a number of formats, whilst Midway readies the Wii version of its recent wrestling hit TNA Impact. The interesting musical synthesizer package KORG DS-10 also hits stores this Friday, and is likely to command some attention from more specialist parts of the market.

Also look out for a PC release for Koei’s Dynasty Warriors 6 and Konami’ chilled out underwater adventure Lost in Blue 3 – which marks the series’ first foray onto handheld in the UK.

Full Release Schedule for October 10th (taken from MCV’s constantly updated online release schedule):

LEGO Batman – 360, PS3, Wii, DS, PSP, PC, PS2 (Warner Bros)
Fracture – PS3, 360 (Activision)
NBA Live 09 – PSP, Wii, PS3, PS2, 360 (EA)
TNA Impact – Wii (Midway)
KORG DS-10 – DS (Nintendo)
Dynasty Warriors 6 – PC (Koei)
Lost in Blue 3 – DS (Konami)

Death Track – PC (505 Games)
Sea Monsters – PS2 (Zoo Digital)
Streets of Moscow – PC (505 Games)
Adventures of Pinocchio – Wii (Phoenix)
Peter Pan’s Playground – Wii (Phoenix)
Coral Survivor – DS (Phoenix)
Donkey Xote – PSP, DS, PC, PS2 (Virgin Play)
Mall Tycoon 3 – PC (Mastertronic)
Commando Strike Force – PC (Mastertronic)
Sid Meier’s Pirates! – PC (Mastertronic)
Rogue Trooper – PC (Mastertronic)
Nancy Drew: Secret of the Old Clock – PC (Focus Multimedia)
Nancy Drew Curse of Blackmoor Manor – PC (Focus Multimedia)
Nancy Drew: The Secret of Shadow Ranch – PC (Focus Multimedia)