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Shop Watch October

By Russ | October 6, 2010 at 9:27 pm

As stated last month, the games being released in October are mostly Western in origin.  Two of them may even be blockbusters.  There are also some interesting handheld choices.

October has the unfortunate of beginning the holiday season.  Halloween and Thanksgiving may be closer, but Christmas is on the mind of every retailer.  It’s kind of disgusting, but at least some big titles get released.

Also, I thought Cladun was getting a UMD release for some reason.  Whoops.  The title is a PSN exclusive.

Titles shipping October 5

Final Fantasy: 4 Warriors of Light, published by Square-Enix (DS).  S-E kicks it old-school with this DS title.  I’m a little behind on knowledge for this one, but thankfully I can cop out and point to RPG Land’s review here.

Pokemon Ranger: Guardian Signs , published by Nintendo (DS).  I doubt this title will tide Pokemon fans over until Black and White are released.  It may be good for completionists, as there is probably an exclusive Pokemon to be connected to Black and White somewhere.

Titles shipping October 12

Borderlands: Game of the Year Edition, published by 2K Games (360, PC, PS3).  This version of Borderlands comes with all of the DLC available on one shiny disc, including the DLC released just a week or so ago.

Lufia: Curse of the Sinistrals, published by Natsume (DS).  Well I’ll be – A Lufia title!  This game in the series deviates from the majority of past Lufia titles as an adventure/action RPG game.  However, it’s made by the same team who created the first Lufia game.  It’s also a remake of Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals for the SNES.  Here’s hoping there’s more Lufia love along the way.

Titles shipping October 19

Arcania: Gothic 4, published by Dreamcatcher Interactive (360, PC, PS3).  This installment marks the first time the Gothic PC franchise has been brought to consoles.  The developers are looking for Arcania to be a triple-A title.  It looks like the developers chose a bad time to try that out, since Fallout: New Vegas is also released this week.  A demo for the game is available on Xbox Live.

Blazing Souls: Accelate, published by Akys (PSP).  I believe this is an Idea Factory game, at which point most gamers know I’ve said enough.

Fallout: New Vegas, published by 2K Games (360, PC, PS3).  Are you ready for another romp through the Fallout world with Fallout 3’s battle engine? Fallout 3 was a major hit, and New Vegas looks poised to be in the same vein.  Collector’s Editions of this game are also available.

Knights in the Knightmare, published by Atlus (PSP).  A port of the DS strategy RPG and shmup hybrid, it’s hard to say how the game will play on the PSP.  The DS version made decent use of the touchscreen.  Atlus is looking to move this title, though – the first run comes with a free download of Yggdra Union for the PSP.

Titles shipping October 26

Dragon Age Origins: Ultimate Edition, published by EA (360, PC, PS3).  It’s everything Dragon Age.  Everything.

Fable III, published by Microsoft (360).  Jokes aside about the game not being able to deliver as promised, Fable is Microsoft’s flagship RPG series.  The dual focus in this title centers around two royal siblings who are squabbling over the throne with guns, knives and magic during the world’s industrial revolution.

Z. H. P. Unlosing Ranger versus Darkdeath Evilman, published by NISA (PSP).  The title of this game is both awesome and tedious to type out.  I’m going to invoke the Badman clause on this sucker.  Z.H.P. is a randomly generated dungeon crawler with lots of customization, and looks to be fun timesink.

Some Advice:  Knights in the Knightmare, Z.H.P. and Blazing Souls might be hard to find, so use discretion when ordering them.  More than likely, Blazing Souls will drop like a rock.

Fallout: New Vegas, Borderlands GOTY, and Fable III are all going to have deals on the games over the holiday season.  Eventually, New Vegas and Fable III will be rereleased as either GOTY or Platinum Hits titles with extra content.

Arcania is a tough one, but like Risen and Divinity II, will probably eventually hover around the $30 area within a couple months.

Natsume titles typically hit the $15 to $20 range quickly.  I’ll see you there, Lufia.

The Future:  World of Warcraft, Ys and Golden Sun.  November will give a clearer idea of the future, as games scheduled for holiday release are pushed back and winter releases are scheduled.

All retail games (with the exception of those marked as street-dated) will be in stores one day after their release. Release dates also tend to be shipping dates. All release dates are subject to change.  Games available for download will have varying release. The views of this column do not reflect the views of RPG Land.

Topics: Shop Watch