Out This Week - 28/10/11
Battlefield 3! Kinect Sports 2! Daytona!
Whatever Battlefield 3's sales figures are when the dust settles (and we guess they'll be stonkingly huge), EA's FPS juggernaut has already clocked up some truly impressive numbers.
Few other games this year can boast two million pre-orders, eight million beta players and an eye-watering $100 million dollars in marketing spend.
Then there's the nugget upon vitriolic nugget of Battlefield vs. Call of Duty trash talk, the continual sniping from both EA and Activision camps as vicious as anything found in the game.
Battlefield 3 is this month's biggest gaming launch by miles. Well, that and Eurogamer's shiny new layout.
The brave few games that go over the top this week to release against Battlefield 3 can be divided into two groups. First off, the kid friendly titles whose audiences - presumably - should remain clear of the shooter genre anyway. Rare-developed Kinect Sports: Season 2, cute cross-over platformer Disney Universe and DS strategy adventure Kirby Mass Attack lead the charge.
A glance at the calendar confirms the slow, moaning arrival of this week's second group - the annual spike of undead-themed releases timed to hit around Halloween. The Wii's sweary on-rails shooter House of the Dead is reincarnated in an expanded PS3 re-release, while inFamous 2 adds standalone vampire expansion Festival of Blood. And then there's Zombie Apocalypse: Never Die Alone, a downloadable top-down twin-stick shooter.
In the world of download releases Sega shunts out classic racer Daytona USA, its latest Dreamcast port for PSN and XBLA. There's also fresh DLC for Toy Soldiers, A World of Keflings and a temporarily-free paranormal table for Pinball FX 2.
This Week in Shops!
Battlefield 3
- Developer: DICE
- Publisher: EA
- Formats: PC, PS3, Xbox 360
What is it? Latest in DICE's super-popular shooter series and EA's big hope to produce a true COD-killer. What does Eurogamer think? Eurogamer's review goes live tomorrow.
Kinect Sports: Season 2
- Developer: Rare/BigPark
- Publisher: Microsoft Studios
- Formats: Xbox 360 with Kinect
What is it? British Kinect developer Rare's sport mini-game sequel. What does Eurogamer think? Look for Eurogamer's verdict very soon.
What Else?
- Daytona USA (PSN, XBLA)
- Disney Universe (PS3, Wii, Xbox 360)
- Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Tenkaichi (PS3, Xbox 360)
- House of the Dead Extended Cut (PS3)
- Infamous 2: Festival of Blood (PS3)
- Kirby Mass Attack (DS)
- Motionsports: Adrenaline (Xbox 360)
- NCIS (3DS, PC, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360)
- PixelJunk SideScroller (PSN)
- Stronghold 3 (PC)
- War of the Worlds (XBLA)
- Zombie Apocalypse: Never Die Alone (PSN, XBLA)
Chart Predictions!
Each week one of the team attempts to predict the future - or rather, what next week's top five games will be in the UK all-formats chart. The following predictions are for the week beginning Friday 28th October, to be reported the following Monday.
Tom Champion, Community Manager, Eurogamer.net
"We're getting to the business end of the year with a ton of new releases. Number one this week is a no brainer; Battlefield 3. I can't see anything touching that until Modern Warfare 3 and Skyrim hit the shelves. The other main releases are Disney Universe and Kinect Sports, both of which should do pretty well as they're prime stocking fillers for Christmas. They may not impact the charts straight away, however, which all means that Arkham City will remain in second, FIFA third, Just Dance fourth and Forza in fifth. I'm not feeling particularly confident about this week's predictions and accept no liability for any gambling debts incurred on the back of my advice."
- Battlefield 3
- Arkham City
- FIFA 12
- Just Dance 3
- Forza 4
Last week, Eurogamer Editor-at-large Tom Bramwell took a chance at predicting the future. How the devil did he do?
| Position | The Truth | The Prediction | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Batman: Arkham City | Batman: Arkham City | YES! |
| 2 | FIFA 12 | FIFA 12 | YES! |
| 3 | Football Manager 2012 | Just Dance 3 | NO! |
| 4 | Forza Motorsport 4 | Forza Motorsport 4 | YES! |
| 5 | Just Dance 3 | Gears 3 | NO! |
Your Chart Predictions!
Last week, 64 per cent of you predicted Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn would turn up outside the top ten. Alas, you were correct - it didn't appear in the top forty! This week we're asking you where Kinect Sports: Season 2 will land. Fancy a flutter?