Who will be the biggest sellers in October? The letters "GTA" come to mind. Fearless predictions from top gaming authorities and a complete list of every game scheduled to come out this month. All here.
Welcome to the inaugural edition of On Tap. Each month we'll be taking a look at the upcoming games release list and surveying various people to see which titles they think will be the "hot picks" or best sellers for the month.
Not surprisingly, most agree that the clear "hot pick" for October is Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Other than GTA, though, the month is a bit strange because many consumers could be waiting for the arrival of the new PlayStation 2, the Nintendo DS and Halo 2, which all launch in November. David Riley, Senior Public Relations Manager at the NPD Group, told GameDAILY Biz, "People may be holding onto their bucks for upcoming products...but without a doubt GTA will be number one."
Liz O'Sullivan, VP Strategic Merchandising Marketing, EB Games, said, "We're really gearing up for the release of GTA."
Riley also believes that Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, Mortal Kombat: Deception and Tony Hawk's Underground 2 will be in the top ten. Regarding Tony Hawk, Riley said, "That always does well...the fact that they've already pulled in close to a billion dollars speaks for itself." And concerning the Mortal Kombat franchise, he said, "That's got a following that never seems to die."
Riley also told us that Nintendo's unique music/rhythm game, Donkey Konga, has potential. "It won't do as well as others but because of the [bongos controller], I think that's going to be a major selling point for this game, because it's a novelty; so I think that'll find a market and do relatively well."
Mike WeigandGamePro's Senior Associate Editoragrees with the assertion that GTA: San Andreas is the clear winner. "All eyes are on GTA right now." However he then added, "Once everybody gets it, there's still a lot of strong stuff coming up after it." One of his picks for October, even though it was released already, is Electronic Arts' Burnout 3, which he thinks will still generate plenty of sales. He also believes Majesco's BloodRayne 2 will perform reasonably well. Interestingly, Weigand has high hopes for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: Battle Nexus. "I wouldn't rule out TMNT2 for the sole reason that the first one sold remarkably well for Konami."
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