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Out This Week

Black Ops! Kinect! Other stuff!

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Image credit: Eurogamer
Wesley Yin-Poole avatar
News by Wesley Yin-Poole Former Editor-in-Chief
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Hear that? That's the sound of the biggest week ever in the history of UK videogames smashing you in the face.

Tomorrow (or midnight tonight, if you're brave and don't mind the wind and rain), Activision's Call of Duty: Black Ops goes on sale. It is a game many reckon will sell close to 20 million units. It is a game many predict will be the biggest of the year. It is a game some even suggest could be the biggest game of all time.

If COD had the week to itself we'd still have a record-breaking time of it. But it doesn't. This Wednesday sees the release of what Microsoft describes as a "game changer", the add-on it believes will extend the life of the Xbox 360 by five years: Kinect.

So, yeah, big week and stuff. Expect chaos.

This Week In Shops!

Call of Duty: Black Ops

  • Developer: Treyarch
  • Publisher: Activision
  • Formats: DS, PC, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360

What is it? The first-person shooter to end all first-person shooters. Lock and load, soldier. What we think: Eurogamer's review will be published first thing tomorrow morning. Nick Cowen went hands-on for Eurogamer in September. "Treyarch has produced an impressive and robust multiplayer mode, which pulls off an interesting balancing act by making concessions for entry level players while adding enough content to keep veterans glued to it until the wee hours of the morning," he said.

Kinect

  • Developer: Microsoft
  • Publisher: Microsoft
  • Formats: Xbox 360

What is it? £130 Xbox 360 sensor bar that allows controller-free gaming. What we think? Kinect launches this week with a raft of games. For Eurogamer's verdict, head over to Oli's comprehensive coverage round-up.

What Else?

  • Fighters Uncaged (Microsoft / Xbox 360)
  • Kinect Adventures (Microsoft / Xbox 360)
  • Dance Central (MTV Games / Xbox 360)
  • Kinect Sports (Microsoft / Xbox 360)
  • Kinectimals (Microsoft / Xbox 360)
  • Sonic Free Riders (SEGA / Xbox 360)
  • Kinect Joyride (Microsoft / Xbox 360)
  • Motion Sports (Ubisoft / Xbox 360)
  • Your Shape Fitness Evolved (Ubisoft / Xbox 360)
  • Crossboard 7 (Konami / Xbox 360)
  • Ferrari The Race Experience (System 3 / Wii)
  • Venetica (Mastertronic / PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
  • Harvest Moon: Hero Of Leaf Valley (Rising Star Games / PSP)
  • Tom Clancy's HAWX 2 (Ubisoft / PC, Wii)
  • Sonic Colours (SEGA / DS, Wii)
  • BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger Portable (PQube / PSP)
  • Invizimals: Shadow Zone (Sony / PSP)
  • Rapala Pro Bass Fishing (Activision / PS3, Wii, Xbox 360)
  • Dr Who: Evacuation Earth (DS, Wii / Koch Media)
  • We Sing Robbie Williams (Wii / Nordic Games)

Chart Predictions!

Each week one of the team will step up to predict the UK all-formats chart. The following predicts the outcome for the week beginning Friday 12th November (to be reported on Monday 15th November).

Rob Purchese, Senior Staff Writer

  1. Black Ops
  2. Kinect Adventures
  3. FIFA 11
  4. Dance Central
  5. 007: GoldenEye

"Nothing will beat Call of Duty: Black Ops this week - it's going to storm into the charts like the US forces did a Vietnamese village and kill everything. Meanwhile, Microsoft's spending all its pocket money shunting Kinect into everybody's face, and as Kinect Adventures is the game bundled with the hardware, whatever the hardware sells the game's numbers match it - second place. Never bet against FIFA, which is why that's in there, and Dance Central is being pumped upfront by GAME (the official launch partner of Kinect) - I reckon most people will want a second game to go with their new motion-sensing camera. My out-there wild card of the week is 007: GoldenEye. It's risky putting this in the place of Just Dance 2, but there's some serious advertising spend behind it - and for just £25 this could prove to be the surprise of the week."

Eurogamer Reviews Editor Oli Welsh offered his predictions last week. His crystal ball gazing resulted in Football Manager 2011 on top, FIFA 11 in second, Fable IIII in third, Just Dance 2 in fourth and James Bond: 007 Blood Stone in fifth. How did he do?

UK All-Formats Top 5 (reported this morning)

  1. Football Manager 2011
  2. FIFA 11
  3. Fable III
  4. Just Dance 2
  5. Professor Layton and the Lost Future

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