In the wake of tomorrow’s highly anticipated release, there are still plenty of big titles arriving on shelves this Friday to look forward to.

However, the highlight of the week will undoubtedly be Microsoft’s Halo 3: ODST. Arriving tomorrow, the game invites fans to experience the Halo universe from a whole new perspective: that of a recon trooper cut off from his unit.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Nintendo’s universally appealing puzzle series returns with Professor Layton & Pandora’s Box. The laterally thinking English gentleman is hot on the trail of a murderer and needs players’ help to track down a mythical artefact.

Also out this week is Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 (Activision Blizzard), Aion: The Tower Of Eternity (NCsoft) and Family Trainer: Extreme Challenge (Namco Bandai).

28/Sep/2009

It’s the last week of September, the end of Quarter 3 and the market receives a well-timed boost from 2 format-specific titles debuting at No’s 1 and 2. Microsoft’s Xbox 360 ‘Halo 3: ODST’ debuts at No1 exactly 2 years after ‘Halo 3’.

The aforementioned ‘Halo 3: ODST’ was released on Tuesday 22nd September and such was the demand that it sold 64% of its week 1 sell-through in the first 24 hours. It ranks at No12 in terms of biggest week 1 sell-though for a single format title. ‘Halo 3’ debuted on Wednesday 26th September 2007 with Day 1 accounting for 65% of its initial week, but week 1 sales of ‘Halo 3’ were far greater which explains why that title is currently the 4th biggest single format title ranked by week 1 sell-through (behind ‘GTA: San Andreas’ PS2, ‘GTA IV’ 360 then ‘GTA IV’ PS3).

The other big single format launch this week is Nintendo’s DS ‘Professor Layton and Pandora’s Box’ which debuts at No2, one place higher than that ever achieved by the original ‘Professor Layton And The Curious Village’ which this week enjoys a sales uplift of 36% and climbs 5 places to No18. Last week’s No1 is forced down to No3 even though EA’s ‘Need For Speed: Shift’ enjoys a sales surge of 7% over last week. Also new this week is Activision Blizzard’s ‘Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2’ debuting at No7 and NCSoft just miss out on the Top 10 as PC MMO ‘Aion’ debuts at No11. The last new entry is EA’s ‘MySims Agents’, in at No16 on DS & Wii.

28/Sep/2009

It’s the last week of September, the end of Quarter 3 and the market receives a well-timed boost from 2 format-specific titles debuting at No’s 1 and 2. Microsoft’s Xbox 360 ‘Halo 3: ODST’ debuts at No1 exactly 2 years after ‘Halo 3’.

The aforementioned ‘Halo 3: ODST’ was released on Tuesday 22nd September and such was the demand that it sold 64% of its week 1 sell-through in the first 24 hours. It ranks at No12 in terms of biggest week 1 sell-though for a single format title. ‘Halo 3’ debuted on Wednesday 26th September 2007 with Day 1 accounting for 65% of its initial week, but week 1 sales of ‘Halo 3’ were far greater which explains why that title is currently the 4th biggest single format title ranked by week 1 sell-through (behind ‘GTA: San Andreas’ PS2, ‘GTA IV’ 360 then ‘GTA IV’ PS3).

The other big single format launch this week is Nintendo’s DS ‘Professor Layton and Pandora’s Box’ which debuts at No2, one place higher than that ever achieved by the original ‘Professor Layton And The Curious Village’ which this week enjoys a sales uplift of 36% and climbs 5 places to No18. Last week’s No1 is forced down to No3 even though EA’s ‘Need For Speed: Shift’ enjoys a sales surge of 7% over last week. Also new this week is Activision Blizzard’s ‘Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2’ debuting at No7 and NCSoft just miss out on the Top 10 as PC MMO ‘Aion’ debuts at No11. The last new entry is EA’s ‘MySims Agents’, in at No16 on DS & Wii.