Behold! A month worth of new games! From Wii U to PC and everything in between, October has something for everyone. That’s assuming you’re not still playing Grand Theft Auto V. Put it down. Have a break. Admit you’ve got a problem. We’re here to help.

Below you’ll not only find a release schedule for video games in October, along with our usual staff picks, but also contributed thoughts from Daniel Vuckovic. You might know him as the guy who got the ball rolling on Vooks.net, Australia’s biggest Nintendo-dedicated website. Is he obsessed with just Nintendo games? Or does his taste go…beyond? Read on to find out.

• 01/10 – Just Dance 2014 (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii U)
• 02/10 – Rain (PlayStation 3)
• 03/10 – NBA 2K14 (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC)
• 03/10 – F1 2013 (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC)
• 05/10 – The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD (Wii U)
• 09/10 – Beyond: Two Souls (PlayStation 3)
• 10/10 – Dragon’s Crown (PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita)
• 12/10 – Pokemon X & Y (3DS)
• 16/10 – Skylanders: Swap Force (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii U, 3DS)
• 19/10 – Sonic Lost World (Wii U, 3DS)
• 24/10 – Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies (3DS)
• 25/10 – Batman: Arkham Origins (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC, Wii U)
• 25/10 – Batman: Arkham Origins – Blackgate (3DS, PlayStation Vita)
• 26/10 – Wii Party U (Wii U)
• 31/10 – WWE 2k14 (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3)
• 31/10 – Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC, Wii U)
• 31/10 – Battlefield 4 (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC)
• 31/10 – Football Manager 2014 (PC)
• 31/10 – The Wolf Among Us (PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3)

Daniel Vuckovic – Owner/Editor in Chief of Vooks

There’s a ton of games out for me this month, but I will unlikely have time to play all but two of them. After Nintendo and third parties took the first 9 months of the year off this year I’m treated to Skylanders: Swap Force, Sonic Lost World, Batman Arkham Origins, Wii Party U, Assassin’s Creed IV and of course The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker.

Seeing as there’s no guarantee that the Wii U will be getting next years third party titles I’m hoping to play all of them on the Wii U this holiday season. October though will belong The Wind Waker, something I haven’t played since 2006 just before Twilight Princess was meant to drop. I didn’t bother to finish the game the first time around thanks to that pesky Triforce Quest.

On the portable side of things there’s the big Pokemon X & Y, Sonic Lost World, Batman: Blackgate and I’ll be downloading Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies the minute it’s live.

Ha that crazy Vook, he only plays games on Nintendo consoles, what a nub. Well lucky for me this month anything I do actually want to play is on the Wii U or 3DS. Battlefield 4 is on the list to get eventually but I’ll be picking that up on the Xbox One next month. Absolutely packed month, I’ll have bought all these games and probably still be playing Animal Crossing New Leaf anyway.

Adam Shurey

October is shaping up to be a great month for gaming! The three games I’m looking forward to are:

Beyond: Two Souls. Quantic Dream’s follow up to Heavy Rain seems set to improve on it in every way. Quantic’s trademark motion capture animation is better than ever, but the in-game animations (which were rather robotic in Heavy Rain), are also looking good. Beyond tells the story of Jodie (played by Ellen Page), an ordinary girl who has the ability to communicate with a spiritual entity called Aiden. The game follows her life as she transitions from an innocent little girl into a teenage wanted criminal, with Aiden always being by her side and protecting her. The QTEs that were prevalent in Heavy Rain are largely absent, with Beyond favouring context sensitive movements of the right analogue stick for interacting with the world instead. It’s shaping up to be an intense experience, and a great exclusive title for the PlayStation 3.

Then, a few days later, Pokemon X & Y. After 17 years of 2D sprites, the main series Pokemon games are finally going 3D! The new games for the Nintendo 3DS are looking great visually, and will offer a bunch of new Pokemon (of course), new ways to interact with the world, more detailed Pokemon battles, and new social features. There’s also new Mega forms for some Pokemon, which can only be used during battle, as well as a completely new Pokemon type. Pokemon X & Y are sure to be huge sellers for the 3DS, which will be talked about for a long time after their release.

A little later on in this month, we have Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies. The long awaited fifth entry in the Phoenix Wright series is finally arriving, and just like with Pokemon, it also serves as the series’ debut in 3D. The much loved animations seen in the previous titles have been faithfully recreated in 3D, and there’s a brand new way to cross-examine witnesses. The Mood Matrix allows you to observe their emotions, and if you notice that their reaction to a piece of evidence seems strange, then you can call them out on it. Phoenix himself is back in the role of protagonist, with Apollo Justice also being playable at times. Dual Destinies is looking like another a great entry in the series, and I can’t wait to get my hands on it.

Tim Norman

I’m all about the Assassin’s Creed IV this month. After last year’s disappointing Assassin’s Creed III, I have high hopes for the fourth game in the series, and everything about it suggests it’s going to be the best one yet. The idea of a swashbuckling adventure told in the Assassin’s Creed style ticks all the right boxes for me, so I’m really excited to see how it turns out.

I’m also tentatively interested in Beyond: Two Souls. Quantic Dream’s games have always had interesting ideas but, so far, they’ve failed to successfully turn that into an actually interesting game. Hopefully, this time, David Cage and his team have figured out this final hurdle and produced an actual game that will be worth playing.

Other than those two games, I’m intrigued by Rain, which looks like it could be a surprise hit. After having managed to avoid the Arkham games so far, I’m hoping that Batman: Arkham Origins finally pulls me in. There’s also the latest in Codemasters’ excellent F1 series to look forward to, although I suspect it’ll only get limited play at my house before November’s big launches hit.

 Adam Ghiggino

This month is really all about two titles for me – Rain and Phoenix Wright. Rain was one of the most surprising titles I played at E3 this year – I’d heard very little about it, but I found it hard to put down. It’s got a dash of Ico about it, as you lead an invisible (or ghostly?) boy around the streets of a deserted city caught up in a storm, visible only from the splash of raindrops on his outline. It’s inventive, eerie and sometimes a little scary, and I really want to get through the whole thing once it comes out this month.

Phoenix Wright: Dual Destinies is the triumphant return of our favourite defence attorney, after being absent as a playable character since Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations. I’m pleased to say all indications point to this being yet another weird and hilarious look at a court system gone bananas, which will thoroughly confuse newcomers and delight long-time fans. Is that Pearl Fey on the poster? Hey look, Apollo Justice is a pirate now! I wonder if Edgeworth is back…

Bev Chen

For me, most of my long-awaited releases landed in August, but October is shaping up to be quite a lively little month. My big draw-card this month, like many of the other staff members, is Beyond: Two Souls. I quite enjoyed Heavy Rain (although I can’t say the same for Fahrenheit/Indigo Prophecy), so hopefully this will be another step in the right direction for Quantic Dream. I’m also interested in Sonic Lost World, if only to see whether the infamous Sonic cycle repeats itself, or whether it is a genuinely good Sonic game. Last but not least, the new Phoenix Wright game will no doubt have me glued to my 3DS once more.

PS: It’s also worth noting that this month, we Aussies receive Dragon’s Crown.

Alex Mann

Call me a sucker, but this month is all about revisiting the world of The Wind Waker for me. Yeah, yeah – Nintendo should stop rehashing old titles and get to giving us something that will actually define their new console but …  The Wind Waker. I can’t go past Zelda, and if the new titles are going to be lifeless adventures like Skyward Sword, I’m more than happy to play through the older games in HD. Ocarina of Time took 5 years to get right, so take your time Nintendo – wow me later. In the mean time, gimme Majora’s Mask HD too – and throw A Link to the Past up onto the 3DS shop already!! Jeez.

Jarrod Mawson

October is a month of cautious optimism. For my wallet, it’s littered with titles I’d like to buy but feel no pressure to do so in the immediate future. This category is bulked out with the likes of The Wind Waker HD, Rain, Sonic Lost World, and Black Flag. I’d like to try these games eventually, for a multitude of reasons (relive The Wind Waker with an improved Triforce quest, see if Ubisoft is still making crummy open world games, go fast, etc), but the pressure is off to play them now when I could play them later and safely eat for that month.

Only two games have me in a stranglehold: Battlefield 4 and Batman: Arkham Origins. Battlefield 3‘s campaign was tripe, but the hours I’ve put into the multiplayer sit just below Team Fortress 2 and Mass Effect 3, so I’m not going to pretend Battlefield 4 will be any less of an unproductive time sink. Arkham Origins continues a series I have, up until this point, thoroughly enjoyed. It’s being helmed by a new team, and while this might be a call for concern, I’ve always been fond of seeing how new talent can inject life into existing franchise, even if that franchise is fairly safe and predictable in design.

I say only two games, but there’s others desperately vying for my attention. The Wolf Among Us should continue Telltale’s excellent storytelling, now in the crazy world of Fables. Dual Destinies is Ace Attorney, which means I must have it eventually. And I think Blackgate deserves a nod, under development by the key design leads from Metroid Prime. I think, with these titles, my purchase is not a question of “if”, but “when”.

Anthony Capone

Battlefield 4:

Dis game is da awesomes n da COD fanboys r krap n cyas in a gyear.