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Long read: The beauty and drama of video games and their clouds

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Out This Week

Fallout! Vanquish! DJ Hero 2!

The blockbusters just keep on coming (it must be the fourth quarter!). This week sees the release of a half a dozen games that each aspire to sell a bucket load of copies. Top of our interest pile is Obsidian's Fallout spin-off New Vegas, which takes the post-apocalyptic fun into brighter skies. But will the Alpha Protocol developer's effort live up to expectations set by Fallout 3?

PlatinumGames' Vanquish fuses Gears of War style third-person shooting with the intense action the Japanese developer is known for. But will it be more a case of snooze-a-thon than revolution? We'll know soon enough.

And fans of the downloadable disposition will be interested to know that Double Fine's cute RPG Costume Quest will be made available to digitise down interpipes this week. Password: Bobby Kotick.

This Week In Shops!

Fallout: New Vegas

  • Developer: Obsidian Entertainment
  • Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
  • Formats: PC, PS3, Xbox 360

What is it? Open world post-apocalyptic retro futuristic RPG from some of the creators of the original Fallout. What we think: Eurogamer's review will be published tomorrow at 3pm BST. "Obsidian seems to be rebuilding Fallout 3 in a different place and the results are just as effective," wrote Tom in his preview.

Strip poker.

Vanquish

  • Developer: PlatinumGames
  • Publisher: SEGA
  • Formats: PS3, Xbox 360

What is it? New game from the Japanese developer behind Bayonetta What we think: We're working hard at the review, which will be published tomorrow at 5pm BST. We sat down with producer Atsushi Inaba for a chat earlier today.

Battlesuits you, sir.

What Else?

  • DJ Hero 2 (Activision Blizzard / PS3, Xbox 360, Wii)
  • EA Sports MMA (EA Sports / PS3, Xbox 360)
  • LEGO Universe (Warner / PC)
  • Arcania - Gothic 4 (JoWood / PC, Xbox 360)
  • Dragon Ball: Tenkaichi Tag Team (Namco Bandai / PSP)
  • Puzzle Quest 2 (Namco Bandai / DS)
  • Professor Layton and The Lost Future (Nintendo / DS)
  • Harvest Moon: Hero of Leaf Valley (Rising Star Games / PSP)
  • Saw 2: Flesh & Blood (Konami / PS3, Xbox 360)
  • New Carnival Games (Take-Two / Wii)
  • Atelier Rorona: The Alchemist of Arland (Tecmo Koei / PS3)
  • Super Meat Boy (Team Meat / XBLA)
  • Costume Quest (THQ / PSN, XBLA)

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 22nd October (to be reported on Monday 25th October).

Ellie Gibson, Deputy Editor

  • Just Dance 2
  • FIFA 11
  • Fallout: New Vegas
  • Medal of Honor
  • New Carnival Games

"I predict that gathering Just Dance 2 momentum, not to mention that Jersey Shore ad, could propel Ubi's floor-filler into first place. New Vegas should do well but is the Fallout brand big enough to beat down FIFA and MOH? New intellectual properties can struggle to hold their own so I doubt Vanquish will topple them, though it should make the top ten. As should New Carnival Games, which despite being almost certainly completely rubbish is likely to hang around the charts from now till Christmas. 2015."

Eurogamer Reviews Editor Oli Welsh offered his predictions last week. His crystal ball gazing resulted in Medal of Honor on top, FIFA 11 in second, PES 2011 in third, F1 2010 in fourth and Just Dance 2 in fifth. How did he do?

UK All-Formats Top 5 (reported this morning)

  • Medal of Honor
  • FIFA 11
  • Just Dance 2
  • Wii Party
  • PES 2011