Lotsa good stuff this month.  On the gaming front, it'll be Phantom Hourglass, followed by an apparent trip to Wal-Mart for Chibi Robo: Park Patrol.  I'm halfway amped for Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock; the selection already looks worlds better than GHII, and being able to play the master tracks ought to be nice.  I just hope the note patterns are less rote and the songs don't drag on as long as they did in II. 

At long last, my favorite strategy game of all time comes out with a proper domestic release:  Front Mission!   I'm quite curious to hear how the music fares as a DS port; I've heard from one side that the score is the SFC original, untouched, while others have claimed that it was rearranged and remixed.  Can anyone clarify this? 

Everyone has a PSP by now, right?  The Dracula X Chronicles is paid in full, and ready to satiate my Castlevania crave for the year.  Right, and all Phoenix fans must pick up Phoenix Wright: Trials And Tribulations.  No, seriously, you must.  Else you hate kittens and puppies. 

DVD-wise, I'll need to pick up Grindhouse Presents Planet Terror: Extended And Unrated (Two-Disc Special Edition), in conjunction with Death Proof, since I missed out on them in theaters.  Ditto Transformers (2 Disc Special Edition).  I can't decide if I should pick up either the DVD or Blu-ray version of Spider-Man 3, in light of the potential possibility of a pack-in with the even more potential possibility of a new 40GB PS3.  Guess I'll play that one by ear. 

CDs, it'll be Bruce Springsteen's Magic.  I've been waiting for this one with great anticipation; the promise of a straight, back-to-roots E Street Band rock album has me frothing uncontrollably.  FFVII: Crisis Core OST, perhaps - anyone have any thoughts on the music?

Guitar Hero III can't get here soon enough...I need a fill-up after II and 80's (I'm saving 1 for after I work on III a good bit...Hoping it will drop to GH status)

Ar Tonelico 2's OST should be sweet. Just wish I had something to order with it.

Dracula X is tempting, but the potential of a VC release (or even a drop in price of the PC Engine game) is enough to ward off a $200+ purchase for right now, especially when my DS would get far more "portable" usage. Worse comes to worse, I'll be getting them as a Christmas present.

...

Unless someone points out something really tempting I'm forgetting about, that's all the noteworthy October stuff.

Edit: Angela, I've heard nothing good about Crisis Core so far (and I've had the unfortunate experience of hearing Takeharu Ishimoto's big "debut" as well...It's a Wonderful World's OST had me laughing for all the wrong reasons). It's supposedly rock/orchestral/techno mostly....I think there's a gamerip floating around.

Video games:

Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass DS
Final Fantasy Tactics War of the Lions PSP
Ace Combat 6 360
Castlevania Dracula X Chronicles PSP
Guitar Hero 3 w/ wireless guitar 360

I doubt I'll get Beautiful Katamari 360; I missed out on the series before because its odd angle messed with the motion sickness, but it didn't seem to bother me on the demo.  Zach & Wiki Quest for Barbaros Island Wii intrigues me, but I'm rather unfamiliar with the genre and so I'm basically unsure.  Battalion Wars 2 Wii depends on if it is fun and if it fixes the controls that annoyed me on the GCN.

DVDs:

Fantastic Four Rise of the Silver Surfer Blu-ray
Transformers HD-DVD
Spiderman Trilogy Blu-ray

CD:

Guitar Hero 3 OST, maybe, because it includes a code to unlock more songs within the 360 version of the game.  If it is just an in-game code that can be obtained online then I'm not buying it and that's lame to 'lock' songs that way, but I'm afraid it might be a XBLM code and the songs have to be DLed - in that case, I'll get the cd release.  It really appears to be the latter, according to Amazon:  "The expansion portion for the game will literally be new levels for the game - new songs to be played in the Guitar Hero III game. These bonus songs will be delivered via a CODE on an insert in the CD package. This code is unique for Xbox Live, where the user can type in the code and download 3 exclusive tracks in guitar hero format directly into the Xbox game."

Definite:

Odin Sphere Original Soundtrack and A.S.H. -Archaic Sealed Heat- Original Soundtrack for sure because I love my Sakimoto and Basiscape!  Also, the first handheld game I've bought since since uh.. I don't even remember when, Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles for the PSP cause it's like three games in one.  Unfortunately though, it's gonna have NEW voice acting for SotN.

Maybe:

I'm tempted to hear Yuki Iwai's latest work, R-TYPE TACTICS Original Soundtrack, since I still love what she did with Mega Man X2 and R-Type Final.  Then there's Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trials and Tribulations for the DS.  I still have to finish the second one but I might buy this anyway just so I can say I own them all.  Then the biggest maybe of all, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (w/Guitar) for the PS3, yeah that's right, the PS3.  The music selection and that sexy wireless guitar are very, very tempting.

-Mike

The only must-have for me is Zelda. Really hoping it's excellent. I love what I've seen so far and have only been hearing good things.

This is going to be a big month, and that's without considering purchases unrelated to the subject matter of these forums.

CDs:
- Ar_tonelico 2 OST (but it's combined with...)
- Odin Sphere OST (...to get free shipping, so I'll have to wait an extra two weeks. )

Games:
- Phantom Hourglass
- Growlanser V (Delayed by Atlus's terrible Canadian distribution)
- Soul Cradle (Delayed by NISA's equally terrible Canadian distribution. It should ship this evening, but it'll show up as October on my statement, so I'm counting it here)
- Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness (It'll probably be delayed 'til November for reasons stated above)
- Battalion Wars 2 (May wait for a used copy, but the first one was *so* good)
- Yon FF Tactics port
- Touch Detective 2-1/2
- Phoenix Wright 3
- Front Mission (You just *had* to add to my purchases, didn't you, Angela? I may wait for a used copy here, too, or maybe the inevitable Enix price drop, since I didn't budget for it, but it'll be hard, and I do want to send the message that North America needs more of this)

It really is excellent. I recently finished it and was generally very impressed. It's quite different to the average Zelda adventure (I've never played Wind Waker). Make sure to pick it up.

I've been toying with the idea of getting FFVII Crisis Core OST, but I'll probably pass on that and just stick to my original purchase that I have been waiting for for the past several months: Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations. BRING IT.

Phoenix Wright 3

Ar Tonelico 2 OST

maybe some others. But those are the definites.

From every possible source I've seen, Disgaea Afternoon of Darkness was always a November release.  I intend on getting it too.

Hm, regarding the first Battalion Wars, did you have no issue getting used to the controls, or am I just an idiot or something?

The aforementioned Sakimoto albums and Phantom Hourglass look like it for me. That's more than last month, at least.

Aack, a pox on me for not knowing this is coming in October.  An interactive environment-based puzzle adventure game might not fly with everyone, but nothing but great things have been said about it up to now.  Heard the puzzles are hard as hell, though.

If I could find it, I'd cite the e-mail NISA sent out as saying October 30th for Disgaea. RosenQueen only gives vague indications until things have been finalized, since, y'know, NISA = delays.

As for Battalion Wars, the controls seemed pretty intuitive to me, given what Kuju had to work with.

The only complaint I have involves the unit grouping functions on the C-stick: it should have been possible to mix forces and create your own groups; having to select by type led to a couple of otherwise avoidable deaths.

My selections from October 2007's releases:

Games:
-Chibi Robo: Park Patrol (DS)
-The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (DS)
-Front Mission (DS)
-Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Trials & Tribulations (DS)
-Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles (PSP)
-Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasures (Wii)

CDs:
-CRISIS CORE -FINAL FANTASY VII- Original Soundtrack
-R-TYPE TACTICS Original Soundtrack
-Odin Sphere Original Soundtrack
-Brass Quintet "Dragon Quest" Part.II
-A.S.H. -Archaic Sealed Heat- Original Soundtrack

DVDs:
-Scrubs Season 6

Just a heads-up for those picking up Phantom Hourglass this week:  Toys R Us is offering the Player's Guide for free with the purchase of the game.  The game will be priced at $34.99, and is set to arrive in-store on 10/2 "by 5:00 pm."

Already pre-bought Zack & Wiki online at Target.com.   Not many purchases this month, but I did catch up with alot last month since I got the flow of birthday cash!!

Games:

Persona 3
GrimGrimoire
Odin Sphere  (I know, sensing a trend anyone?)

Music:

Hacrid - Amoeba
Mnemic - Passenger
and various other hard-to find Metal goodness at Zia's Records

Drums:

Added two cymbals and the requesite silencers

Still playing Metroid Prime 3, but Odin Sphere does look tempting....

An addition, thanks to Nintendo's announcement today:  I'll be getting from the Virtual Console Super Mario Bros The Lost Levels and Sin & Punishment, even though both are slightly higher than the average NES and N64 game (600pts and 1200pts, respectively).

Only Phoenix Wright for me. I don't want Angela to think I hate kittens and puppies or anything.

I strongly dislike puppies, but I'm still getting this game.

I've been dying to try Sin & Punishment, so this will mark my first VC purchase.  Jeers to Nintendo for inflating the price to take advantage of us.

I'm torn on the 200 point inflation there... on one hand you could say it's justified because the game actually had to have some English translation work done (menus and such), but on the other I'm pretty sure they'd finished all that back at the point when the game was supposed to get an English release for the N64 anyway.  Regardless, the game is good; get it!

DVDs:

Cut (a.k.a. 'Cadaver')
Transformers
Breath (I hope it comes out this month)

I'm not sure if any movie this year is going to top Secret Sunshine. Not even my beloved Transformers came close. I find it odd that I love science fiction, but arthouse movies made in Korea are far more appealing. I can not explain this phenomenon; I can only report it.

Odd that Nintendo has a disclaimer saying that import games may contain text and such that might not be understandable for our region.  I have no idea as to why though, since I was too busy trying to force myself to play Eternal Sonata to give either game a shot.  If I'm not playing Puzzle Fighter 2 HD on XBL tonight, or trying to dredge into forcing my interest for Eternal Sonata, I'll try to give S&P a shot.

Nintendo is always putting up disclaimers to cover themselves.  Since they are considered a family-friendly company, they need to make sure that everybody knows what they are getting.

Already picked up Sin and Punishment.
Preordered Phoenix Wright 3
EDIT: Just got Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
EDIT: Pre-ordered Bleach DS
Might get MLB: Power Pros if reviews are good.

Oops, I forgot about Phoenix Wright! Gotta get that as well! Oh, and I picked up "Knocked Up" for DVD.

(And I suppose a new car since a fucker decided to circumvent right of way and plow right into me.)

im just trying to find a gdmf Wii console before the month is over...

You'd apparently have better luck grabbing one before the holiday season begins.  Didn't Reggie warn that there would be an even greater shortages this time around?

Well, there IS a new Mario and a new Smash Brothers game coming out...

I don't want to be the parent of a kid wanting one near Christmas, let me put it that way....

So after pulling myself away from my fifth straight listen, I've gotta say it now: this could be THE BEST MUSIC RELEASE THIS YEAR.  Goodness, "I'll Work For Your Love" and "Last To Die" are f---ing AMAZING.