The Last Word: October 10-16

After a summer hiatus, GameSpot's weekly summary is back with a whole host of condensed content for the gaming connoisseur. Besides a breakdown of all the week's new releases, there are links to all the week's news headlines--including the latest Gran Turismo 5 delay and NPD report. The previews team scoped out undead cowboys and vampire sims, while the reviews crew put Medal of Honor and Sonic through their paces. Last but not least, the video crew cranked out three more Today on the Spots for your viewing pleasure.

THE LAST WORD: OCTOBER 10-16

NEW RELEASES
Shippin' Out Oct. 10-16: Medal of Honor, Super Scribblenauts
Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 zips to XBLA this week
Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 zooms to WiiWare
Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 races to PSN
Big in Japan Oct. 4-10: Red Dead Redemption, Kingdom Hearts DS

FEATURES
With the release of Halo: Reach a few weeks behind us, we hit up Bungie and asked if they could give us some of their behind-the-scenes thoughts on the development of the game. Marcus Lehto, creative director at Bungie, took some time out to enlighten us with answers on a variety of topics, including the battle between the campaign and multiplayer as well as what it was like to work on Bungie's final Halo game.
Halo: Reach - Final Thoughts

NEWS
It was a busy week at the newsdesk, with two major stories dominating the newsscape. The first came Wednesday, when the perpetually postponed racer Gran Turismo 5 was delayed yet again. Once seemingly locked into a November 2 launch, the game is now due "this holiday season." On Thursday, NPD released its sales figures for September, and the results weren't pretty. The month saw US game sales drop 8 percent, software dip 5 percent, and hardware fall an alarming 17 percent year-over-year. The top console for the month was the resurgent Xbox 360, which sold 484,000 units. In second was the PlayStation 3 with 312,000 units, followed by the once-dominant Wii with 254,000 units.
Gran Turismo 5 delayed again
September US game sales slide 8%, hardware down 19% - NPD
Halo: Reach sells 3.3 million, Xbox 360 adds another 484,000
254,000 Wiis, 312,000 PS3s sold in Sept. - Analyst
Valve championing DOTA2 next year
Netflix goes disc-free on PS3 next week
Raven winged by layoffs
Newest BioShock 2 DLC scrapped for PC
EA stock slips 6 percent
Tony Hawk: Shred studio wipes out?
Gearbox approves fan-made Duke Nukem 3D remake
Halo Reaching for Noble map pack

PREVIEWS
This week, GameSpot previews were all about the supernatural with the latest downloadable expansion for Red Dead Redemption, Undead Nightmare. The biggest DLC yet for the game is all about zombies, whether they're zombie people or zombie bears. It's also the first proper story expansion for Red Dead, so anyone who has been ignoring the multiplayer downloads could well be interested in what's going on with this add-on. Then the previews team caught a look at going vampire in The Sims 3: Late Night--more specifically, going vampire celebrity rock star. Finally, there were also previews for Faery: Legends of Avalon and Tron: Evolution.
Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare Hands-On Impressions
The Sims 3: Late Night Updated Hands-On - Star Power, Building the Band, Going Full Vampire
Faery: Legends of Avalon First Impressions
Tron: Evolution Multiplayer Hands-On

REVIEWS
The fourth-quarter rush is in full effect for the reviews team right now, and at the time of this writing we're busily working on reviews for games like Costume Quest, EA Sports MMA, God of War: Ghost of Sparta, Rock Band 3, Super Meat Boy, and Vanquish, to name just a few. We're so busy, in fact, that we're adding another body to our in-house reviews team next week. But enough about the future. Here--in case you missed any of the good stuff--are some of this week's highlights:
Kirby's Epic Yarn (Wii) Review
Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light (DS) Review
Medal of Honor (PC, PS3, X360) Review
MySims SkyHeroes (Wii) Review
Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter (X360) Review
Sid Meier's Pirates (Wii) Review
Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 (PS3, X360) Review
Super Scribblenauts (DS) Review
WRC: FIA World Rally Championship (PS3, X360) Review

VIDEO
The GameSpot Live crew had a busy week for video content on the site. Three new episodes of Today On the Spot took a look at games like Dance Central, Costume Quest, and Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon on the Wii. Shaun McInnis got his hands on the new Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare DLC to give us a preview. Video reviews this week included Supper Scribblenauts on the DS and Medal of Honor. Now Playing made an appearance this week when Sophia Tong and Giancarlo Varanini showed off the first 15 minutes of Kirby's Epic Yarn!
Today On the Spot - Costume Quest
Super Scribblenauts Video Review
Medal of Honor Video Review
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II Launch Trailer
GameSpot Presents: Now Playing - Kirby's Epic Yarn