Wall-E

Disney Pixar's Wall-E drummed up box office success and big critical acclaim, but the THQ-published game has been struggling at retail.

Middle-East website Al Bawaba reports that Disney Pixar's Wall-E will be the first Arab localized video game. Luke Keighran, THQ Export Sales Manager said: We are delighted to be part of this, launching an Arabic game is every Arab gamers' wish. This is a great opportunity for us to grow further in promising territories like Saudi Arabia and Egypt, and a solid demonstration of our commitment to the Middle East market. It is [distributor] Pluto Games' enthusiasm and will that made this commercially possible and we hope it will be the first of a long line up for Arabic titles in the future. There are only few games that would suit the Middle East's morals more than WALL*E. The game depicts family virtues in a fun adventurous story line immersing the players in a world of passionate pursuit for adventure.

THQ announced today that it has shipped WALL-E for every current viable platform, including Wii, Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, PSP, DS, Windows, and even Mac and mobile phones. In all, the game based on the Pixar movie will be released in over 69 countries in the coming months.

Ars Technica reports: WALL-E, aside from probably being the biggest family movie of the year, is also making waves in the video game industry by being the first localized video game to hit the current generation of consoles in the Middle East. THQ and Pluto Games revealed that the movie's tie-in game will actually have versions released in Arabic in an effort to appeal to gamers around the region.

Gamedaily.biz writes: Lazard Capital Markets' Colin Sebastian cautions that THQ's IP is a big risk, but he believes the publisher's management is taking the right approach to costs and product strategy. Lazard Capital Markets recently hosted investor meetings with publisher THQ and apparently came away more optimistic about the company's long-term prospects. Analyst Colin Sebastian said that THQ management is not standing still and is focused on improving execution. ...we believe management is taking a number of steps to address recent product and financial underperformance, he said. Improved control over the company's cost structure and better product management should generate more consistent performance, in our opinion. THQ recently delayed one of its more high profile games, Saints Row 2. At the time, Janco Partners' Mike Hickey questioned the credibility foundation of THQ and whether Saints Row can truly be considered a franchise.

A packed videogame release week ahead. See what's new this week for the PLAYSTATION 3, Xbox 360, Wii, Nintendo DS and Sony PSP.

Play.com let slip dates for a bunch of titles including Fable 2, Ghostbusters, Prototype, Ninja Gaiden II, and The Bourne Conspiracy. The dates: - Fable 2: May 30 - Ghostbusters: September 26 - Prototype: June 27 - The Bourne Conspiracy: June 27 - Ninja Gaiden II: March 28 - Iron Man: May 30 - WALL-E: May 4 - Lego Batman: sometime in September

Janco Partners analyst Mike Hickey picks what he believes will be the biggest sellers of 2008.

AGOURA HILLS, Calif., Jan 03, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) THQ today announced plans to release the WALL/E video game in conjunction with the film's eagerly awaited theatrical debut from Disney/Pixar in the summer of 2008. WALL/E is anticipated to launch across all major gaming systems including the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, Playstation 3 computer entertainment system, Playstation 2 computer entertainment system, PSP system, Wii home video game system, Nintendo DS, Windows PC and Mac, as well as wireless devices.