It’s fall, which means out with the old, in with the new. Video games are no exception. Ditch the ’09 models and update your collection to 2010. This month, NBA Live, NBA 2K, FIFA Soccer and Tony Hawk release their latest versions with much-anticipated upgrades and new features.

NBA Live 10
EA Sports
Release Date: Oct. 6
Available for: Wii, 360, PS3, PS2, PSP and DS
Place two TVs side by side, one with a real game and the other playing Live 10, and you’ll have a hard time telling which is which. That’s because EA stepped it up this year by honing in on the game’s technical details for a more realistic look, feel and sound.

Dwight Howard, Live 10’s cover boy, says the realism makes the game nearly perfect. “There is nothing I do not like about the game,” he says. “From the crowd to the players on the bench to what the players do after they score, everything on here looks good.”

STACK’s Favorite Feature: Honestly, it’s all the little changes—playable injuries; signature shots and moves; and chants, lighting and aesthetics particular to each arena—that EA focused on to make this version the most realistic to date.

NBA 2K10
2K Sports
Release Date: Oct. 6
Available for: Wii, 360, PS3, PS2, PSP and PC
To defend its number-one selling NBA videogame title, 2K Sports has raised the bar for all balling games, as their 2010 edition also blurs the line between reality and virtual reality. In addition to new offensive controls and a shut-down D system, the game automatically streams NBA news, stats and match-ups across the screen in real time.

STACK’s Favorite Feature: Basically, gamers get ridiculous control, from real time practice to a new player progression system. Even better, the feature fully incorporates the NBA D-league.

FIFA Soccer 10
EA Sports
Release Date: Oct. 20
Available for: Wii, 360, PS3, PSP and DS
What did EA do to the most popular sports video game in the world? Why, they made it even better with more realistic movements and customizations.

STACK’s Favorite Features: The two features that psyche us up are 360-degree dribbling [the first-ever true 360] and the long-awaited custom set pieces. FIFA 10’s 360-degree dribbling system allows players to dribble more precisely between defenders and open spaces, which previously wasn’t possible. And custom playbooks, which have been around for a few years with other EA series, have finally made it onto the pitch. Design your own corners and free kicks with complete control over all your players, and give each player his own unique movement to outwit opponents.

Tony Hawk: Ride
Activision
Release Date: Nov. 17
Available for: Wii, 360, PS3
Finally, a skateboarding game that actually uses a skateboard as a controller. Activision has teamed up with Robomodo to create the latest and most lifelike game in the Hawk series, Tony Hawk: Ride.

STACK’s Favorite Feature: The skateboard as a controller is what separates Ride from other skate games. Through sensors on all sides of the board, gamers’ shifts, turns, balance and other moves are immediately depicted on the screen.