It’s October, which mean video game publishers are making sure that any spooky or Halloween-themed games they have are ready to make their debut. While horror games, or games with spooky themes and characters, aren’t unusual, there tends to be a surge in their release as October draws near. After all, we saw Dead Space Extraction (Wii) and Undead Knights (PSP) both make their debut on September 29, 2009.

It makes sense, if you think about it. If you don’t have plans to attend a party or attempt trick-or-treating on October 31, then there’s a good chance you’ll be sitting at home with nothing to do. You could always watch one of the many horror movies that will likely be airing, but playing a brand new game is certainly a better alternative.

So, let’s look at the games that have been, or are being, released in October, 2009. We’ll try and keep this list updated throughout the month, in case another new release sneaks in…

Welcome to a week where the hidden object genre is king. That’s right, out of this week’s nine new casual game releases, five fall into the hidden object genre. Hope you feel like searching for stuff.

This week also marks the debut of the 2009 Halloween theme casual games. Fishdom: Spooky Splash is the first Halloween-y game to be released this month. In it, you play match-3 puzzles to earn fish you can put into an in-game tank. It also comes with a screensaver feature.

There was sadly only one Mac release this week as well, Tale of Tales’ Fatale. This PC and Mac game is really more a piece of interactive art work.

This week’s best bets are: Fatale (PC, Mac), Fishdom: Spooky Splash (PC) and Cake Mania Main Street (PC)…