Out This Week - 27/05/11

A roar of an engine careens past, followed by an arid cloud of kicked-up dust.

That picture sums up this week's releases: one impressive dose of va-va-voom leading the way, then a haze of other stuff.

That's fine. We won't take it personally. We're still playing L.A. Noire anyway.

But while Rockstar's latest has a deep, dense and deliciously dark detective drama story to unfold, those driving sections? Bit of a nightmare. L.A.'s traffic? Not caring about your five star rating.

If only there was a proper racing title out this week to set things straight... Enter the caps-lock challenged DiRT 3!

Also this week, Gladiator Begins for PSP! Yes indeed.

And while Team Ninja's Dead or Alive: Dimensions failed to enter the top 40 last week, the Nintendo 3DS has a new hope - a Spongebob game.

This Week in Shops!

DiRT 3

• Developer: Codemasters Southam
• Publisher: Codemasters
• Formats: PC, PS3, Xbox 360

What is it? The latest in the long-running rally series from Codemasters. It's the first to drop the Colin McRae moniker. There's a big focus on some new Gymkhana driving antics, while DiRT 2's time-rewinding "flashbacks" also return. What does Eurogamer think? Martin drove home a 9/10 in Eurogamer's DiRT 3 review: "Codemasters has succeeded in curating another superlative festival of driving", he wrote. "It's another great racing game from an outfit that's proving itself to be a master of its craft."

Gladiator Begins

• Developer: GOSHOW
• Publisher: Zen United
• Formats: PSP

What is it? A dying Roman emperor sparks a scuffle for succession in this title which has pretty much no relation to the Russell Crowe-fronted stabathon Gladiator. It did alright in Japan, although there sales were boosted by a scantily clad gladiatorial promotional model, spotted at Tokyo Game Show 2009. The lady garnered so much fame she now covers the front, back and spine of the Japanese box art. What does Eurogamer think? Eurogamer has yet to give this fighter the thumbs up or down.

What Else?

• Greg Hastings Paintball 2 (Wii)
• SpongeBob Squigglepants 3D (3DS)
• Dungeons & Dragons: Daggerdale (XBLA)
• Frozen Synapse (Steam)

Chart Predictions!

Each week one of the team steps up to predict the UK all-formats chart. The following predicts the outcome for the week beginning Friday 27th May (to be reported on Tuesday 31st May).

Oli Welsh, Reviews Editor, Eurogamer.net

"Britain is mad for motorsport games, and that should be enough to propel Codies' superlative DiRT 3 - in which Ken Block and the ghost of Colin McRae finally make up and shake hands - to a strong first week. But nothing's going to unseat L.A. Noire, at least until Red Faction, Duke Nukem and inFamous 2 arrive in E3 week. (And maybe not even then.) Can Bethesda's marketing blitz, a lag patch and an entrenched if embattled community save Brink from oblivion a second week running? I'm betting they can. Just."

1. L.A. Noire
2. DiRT 3
3. Lego Pirates of the Caribbean
4. Zumba Fitness
5. Brink

Eurogamer's Community Manager Tom Champion attempted to foresee the future last week. We have a fancy table on hand once again to show how well he performed.