Out This Week - 20/05/11

By Tom Phillips Published 16 May, 2011

L.A. Noire! Witcher 2! DOA! NMH!

Open-world gaming royalty Rockstar this week decrees you turn your attention from Westerns to the film noir genre.

Meanwhile, CD Projekt prepares an assault as Polish pretender to the role-playing throne.

L.A. Noire is the crowning achievement of Aussie developers Team Bondi. Will its imagining of a crime-addled Los Angeles, 1947 rule the charts next week?

Or will the aptly subtitled Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings reign supreme? Should the monarchs of Medieval magic and maces BioWare and Bethesda be worried?

Also this week comes a PS3 port of Suda 51's No More Heroes: Heroes' Paradise. It has more blood, bosses and PlayStation Move support.

There's even a game for the 3DS - a new installment of jiggling fighter franchise Dead or Alive.

This Week in Shops!

L.A. Noire

  • Developer: Team Bondi
  • Publisher: Rockstar Games
  • Formats: PS3, Xbox 360

What is it? Film noir-inspired sleuthing set in a trademark Rockstar open world. Top draw motion-capture tech enables you to interrogate your suspects and literally watch them squirm. What does Eurogamer think? Oli investigated an 8/10 in Eurogamer's just-published L.A. Noire review: "Its mechanics are suspect, but you can't fault the ambition, attention to detail and commitment that went into its making."

It was the best of crimes, it was the worst of crimes.

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings

  • Developer: CD Projekt
  • Publisher: Atari/CD Projekt
  • Formats: PC

What is it? Polish role-playing sequel to the sex-stuffed original. Hero Geralt is back in a semi-linear story with multiple endings and more sidequests than you can shake a Polaroid of Triss at. What does Eurogamer think? Eurogamer's review was due tomorrow, but has unfortunately been delayed by the very late arrival of our review copy. We hope to bring it to you by the end of the week.

Witcher one will you buy?

What Else?

  • Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Reverie (DS)
  • Dead or Alive Dimensions (3DS)
  • No More Heroes: Heroes' Paradise (PS3)
  • Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus (PSP, Wii)
  • Fable III (PC)
  • Sega Rally Online Arcade (XBLA)

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 20th May (to be reported on Monday 23rd May).

Tom Champion, Community Manager, Eurogamer.net

"Only an idiot would bet against L.A. Noire going straight in at number one this week and, despite appearances, I am not that idiot. The Witcher 2 will put up a strong fight as this week's other big release, but I reckon as it's a PC exclusive it won't quite be able to topple Lego Pirates. BLOPS is hanging around like Bryan Adams in 1991."

  1. L.A. Noire
  2. Lego Pirates of the Caribbean
  3. The Witcher 2
  4. Brink
  5. Call of Duty: Black Ops

Eurogamer's News Editor Wesley Yin-Poole attempted to predict the future last week. We've put together a fancy table to show how well he performed.

Position The Truth The Prediction Result
1 Brink Lego Pirates of the Caribbean NO!
2 Lego Pirates of the Caribbean Zumba Fitness NO!
3 Zumba Fitness Portal 2 NO!
4 Portal 2 Mortal Kombat NO!
5 Call of Duty: Black Ops Brink NO CIGAR!
Picture of Tom.

About Tom Phillips

Tom joined Eurogamer in 2010 and has quickly made his mark writing news and columns and coming up with puntastic straplines. Questionable beard. @TomPhillips151 on Twitter.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Phillips archive page.

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Comments (20) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • dirtysteve #1 1 year ago

    bugger about the Witcher review. I'll probably end up buying it on faith anyway, but a little pre-purchase reaasurance is nice when it comes to games I can't return.

  • Daeltaja #2 1 year ago

    Will have Witcher 2 finished by the end of the week probably, will be nice to compare scores!

  • apoc_reg #3 1 year ago

    Witcher 2 is an instant buy. One of those games that I only check the review score to make sure websites are not mental :-)

    I literally don't think it's possible that it won't be good!

  • Gearskin #4 1 year ago

    No More Heroes not on Xbox 360?

  • stoopidgreg #5 1 year ago

    The Witcher 2 will redefine epic. Ordered my copy last night, no idea why anyone would get it on steam when the premium edition with all the extras is £5 cheaper from Play. Can anyone say papercraft??
    Edited by stoopidgreg at 16/05/11 @ 18:37

  • streetmagix #6 1 year ago

    No More Heroes for PS3 is out THIS WEEK!! So much for advertising.

  • bad09 #7 1 year ago

    It's probably a good thing Rockstar thinks I smell and not worth selling games to as it's The Witcher 2 for me this week (and the computer parts so I can finish 1 and play get on with 2!).

  • bf #8 1 year ago

    For those looking to get Witcher 2 from GOG and thus DRM-Free have to give it a rethink as they are selling a DRM version. Yes there is no install limits or anything like that but if you want patches, and for a game like this you very much do, you have to register the game and use the ingame autopatcher. So much for "DRM-free"...

  • bad09 #9 1 year ago

    @bf

    You're calling an auto patcher (saving you time to download a patch) DRM now? The file is yours DRM free, install it where you like, when you like, back it up, no need to activate it online, no need for a constant connection or a phone home every other day.

  • stoopidgreg #10 1 year ago

    Hopefully with the retail version it's a simple CD key that doesn't link to an online service, I think this is what CDProject intended. Steam and Gog would need to have protection ontop of that otherwise it would be way too easy to distribute.

  • bf #11 1 year ago

    @bad09 - If you need to register the game using the CD-key to get patches then yes I do because that's what it is.

  • makeamazing #12 1 year ago

    I have to agree with bad09 on this, I dont see their so called DRM as a problem.

  • metalangel #13 1 year ago

    @bad09: That's okay, CD Projekt thing I smell too, and won't sell me Witcher 2 either.

  • Keivz #14 1 year ago

    The Witcher 2 for me as I can't wait to play it. My backlog includes RDR so no LA Noire until next year at the earliest :(

  • WeakOrbit #15 1 year ago

    Wow Europe get's No More Hero's before America does..............

    Do we get to iron out the bugs before the U.S does in August. If it's not good I can kiss the move goodbye.

    Lousy space dildo.

  • telboy007 #16 1 year ago

    "What does Eurogamer think? Eurogamer's review was due tomorrow, but has unfortunately been delayed by the very late arrival of our review copy."

    8/10 :D

  • patch #17 1 year ago

    You should introduce a points system, one point for a correct prediction of inside the top 5 and two points if they get the position spot on. You could then have a prediction by a EU community member and if they get more points you send them a free t-shirt / ticket to the EG expo / 5* holiday in the Seychelles.

  • Psihomodo #18 1 year ago

    Oh, they're worried already :)

  • captain_Carl #19 1 year ago

    I bought No More Heroes this week. Not really interested in LA Noire.

  • Darren #20 1 year ago

    Best week for games so far in 2011 if you ask me.