Out This Week - 03/06/11

Swords and shields adventure Hunted: The Demon's Forge hopes to capture your imagination this week. By virtue of it being the only major release, will it capture the contents of your wallet too?

You play as couple of money-obsessed mercenaries who would never help anyone without the promise of gold. So of course you must gradually find a moral compass and become world-saving heroes.

What else is out this week? PC megahit The Sims 3 launches its latest expansion, Generations. We don't normally cover add-ons here, but it's a retail release and, well, new pickings have rarely been slimmer.

It's worth noting that Sony has promised PlayStation Store services will resume this week - meaning free games for PSN users and, fingers crossed, a bumper crop of new software. There are plenty of downloadable releases to catch up on after six weeks offline.

Still heard nothing that takes your fancy? Well, a glance at the calender shows next week looking far busier: inFamous 2, Duke Nukem Forever, Red Faction: Armageddon, plus a Green Lantern movie tie-in. Oh, and something called E3.

This Week in Shops!

Hunted: The Demon's Forge

• Developer: inXile Entetainment
• Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
• Formats: PC, PS3, Xbox 360

What is it? A co-operative action game set in a high fantasy world. Gruff, balded-headed Caddoc and flighty, jiggly-boobed elf E'lara are an experienced mercenary duo. One night Caddoc dreams of a scantily-clad lady with a quest in hand, and it all goes downhill from there. What does Eurogamer think? Eurogamer's review is in captivity until Thursday.

The Sims 3: Generations

• Developer: EA Play/The Sims Studio
• Publisher: EA
• Formats: Mac, PC

What is it? Extra content for your gibberish-spouting Sims. New additions include body hair, partying and a love of pranks for teenage Sims. Weddings and mid-life crises are doled out for grown-ups. What does Eurogamer think? A Eurogamer review has yet to be scheduled.

What Else?

• Jewels of the Ages (DS)
• Traffic Manager (PC)

PSN Store relaunch update:

• Alien Crush (PSN)
• Bonk's Adventure (PSN)
• Wizardry: Labyrinth Of Lost Souls (PSN)
• Sega Rally Online Arcade (PSN)
• Star Raiders (PSN)
• Red Johnson's Chronicles (PSN)
• Under Siege (PSN)
• Back To The Future: The Game – Episode 3 (PSN)
• Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp (PSN)
• Bomberman '94
• Learning With The Pooyoos – Episode 1 (PSN)
• Missile Command (PSone classic) (PSN)

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 3rd June (to be reported on Monday 6th June).

Martin Robinson, Features Editor, Eurogamer.net

"It's my first time behind Eurogamer's crystal ball, so apologies if I'm being a little unimaginative, but with all eyes on what's about to happen in the conference halls of L.A. and a relatively slim release list it's hard to see too much in the way of change in the top five.

"No disrespect to this week's biggest title Hunted, but it doesn't quite have the pull to dethrone L.A. Noire or DiRT 3, though I do see it knocking its Bethesda stable-mate Brink out of the top five. Zumba Fitness will continue its unlikely success story, and Lego Pirates of the Caribbean will slip down as FIFA 11 makes the most of the post-season blues."

1. L.A. Noire
2. DiRT 3
3. Zumba Fitness
4. Hunted: The Demon's Forge
5. FIFA 11

Eurogamer Reviews Editor Oli Welsh attempted to predict the future last week. Here's our fancy table to show how well he did.