There was a significant amount of titles this week’s list from the ESRB. There was balance across the 61 titles, with no platform getting more than 13 rated, and six having at least five rated. The usual amount of titles for the Wii, DS and PC can be found in the same old clichéd categories. A couple of winner salted in, but not too many. The 360 and PS3 had a fair amount of rated titles again, but there are not any Superstars in this bunch like the last several weeks, nor are there any PS3 stand alone titles for PSN. The intriguing title of the week is one that GamingNexus has provided a lot of press on over the last year (myself included) and its release is right around the corner. I guess it is time for it to put up or shut up.
Scanning the DS, Wii and PC list, I see a couple of decent titles trying to poke their heads out from the canopy of clutter that surrounds them. The first Ghostbusters sighting (DS) was found as well as Guitar Hero World Tour (PS2 & Wii), Shaun White Snowboarding (DS) and Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (PC, MAC). It was very hard to see these under the mountain of petz, paws & claws and card games littering the rated title bin.
The Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 continued their impressive ratings with another slew of titles. Each console had Summer Athletics Crash: Mind over Mutant Rise of the Argonauts and Burnout Paradise (I’m guessing the Cagney downloadable content) rated. In addition, the Xbox 360 had Blazing Birds and R.B.I. Baseball (the old NES game) rated for Xbox Live Arcade. Again, not a bad week, but this didn’t really contain any superstars or surprises other than a Take Two published R.B.I. Baseball. I will be interested to see if it is an exact duplicate of the original from 1988, or “enhanced” in some way. It originally showed up on the ESRB list back in May of this year with a different publisher.
The Intriguing Title of the Week is Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. We have been inundated with details, screens, trailers and Beta aces for this game for the PC and Mac. Well, with the release right around the corner, the time has come for the title to show off what it is all about. Several GN staffers are eagerly anticipating the game, so I won’t go into much detail or speculation, as they are sure to post blog and impression pieces on it in the near future. I may pick this up if their insight shows the game to be worthy…
| Title |
Publisher |
Rating |
Platforms |
| American McGee's Grimm: A Boy Learns What Fear Is |
Spicy Horse |
Teen |
PC |
| Blazing Birds |
Vector2 |
Everyone |
360 |
| Burnout Paradise |
Electronic Arts |
Everyone 10+ |
360, PS3 |
| futureU: The SAT Prep Game |
Aspyr Media, Inc. |
Everyone |
Mac, PC, DS |
| Ghostbusters |
Vivendi Games |
Everyone |
DS |
| GTR Evolution |
Viva Media LLC |
Everyone |
PC |
| KORG DS-10 Synthesizer |
XSEED JKS, Inc. |
Everyone |
DS |
| Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa |
Activision |
Everyone |
PS2, Wii |
| Paws & Claws Pet Resort |
ValuSoft Inc. |
Everyone |
Wii |
| The Enchanted Unicorn |
Viva Media LLC |
Everyone |
PC |
| Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning |
Electronic Arts |
Teen |
Mac, PC |
| TV Show King Party |
Gameloft |
Everyone |
Wii |
| WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2009 |
THQ Inc |
Teen |
Wii |
| The Secret Files: Tunguska |
Koch Media |
Teen |
DS |
| Tetris Party |
Tetris Online |
Everyone |
Wii |
| Smart Boy's Winter Wonderland |
UFO Interactive Games |
Everyone |
DS |
| Smart Girl's Winter Wonderland |
UFO Interactive Games |
Everyone |
DS |
| Reel Deal Card Games 2009 Edition |
Phantom EFX, Inc. |
Teen |
Mac, PC |
| Rise Of The Argonauts™ |
Codemasters |
Mature |
PC, 360, PS3 |
| Murder in the Abbey |
DreamCatcher |
Everyone 10+ |
PC |
| Natalie Brooks: Secrets of the Treasure House |
Viva Media LLC |
Everyone |
PC |
| NBA 2K9 |
2K Games |
Everyone |
PS2 |
| Hidden Expedition: Amazon |
Activision Value |
Everyone |
PC |
| Crash: Mind over Mutant |
Vivendi Games |
Everyone 10+ |
PS 2, PSP, 360, Wii, PS 3 |
| Cabela's Dangerous Hunts 2009 |
Activision Value |
Teen |
PS2, 360, Wii, PS 3 |
| Hoyle Casino 2009 |
Encore Software |
Teen |
Mac, PC |
| Guitar Hero World Tour |
Activision |
Teen |
PS2, Wii |
| Mystery Cookbook |
Viva Media LLC |
Everyone |
PC |
| Monster Lab |
Eidos Interactive |
Everyone 10+ |
DS, PS2, Wii |
| R.B.I. Baseball |
Take-Two |
Everyone |
360 |
| Shaun White Snowboarding DS |
Ubisoft |
Everyone |
DS |
| Petz Rescue Ocean Patrol |
Ubisoft |
Everyone |
DS |
| Polar Bowler |
Mumbo Jumbo |
Everyone |
DS |
| Star Parodius |
Hudson Entertainment Inc |
Everyone |
Wii |
| Summer Athletics |
Conspiracy Entertainment |
Everyone |
PS2, 360, Wii |
| Women's Murder Club: Death in Scarlet |
ValuSoft Inc. |
Teen |
Mac, PC |
| Petz Rescue Wildlife Vet |
Ubisoft |
Everyone |
Wii |
| Movie Party |
Ubisoft |
Everyone 10+ |
Wii |
| National Geographic Panda |
Namco Bandai |
Everyone |
DS |
Here is the final tally on who, what and where everything was rated for the last week. There were 61 rated titles on eight platforms. PC (13), Wii (13), DS (11), Xbox 360 (7), Playstation 2 (7) and Mac (5) had the most games rated. There were 29 of the 61 titles rated at E10+ or lower, nine rated at T for Teen and one (Rise Of The Argonauts) rated at M for Mature.
Got a comment on the article or a rated games, put it in the section below or send me an e-mail. Until next week, make sure you know what your kids are playing……
*The weekly Intriguing Title of the Week (and any game that is tossed in that paragraph) is identified based on a game on the list that catches the eye of the author for any number of reasons. Good, bad or otherwise, feel free to agree, disagree or add some constructive input to the discussion.
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