t looks like the ESRB was in overdrive trying to knock out as many ratings as possibly before the long Labor Day Weekend. They cranked out a total of 85 titles this last week. Included were, the usual fare on the PC, Wii and DS, a solid week for the PS3 and 360 and a first for the Xbox 360 user created content.

I almost laughed while reading the list of PC, Wii and DS titles this week. It has a ton of casual and card games (Hoyle Puzzle & Board Games 2009, Hoyle Card Games 2009, Reel Deal Casino Millionaire`s Club, Monopoly and Poker For Dummies), kid’s titles and crazy named titles. However, there were a couple of gems like far Cry for PC, Wii Music (if you want to look like a tool in front of your friends), Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party (DS) and Pass the Pigs (DS). Well, the last one is a real title, but not a gem I would imagine.

The Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 had another solid week, with the PS3 even having a non-shared title on the list. They both had the following games rated: Fallout 3, Civil War: Secret Missions, James Bond: Quantum of Solace, Golden Axe: Beast Rider, WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2009 and NBA LIVE 09. The Playstation 3 also had future PSN title Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars get rated. This game is a combination RC cars, floor hockey and Amateur rocket building. As for the first, the XNA Creators Club for the Xbox 360 had its first rated title show up. The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai which we all got a taste of after E3 garnered an impressive rating of ‘M’ In addition, The Last Remnant and Death Tank (originally hidden in the bowls of multiple Sega Saturn games. The 360 also had ratings of Monopoly and TNA iMPACT! Wrestling (Best Buy Sting Gift with Purchase Pre-Sell). A decent week with a nice blend of titles across the board for both consoles.

The Intriguing Title of the Week is the XNA Creators Club release that was rated. The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai is the first user created title for the Xbox 360 that the ESRB has rated. What is interesting is that The Dishwasher garnered an ‘M’ rating for “Blood and Gore, Violence”. Not surprising based on the demo and trailer I saw. Still, right off the bat this title should be unavailable to any Xbox 360 that has an under aged Gamercard or the Family Settings set to prevent the play or downloading of ‘M’ rated content. It makes you wonder how this will impact the sales of these titles, and whether the developers will have the opportunity to go back and tone the game down to get the more retail friendly ‘T’ for Teen rating. Other than the ‘M’ garnered by The Dishwasher, the fact that these titles are starting to show up means we are getting closer to the launch of this new user created games through Live Marketplace. It remains to be seen when these games will pop on the service, but after the Fall Dash redesign would be my best guess.






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Backyard Football `09
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