Think of the Children for January 23rd

Written by Dan Keener on 1/23/2008 for DS   PC   PS2   PS3   PSP   Wii   360  

We are back on a regular schedule now that holidays and vacations have passes, and the ESRB didn’t disappoint. There were 36 rated titles this week, including quite a few with little to no buzz. The biggest surprise may have been the relative weakness of the DS titles, with just five rated including two movie tie-ins and an almost 15 year old game (MYST). The next-gen titles, much like the DS showed weakness in quality, although there were several new ratings. Another surprise was the PC and Mac segments, as the PC once again led the way with 21 titles and the Mac had a surprising five rated titles.

Wow, what a difference a few weeks make. Leading into the Holiday season, the DS and Wii were dominating the title ratings, with tons of releases getting rated weekly. Well, now that the Holiday push is behind us, the DS and Wii are back to middle of the road status. The DS had five title rated including the 15-year-old MYST and two movie tie-ins (Iron Man and the Spiderwick Chronicles). The Wii was only slightly better with a couple of ports, Spiderwick and SEGA Tennis Superstars among others. All in all, it was a poor showing for the sales leader in both console and handheld markets.

Unlike Nintendo, the PC and Mac market continue their strong push with not only casual games, but full retail titles. The PC saw anticipated titles such as Sudden Strike 3, Penumbra-Black Plague and Neverwinter Nights 2: Mystery of Westgate. The Mac titles were mostly casual games such as Yahtzee Texas Hold ‘Em and Gamehouse Solitaire Challenge. Regardless, I have seen a distinct shift toward the PC market over the last couple of months.

The next-gen system(s) had a few games rated, with the Xbox 360 having five and the Playstation 3 a pathetic two. They both saw the SEGA Superstars Tennis and Dragonball Z: Burst Limit (which was the extent of games for the PS3.) The 360 saw upcoming XBLA titles Frogger 2, Ikaruga and the movie tie-in The Spiderwick Chronicles. All-in-all, it was a pretty lame week for next-gen consoles. Let’s hope it gets better as the month progresses.

For the second week in a row, the ESRB ratings held several surprises and quite a few games I haven’t heard much buzz on lately for the Xbox 360 and PS3. Games rated include Frogger 2 (360), Ikaruga (360) and a tie-in with The Spiderwick Chronicles (both). Another rated title that caught my eye was FPS Creator. Apparently, it allows you to create Direct x10 games for Vista. It costs $69.99, while full info can be found at http://www.fpscreatorx10.com/.

Title	Publisher	Rating	Platforms
Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit	Atari, Inc.	T	360, PS3
FPS Creator X10	The Game Creators LTD	T	PC
Galactic Dream: Rage of War	Strategy First	E10+	PC
Iron Man	SEGA of America	E10+	DS
Lost in Blue 3	Konami Digital Entertainment	E10+	DS
Penumbra-Black Plague	Paradox Interactive	M	PC
Plant Tycoon	Game Mill Entertainment	E	PC
SunAge	Lighthouse Interactive	T	PC
Biathlon 2008	Conspiracy Entertainment Corporation	E	PS2
Double Sequence: The Q Virus Invasion	Destination Software, Inc.	E	DS
Forgotten Riddles: The Mayan Princess	Activision Value Publishing	E	PC
GameHouse Solitaire Challenge	RealNetworks	E	Mac, PC, Browser
Joboo's Gems	Astound Studios LLC	E	PC
Samurai Warriors 2 Xtreme Legends	KOEI Corporation	T	PS2
SEGA Superstars Tennis™	Sega of America	E10+	PS2, 360, Wii, PS3
Super Jigsaw Adorable Animals 2	RealNetworks	E	Mac, PC
The Spiderwick Chronicles	Vivendi Games	E10+	PC, PS2, 360, Wii
The Spiderwick Chronicles	Vivendi Games	E10+	DS
Turbo Pizza	Elephant Entertainment	E	PC
Yahtzee™ Texas Hold'em	RealNetworks	E	Mac, PC
Azada	Activision Value Publishing	E	PC
Ikaruga	TREASURE Co., Ltd.	E	360
Miss Management	Brighter Minds Media	T	Mac, PC
Polly Pride: Pet Detective	iWin, Inc.	E	Mac, PC, Browser
The History Channel: Lost Worlds	Activision Value Publishing	E	PC
Cybernator	Hudson Entertainment Inc	E10+	Wii
Adventures of LOLO 2	Nintendo	E	Wii
Fritz X Chess	Viva-Media, LLC	E	PC
Frogger 2	Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc.	E	360
Stranger	CDV Software Entertainment USA	T	PC
Sudden Strike 3: Arms for Victory	CDV Software Entertainment USA	T	PC
Heavenly Guardian	UFO Interactive Games	E	Wii
Paws and Claws: Pet Vet Down Under	ValuSoft	E	PC
Pac-Attack	Namco Hometek	E	Wii
Myst	Empire Interactive	E	DS
Neverwinter Nights 2: Mystery of Westgate	Atari, Inc.	T	PC

Here is the final tally on who, what and where everything was rated for the last two weeks. There were 36 rated entries on eight platforms. Windows PC (21), Nintendo Wii (6), Xbox 360 (5) and Mac (5) had the most games rated. There were 27 of the 36 games were rated at E10+ or lower, eight rated at T for Teen and one rated at M for Mature.

Got a comment on the rated games, put it in the section below.  Until next week, make sure you know what your kids are playing……