Think of the Children for February 27th

Written by Dan Keener on 2/27/2008 for DS   PC   PS2   PS3   PSP   Wii   360  

Oops, I guess I spoke a little too soon last week. After we saw 39 titles get rated ending (or so we thought) a lengthy drought, we went right back into the tank this week. A whopping 17 titles were rated, which apparently shows that we have not qute yet exited the slow part of the first quarter. No one was immune, as the PC and Nintendo platforms both struggled, although the Xbox 360 and PS3 showed a little strength. I also had a tough time finding much buzz-worthy and title of shame candidates….

PC and Nintendo cranked out 13 titles combined, which is most of the titles that were rated. There were a couple of kid’s titles, but once again a glut of casual games seems to be the dominate theme. One unique title was the My Weight Loss Coach on the DS, which is designed to help people lose weight using their video game device. Oh the irony in that. More on that later.

Even though the overall rated titles were down, the Xbox 360 and PS3 held their own this week, with a combined four of the 17 rated games. The Xbox 360 had the XBLA title Go! Go! Break Steady and Castle of Shikigami III (along with Wii). They both shared the titles Condemned 2: Bloodshot and NBA Ballers: Chosen One. So it wasn’t too terrible in a light week, but not great overall.

The buzz this week was for more Japanese inspired titles. In addition to this week’s XBLA release of Trigger Heart Exelica, we also saw (for both the Xbox 360 and Wii) Castle of Shikigami III get rated. However, these Japanese inspired scrollers may find it tough sledding here in the states. Other than that, the week was pretty mild for buzz worthy titles.

Ahh yes, the weekly title of shame is before us. Before I go any further, I cannot believe I overlooked Babysitting Mania on the Mac and PC last week. I’m very disappointed, as that easily would have pushed Pat Sajak off the chopping block. Oh well, on to this week. With only 17 titles to choose from, pickings were very tight, but I managed to pare the list down to My Weight Loss Coach on the DS by Ubisoft and Dream Day First Home on the PC. Well, my conscious wouldn’t let me pick on all the lazy slobs that really need a video game to help them lose weight (myself included), so I decided to hammer Dream Day First Home. Do we really give a rat’s heinie that Jenny and Robert are back from their honeymoon and need to turn their first house into a home? Well, some of the staff at GamingNexus may be ready to break out their inner-decorator, but not this guy.

Title	Publisher	Rating	Platforms
Blue's Clues: Meet Blue's Baby Brother	Activision Value Publishing	E	PC
Dream Day First Home	Elephant Entertainment	E10+	PC
Pengo	SEGA of America	E	Wii
Super Fantasy Zone	SEGA of America	E	Wii
World Heroes Anthology	SNK Playmore USA	T	PS2
NBA Ballers: Chosen One	Midway Home Entertainment Inc.	E	360, PS3
Merv Griffin's Crosswords	Elephant Entertainment	E	PC
Greedy Words	eGames Inc.	E	PC
Go! Go! Break Steady	Little Boy Games Inc.	E	Xbox 360
My Weight Loss Coach	Ubisoft Entertainment	E	DS
Chronos Twin	Crave Entertainment	E	DS
Condemned 2: Bloodshot™	Sega of America, Inc.	M	360, PS3
Castle of Shikigami III	Aksys Games Localization, Inc.	T	360, Wii
Summer Sports: Paradise Island	Destineer	E	Wii
Power Rangers Super Legends	Disney Interactive Studios	E10+	DS
Rhem 3	Got Game Entertainment, LLC	E	PC
Roller Coaster Tycoon 2	Encore, Inc., A Navarre Corporation Company	E	PC

Here is the final tally on who, what and where everything was rated for the last week. There were 17 rated entries on seven platforms. PC (6), Nintendo Wii (4) and Xbox 360 (4) had the most games rated. There were 14 of the 17 titles rated at E10+ or lower, two 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……