Think of the Children for May 8th

Written by Dan Keener on 5/8/2008 for DS   PC   PS2   PS3   PSP   Wii   360  

It looks like we are finally getting out of the doldrums, as this is the second solid week in a row for rated titles by the ESRB. Of course, with the Spring movies starting to get cranked up, game tie ins are starting to become regulars on the list. We also saw one of the highly anticipated titles that is coming get rated, but on the unlikeliest of the platforms.

As I mentioned above, we starting to see movie tie-in games regularly now and this week we had the rating of Wall-E and The Incredible Hulk. These were both for the 360 and PS3, with Wall-E also for the Wii. This should be an interesting version of the Hulk, seeing as how 2005’s The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction was a free roaming sandbox style game. Let’s hope it isn’t another lame follow-the-path game like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or X-men.

The PC and Nintendo platforms had lots of games, including some with some actual substance. The list is lead by Tom Clancy’s EndWar being rated (T) for the DS, and also includes Donkey Kong Country 3 (Wii), FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL CHRONICLES My Life as a King (Wii), Final Fantasy IV (DS), Dr. Mario Wii (Wii) and Metal Slug (Wii). There is a real good variety (including the usual drivel) of titles this week for to satisfy any type of gamer.

The next-gen (current gen?) platforms recorded nine rated titles this week, with six on the 360 and only three on the PS3. Both consoles had the previously mentioned Wall-e and The Incredible Hulk, as well as what appears to be a remake of the 1908 arcade game Red Baron Arcade for XBLA and PSN. The 360 also saw the retail titles Alone in the Dark and Samurai Showdown II, and the XBLA expansion Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords: Revenge of the Plague Lord. It was a decent week for the 360 titles, but pretty light for the PS3 with a PSN and two movie games.

This week’s title of shame came down to a couple of PC titles, but Coffee Rush by (of all companies) Activision Value Publishing takes the award. The premise of the game is all about trying to stop some coffee company from polluting the town with bad coffee. You have to open your own coffee house and take the town back! Yeah, it sure is lame as hell. Especially when it used to be free as shareware like so many other casual games That is why it landed on the list, as I am sure it has a loyal following of players.

Title	Publisher	Rating	Platforms
Cooking Quest	Game Mill Entertainment	Everyone	PC
Line Rider 2.0: Unbound	Genius Products	Everyone	PC, DS, Wii
Metal Slug	SNK Playmore USA	Teen	Wii
Samurai Shodown II	SNK Playmore USA	Teen	360, Wii
The Game of Life: Path to Success	RealNetworks	Everyone	Macintosh, PC
The Incredible Hulk	Sega of America	Teen	360, PS3
Ulti-Motion -Swing Zone - Sports	JAKKS Pacific Inc.	Everyone	Plug-and-Play
Wacky Races: Crash & Dash	Eidos	Everyone	Wii
Tom Clancy's EndWar	Ubisoft Entertainment	Teen	DS
Final Fantasy IV	Square Enix, Inc	Everyone 10+	DS
FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL CHRONICLES My Life as a King	Square Enix, Inc	Everyone	Wii
Alone In The Dark	Atari, Inc.	Mature	PC, PS2, 360, Wii
American Girl Kit Mystery Challenge!	ValuSoft	Everyone	DS
Dodge That Anvil	Brighter Minds Media	Everyone	Macintosh, PC
Dr. Mario Wii	Nintendo of America	Everyone	Wii
echochrome	SCEA	Everyone	PSP
Gyrostarr	High Voltage Software, Inc.	Everyone	Wii
Let's Ride: Riding Star	ValuSoft	Everyone	PC
Theatre of War	CDV	Teen	PC
Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords: Revenge of the Plague Lord	D3	Everyone 10+	PC, 360
Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2	Atlus USA, Inc.	Teen	DS
WALL•E	Heavy Iron Studios	Everyone	360, PS3, Wii
Red Baron Arcade	Vivendi Games	Teen	PC, 360, PS3
Still Life	Encore, Inc.	Mature	PC
Syberia	Encore, Inc.	Teen	PC
Syberia II	Encore, Inc.	Teen	PC
Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness	Natsume Inc	Everyone	DS
Limbo of the Lost	Tri Synergy	Teen	PC
EarthBound	Nintendo of America	Everyone	Wii
Ducati Moto	Vir2L Studios LLC	Everyone	DS
Dracula Resurrection	Encore, Inc.	Mature	PC
Dracula The Last Sanctuary	Encore, Inc.	Mature	PC
Donkey Kong Country 3	Nintendo of America	Everyone	Wii
Escape the Museum	Game Agents	Everyone	Macintosh, PC
Code Lyoko-Fall of X.A.N.A.	The Game Factory ApS	Everyone	DS
Coffee Rush	Activision Value Publishing	Everyone	PC
1 VS 100	Destination Software, Inc.	Everyone	DS

Here is the final tally on who, what and where everything was rated for the last week. There were 37 rated titles on nine platforms. PC (17), Wii (11), DS (9) and 360 (6) had the most games rated. There were 23 of the 37 titles rated at E10+ or lower, 10 rated at T for Teen and four 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 Title of Shame (and any game that is tossed in that paragraph) is done so based on several factors, including which games were rated that week, how does the game concept stack up, is it a re-hashed sequel, lame movie tie-in, rip off of another game, etc…