Think of the Children

Written by Dan Keener on 5/23/2008 for DS   PC   PS2   PS3   PSP   Wii   360  

We are a bit late this week, as the newest ESRB ratings didn’t post to their web site until Wednesday 5/21. Regardless, we weren’t disappointed as 40 titles appeared on the list. The PC, Wii and DS platforms represented on 34 of the titles, and had some decent selections instead of all the usual throw stuff at the wall titles (well, quite a few of those to). It was a bad week for Sony nation, as they combined for the same amount of rated titles (4) across all three of their platforms as Mac and Linux combined. Yikes! As for the weekly title of shame, I bestow the honor on two corporate behemoths that are the leaders in their respective industries….

Each week I usually trash PC, Wii and DS for the amount of junk that gets rated. In all honesty, this week isn’t that much different, but there are a few of the more anticipated titles that were rated. These included Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobos' Dungeon (Wii), NCAA Football 09 (Wii), Penny Arcade Adventures (PC), Deca Sports (Wii), Looney Tunes: Cartoon Conductor (DS) and Carnival Games (DS). Not a great list by any means, but it is better than more Paws and Claws, Sims 2 Add ons, Cake Mania sequels and ….. Oh well, maybe next week.

Last week I trashed Nintendo’s rated titles for not having any freshness to them. This week, I am going to look down my nose at Sony and try to figure out why the PS3, PS2 and PSP had a lousy four titles rated, the same as what the Mac and Linux systems saw? On top of that, the games aren’t anything special with the exception of 1942: Joint Strike for the PSN on PS3. Pipe Mania (PSP, PS2) and Summer Athletics (PS2) for some reason don’t inspire me to spend my cash on the weekly rated titles for these platforms.

I previously mentioned the Playstation 3’s lone title as that of 1942: Joint Strike. This arcade remake also appeared on the Xbox 360 list, as well as Zoids Assault, Puzzle Arcade, Summer Athletics and the overpriced Penny Arcade title. While the 360 didn’t fare much better than the PS3, the volume of titles for the platform has at least been consistent week in and week out. Overall, the Next-Gen platforms were kinda sucky with the exception of 1942: Joint Strike.

Another easy choice for the Title of shame this week, as The Sims 2 IKEA Home Stuff was my runaway winner. While those crazy pet based games were prolific again, having the world’s largest furniture maker partner up with the world’s all-time best selling PC franchise seems like a natural corporate money grab IMO. For your $20, you get to pick and choose from your choice of flat-packed furniture to deck out your Sims 2 cribs. Yup, virtual furniture from the world’s #1 brand sounds like something to definitely spend that money on. I bet this will be a hot seller in Sweden….

Title	Publisher	Rating	Platforms
Penny Arcade Adventures	Hothead Games	Mature	Mac, PC, 360, Linux
Puzzle Arcade	Eidos	Everyone	PC, 360
Pipe Mania	Empire Interactive	Everyone	PC, PS2, PSP
Rollin' Rascals	Majesco Entertainment	Everyone	DS
Yamaha Supercross	Destination Software, Inc.	Everyone	DS
Zoids Assault	Atlus USA	Teen	360
Home Sweet Home	Big Blue Bubble Inc.	Everyone	Wii
Little League World Series Baseball 2008	Activision Value	Everyone	Wii
NCAA Football 09	Electronic Arts	Everyone	Wii
1942: Joint Strike	Capcom	Everyone 10+	360, PS3
Brain Games Puzzles	On Hand Software, Inc.	Everyone	PC
SimCity Societies Destinations	Electronic Arts	Everyone 10+	Mac, PC
Pony Luv	Aspyr Media, Inc.	Everyone	DS
The Sims 2 IKEA Home Stuff	Electronic Arts	Teen	PC
Wacky Races: Crash & Dash	Eidos	Everyone	DS
We Love Golf!	Capcom	Everyone 10+	Wii
Word Riot™ Deluxe	Electronic Arts	Everyone 10+	PC
Carnival Games	Take-Two Interactive (2K Play)	Everyone	DS
ASH - Archaic Sealed Heat	Nintendo	Everyone 10+	DS
Etrian Odyssey II: Heroes of Lagaard	Atlus USA, Inc.	Everyone 10+	DS
Looney Tunes: Cartoon Conductor	Eidos	Everyone	DS
FINAL FANTASY FABLES: Chocobos' Dungeon	Square Enix, Inc	Everyone 10+	Wii
Go Go Gourmet	Elephant Entertainment	Everyone	PC
Helix	Ghostfire Games	Everyone	Wii
Magic Match Adventures	Elephant Entertainment	Everyone	PC
Nancy Drew®: The Phantom of Venice	Her Interactive	Everyone	PC
City Connection	Jaleco	Everyone	Wii
Biomiracle Bokutte Upa	Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc.	Everyone	Wii
Zenses - Ocean	The Game Factory ApS	Everyone	DS
Summer Athletics	dtp entertainment AG	Everyone	PC, PS2, 360, Wii
Deca Sports	Hudson Entertainment	Everyone	Wii
CLUE Classic	RealNetworks	Everyone 10+	Mac, PC
Cake Mania 2	Majesco Entertainment	Everyone	DS
Alex Kidd In Miracle World	SEGA of America	Everyone	Wii
Gley Lancer	SEGA of America	Everyone 10+	Wii
Izuna 2: The Unemployed Ninja Returns	Atlus USA	Teen	DS
Lego Land	THQ Inc	Everyone	PC
The Game of Life: Path to Success	Encore, Inc.	Everyone	PC
Paws & Claws: Pet Vet Australian Adventures	THQ Inc	Everyone	PC
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (DS)	Vivendi Games	Teen	DS

Here is the final tally on who, what and where everything was rated for the last week. There were 40 rated titles on nine platforms. PC (15), DS (12), Wii (12), and 360 (5) had the most games rated. There were 35 of the 40 titles rated at E10+ or lower, four rated at T for Teen and just one (Penny Arcade Adventures with the Obnoxiously Long Name) 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…