Think of the Children for August 20th

Written by Dan Keener on 8/20/2008 for DS   PC   PS2   PS3   PSP   Wii   360  

Another week brings another large list of rated titles from the ESRB. Much like last week, it is loaded with all kinds of titles with something for everyone. The PC, Wii and DS have many kids’ titles and casual games as usual, while the 360 and PS3 again have another week of balance. It is also interesting to note that the late summer is definitely the time of the third party, as there are very few games the last few weeks that both consoles aren’t both getting rated. As for the interesting title of the week, it is actually three of them, they aren’t games and you can only get them from one place.

There are lots of goodies for the kids this week in the land of the PC, Wii and DS. I know I say that every week, but it seemed like there was a higher concentration than normal. Titles include Back At The Barnyard: Slop Bucket Games (DS), Backyard Football '09 (DS), Disney Bolt: Be-Awesome Edition (DS), Sponge Bob Square Pants featuring NickToons Globs of Doom (DS), Ultimate I SPY (Wii), Safari Doctor (Wii), We Cheer (Wii) Little Farm (PC) and Igor: The Game (PC,Wii). There are even more than that, so check out the list below.

This week brings another solid group of rated titles for both the S3 and 360. Each console saw Madden NFL 09 en Español, ShellShock 2: Blood Trails and the highly anticipated Saints Row 2 and Rock Revolution on the list. In addition, the 360 also had Guilty Gear 2: Overture rated. It’s always nice to see console games with the ‘M’ rating come out (Saint’s Row 2 and ShellShock 2), because even if they stink, there will be lots of gore, animated blood and simulated nastiness all available in Hi Definition. I’m personally interested in Rock Revolution to see how Konami will take the Music Ensemble games to the next level.

The Intriguing Titles of the Week are the Talkman Travel series from SCEA. The intial ratings (and versions) feature the three cities of Paris, Rome and Tokyo. After doing a little research, it turns out these are mini travel guides that you can play on your PSP. Apparently, they contain common phrases and photos to help you get around these three cities. They appear to be interactive as well, allowing the unit to “speak” phrases through the PSP speakers if you just can’t get the words out of your mouth right. The nice thing is that these are DLC straight from the Playstation Network and only cost $5.99 per city. Hopefully they will continue to support these to keep them updated, otherwise they will become out-of-date and no better than a 10-year-old pamphlet found stuffed into a seat at a train station in Budapest.


Here is the final tally on who, what and where everything was rated for the last two weeks. There were 49 rated titles on eight platforms. PC (17), DS (14), Wii (13), Wii (11), Xbox 360 (5) and Macintosh (5) had the most games rated. There were 39 of the 49 titles rated at E10+ or lower, seven rated at T for Teen and three (Saint’s Row 2, ShellShock 2: Blood Trails and STALKER Clear Sky) 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 Intriguing Title of the Week (and any game that is tossed in that paragraph) is identified based on a game on the list that catches the eye of the author for any number of reasons. Good, bad or otherwise, feel free to agree, disagree or add some constructive input to the discussion.