Think of the Children

Written by Dan Keener on 9/3/2008 for DS   PC   PS2   PS3   PSP   Wii   360  

t looks like the ESRB was in overdrive trying to knock out as many ratings as possibly before the long Labor Day Weekend. They cranked out a total of 85 titles this last week. Included were, the usual fare on the PC, Wii and DS, a solid week for the PS3 and 360 and a first for the Xbox 360 user created content.

I almost laughed while reading the list of PC, Wii and DS titles this week. It has a ton of casual and card games (Hoyle Puzzle & Board Games 2009, Hoyle Card Games 2009, Reel Deal Casino Millionaire's Club, Monopoly and Poker For Dummies), kid’s titles and crazy named titles. However, there were a couple of gems like far Cry for PC, Wii Music (if you want to look like a tool in front of your friends), Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party (DS) and Pass the Pigs (DS). Well, the last one is a real title, but not a gem I would imagine.

The Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 had another solid week, with the PS3 even having a non-shared title on the list. They both had the following games rated: Fallout 3, Civil War: Secret Missions, James Bond: Quantum of Solace, Golden Axe: Beast Rider, WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2009 and NBA LIVE 09. The Playstation 3 also had future PSN title Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars get rated. This game is a combination RC cars, floor hockey and Amateur rocket building. As for the first, the XNA Creators Club for the Xbox 360 had its first rated title show up. The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai which we all got a taste of after E3 garnered an impressive rating of ‘M’ In addition, The Last Remnant and Death Tank (originally hidden in the bowls of multiple Sega Saturn games. The 360 also had ratings of Monopoly and TNA iMPACT! Wrestling (Best Buy Sting Gift with Purchase Pre-Sell). A decent week with a nice blend of titles across the board for both consoles.

The Intriguing Title of the Week is the XNA Creators Club release that was rated. The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai is the first user created title for the Xbox 360 that the ESRB has rated. What is interesting is that The Dishwasher garnered an ‘M’ rating for “Blood and Gore, Violence”. Not surprising based on the demo and trailer I saw. Still, right off the bat this title should be unavailable to any Xbox 360 that has an under aged Gamercard or the Family Settings set to prevent the play or downloading of ‘M’ rated content. It makes you wonder how this will impact the sales of these titles, and whether the developers will have the opportunity to go back and tone the game down to get the more retail friendly ‘T’ for Teen rating. Other than the ‘M’ garnered by The Dishwasher, the fact that these titles are starting to show up means we are getting closer to the launch of this new user created games through Live Marketplace. It remains to be seen when these games will pop on the service, but after the Fall Dash redesign would be my best guess.


Here is the final tally on who, what and where everything was rated for the last week. There were 85 rated titles on nine platforms. PC (27), Wii (14), Xbox 360 (11), Playstation 3 (8), DS (8), Playstation 2 (8) and Mac (5) had the most games rated. There were 42 of the 85 titles rated at E10+ or lower, seven rated at T for Teen and six (Ubersoldier 2, Far Cry, Fallout 3, THE LAST REMNANT, The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai and Golden Axe: Beast Rider) 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.