Think of the Children for October 15

Written by Dan Keener on 10/15/2008 for DS   PC   PS2   PS3   PSP   Wii   360  

After several weeks of hectic schedules and knocking out multiple weeks, it is nice to get back to the intimacy of looking a single week of rated titles. There were only 35 total titles, but several “name” titles are included. In addition, one of the stalwart platforms had a very surprising week by basically no-showing. The 360 and PS3 had another strong week both in quantity and quality. My intriguing title of the week is a game that I’m thinking most people will either love or hate. Check it out below…

Usually I spend the first paragraph either lamenting or chastising Nintendo for the shovelware that usually ends up on the DS and Wii. This week, I have to give the DS a break, because only THREE titles were rated for it. That is the single lowest amount since I started writing the article over a year ago. Those games (Imagine Ballet Star, Jake Power Policeman and Girl Time) don’t exactly break the mold of what we usually see, but the lack of volume is surprising. The Wii on the other hand kept up the tradition, with 12 titles, the majority of which do little to break the mold of second rate third-party titles that are cranked out and suck in the money of helpless parents and tweens everywhere. For the life of me, I still do not understand why the Wii does so well with the catalog of games that have been assembled for it…

After Sony’s little coming out party last week, I didn’t think they would have much left in the tank. Well, I was dead wrong, as they not only had another six titles rated, but included in that was the sequel to one of the best game on the platform: MotorStorm: Pacific Rift. In addition, other games rated were Street Fighter Alpha 2 and Soldner-X: Himmelssturmer. Games that were rated for both the PS3 and Xbox 360 were Shaun White Snowboarding, SBK Superbike World Championship and Mirror's Edge. The 360 had two non-PS3 titles rated in Left 4 Dead and You're In The Movies. Overall, this list is a pretty good lineup this week with some games that people are looking forward to and not a lot of fluff.

The Intriguing Title of the Week is “You're In The Movies” for the Xbox 360. I watched the E3 press event that showcased this game and wasn’t quite sure how I should react. My initial reaction was that it looks pretty weak and would get old faster than a marathon of Shirley MacLain films. However, it does appear to have a sliver of potential in a party atmosphere where people are heavily inebriated. I’m thinking maybe even in family time with someone the caliber of Ned Flanders, the Cleavers or Truman Burbank. Otherwise as Forest Gump said in his movie, “Stupid is as Stupid Does…”


Here is the final tally on who, what and where everything was rated for last week. There were 35 rated titles on eight platforms. PC (18), Wii (12), PS3 (6) and 360 (5) had the most games rated. There were 25 of the 35 titles rated at E10+ or lower, 9 rated at T for Teen and one (Left 4 Dead) 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.