Think of the Children for January 21

Written by Randy Kalista on 1/21/2009 for DS   PC   PS3   PSP   Wii   360  

The ESRB is hard at work already, pushing a cool 100 games through the ratings sieve since the start of the new year. PC earns the shovelware award for leading the pack in rated releases, while the Mac makes a rare appearance--graced with LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures. The intriguing titles of the week are prescient of dark days to come; one is a 360 exclusive, the other a PS3 exclusive. Both are eyebrow-raising.

Some of the best bets you’ll find in this batch are--duh--Killzone 2 (PS3); the Ninja Gaiden-looking clone, Ninja Blade (360); and Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop (Wii). The cross-platform performer of the week is SBK: Superbike World Championship (PC, PS3, PS2, PSP, 360, Wii).

Both the 360 and PS3 are playing nice with the following titles rated on both consoles: OutRun Online Arcade, Ead Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard, Street Fighter IV Collector’s Edition, and 3 on 3 NHL Arcade.

My intriguing titles of the week go by the name of Killzone 2 and Ninja Blade, both of which use suicide to seal their Mature ratings. In Killzone 2, one gravely wounded character retrieves a pistol and shoots himself in the head. And during a Ninja Blade cutscene, an enemy slits his own throat with a sword. Disturbing imagery indeed.


Here is the final tally on who, what and where everything was rated for last week. There were 100 rated titles on eight platforms: PC (35), PS3 (16), PS2 (6), PSP (5), Wii (22), 360 (14), DS (27), and Mac (1). There were 69 of the 100 titles rated E10+ or lower, 25 rated T for Teen, and six (Darkest of Days, Ninja Blade, CSI: 3 Dimensions of Murder, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II, Killzone 2, and Dead Rising Chop Till You Drop) rated M for Mature.

The running tally of game ratings in 2009 is as follows:

Got a comment on the article or a rated game?  Put it in the comments section 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.