After taking a break over the Thanksgiving Holiday (and a lingering illness), we are back with all the games rated by the ESRB the last couple of weeks. It still continues to be a slow period, as only a total of 53 games over two weeks were rated and published.

The Macintosh gets back on the board this week, but only with some casual games. Dominoes, Super Dominoes, First to Fight and Gem Shop highlight their week’s totals. Maybe someday the Mac will become a viable gaming platform, but as it looks, that may not become a reality for a few more years.

¡Bienvenido a la exposición! That is for Electronic Arts, which had the Spanish version of Madden 08 (Madden NFL 08 en Español) rated for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 2. First time I have seen a foreign language title rated through the ESRB that wasn’t for self-help or language learning.

The Next-Gen consoles had quite a few titles this week, with the Xbox 360 (8) and PS3 (4) having 13 total between them. Besides Karaoke Revolution (see below), March Madness 08 and Frontlines: Fuel of War were rated for both platforms. Unreal Tournament 3 was a PS3 title only, while the Xbox 360 had a couple of Xbox Live Arcade titles in Chessmaster LIVE, Bliss Island, Poker Smash and Spongebob SquarePants. Again, kind of a weak crop except Unreal Tournament 3.

The Nintendo platforms are whoring games out at an amazing clip. Still. Another week and another 20 of 53 titles belong to the Wii, DS or GBA. Frankly, I am getting sick of the junk they keep trotting out. Sequels, lame kid titles and the obscure seem to be the norm. The old quantity over quality seems to really be taking hold here. I guess keeping the handheld titles sub $30 means they have to produce twice as many to earn the same dollar as the consoles. Oh well, enjoy Puyo Puyo 2, Baseball Stars 2, Homie Rollerz, Puppy Palace and Paws & Claws Pet Vet 2 on your weak Nintendo platforms.

There were a couple of titles I don’t remember hearing about, including Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol Encore (Please, shoot me now!), Bliss Island from Codemasters and Rock & Roll Jeopardy! (Based on the short-lived show and hosted by future Survivor face man Jeff Probst). Unreal Tournament 3 for the PS3 and PC also went live (garnering an ‘M’).

Here is the final tally on who, what and where everything was rated for the last two weeks. There were 53 rated entries on seven platforms. Windows PC (22), Nintendo DS (15) and Xbox 360 (9) had the most games rated. There were 44 of the 53 games were rated at E10+ or lower, seven rated at T for Teen and two rated at M for Mature.

Until next week, make sure you know what your kids are playing……





Title
Rating
Content
Platforms


Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol Encore
E
Mild Lyrics,