Think of the Children for February 13th

Written by Dan Keener on 2/13/2008 for DS   PC   PS2   PS3   PSP   Wii   360  

Well the black hole that has been the ESRB ratings since the first of the year (a notorious slow time) struck again, as there were only 23 titles rated over the last two weeks. These did include some surprises including a title for the Xbox 360 that rekindled some buzz on the internet that stared last spring. In addition, three of Hudson’s Entertainment’s Bomberman titles were finally rated and the next-gen systems continue to be dominated by the Xbox 360.

Out of 23 titles, Hudson had there of the slots lined up for their Bomberman LAND (Wii and PSP) and Bomberman Touch (DS). These offshoots of the beloved (for the most part) series have been getting a lot of press the last month. All came out of the ESRB with a friendly ‘E for Everyone’ rating and should continue the good vibe the series has evoked in the past.

PC and DS picked it back up slightly over the last two weeks, but the drought continues. A combined 15 titles over two weeks is not great. Damn this dead zone! DS did have an Indiana Jones title and Bomberman Land Touch rated, so not all was bad news. Let’s hope that GDC brings about some good news concerning upcoming titles.

The next-gen system(s) once again had several games rated, but once again it was the Xbox 360 leading the way while the Playstation 3 came in last….again. The PS3 only had Viking: Battle for Asgard rated (along with the Xbox 360) and that is it. However, there were still no PSN games or anything of note. The 360meanwhile had Bully: Scholarship Edition rated, Assault Heroes 2, Lost Planet: Colonies and Buku Sudoku in addition to Vikings. Two retail, two XBLA and one unknown. Not bad, but I can’t wait to get out of the dead period and see more games come rolling down the pipe.

As has been the case the last several weeks, a buzz worthy title made the list. This week it belongs to the Xbox 360 title Lost Planet Colonies. The name has made waves previously, when Capcom registered it last year, and when the European equivalent was rated a few months back. The problem is no one really knows what the heck the title is. Expansion pack? Sequel? When various sites contacted Capcom, all they got back was the image of an old-school TV with the words “Stay Tuned” on it. Other buzz came from Assault Heroes 2 being rated, which is apparently a future XBLA sequel to the successful Assault Heroes.

I so desperately wanted to put Read and Learn Bible as this weeks title of shame, but I thought better of it with the potential for lighting strikes and such, So instead, I played it cool with the big guy upstairs and decided on a joint craptacular award with Dancing With The Stars (PC) and the completely over-exposed High School Musical 2: Work This Out! (DS.) It’s kinda pathetic that with only 23 titles, I basically had my choice of three. If you don’t care for my opinion, have a man crush on the tweenies from Disney or are the 40+ demographic for dancing with the washed up Celebes, drop me a line in the comments section.

Title	Publisher	Rating	Platforms
StarTropics	Nintendo of America	E	Wii
Assault Heroes 2	Vivendi Games	T	360
Bill "Spaceman" Lee's: Baseball Mogul 2008	Strategy First	T	PC
Bully: Scholarship Edition	Rockstar Games	T	360, Wii
Cory in the House	Disney Interactive Studios	E	DS
El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera	THQ	E	PS2
Emergency Mayhem	Codemasters	T	Wii
Read and Learn Bible	Scholastic Inc.	E	Mac, PC
Sudoku Kakuro Mahjongg	Topics Entertainment	E	PC
Dancing With The Stars	ValuSoft	E	PC
High School Musical 2: Work This Out!	Disney Interactive Studios	E	DS
Hotel Mahjong	RealNetworks	E	PC
Kirby's Dream Land 3	Nintendo	E	Wii
Lost Planet Colonies	Capcom	T	PC, 360
Totally Spies! Totally Party	Encore, Inc., A Navarre Corporation Company	E	PC
Viking: Battle for Asgard	SEGA of America	M	360, PS3
Indiana Jones DS - 2008	LucasArts, a division of Lucasfilm	T	DS
Buku Sudoku	Merscom	E	PC, 360
BOMBERMAN LAND	Hudson Entertainment Inc	E	Wii
BOMBERMAN LAND	Hudson Entertainment Inc	E	PSP
Bomberman Land Touch! 2	Hudson Entertainment Inc	E	DS
1080 Snowboarding	Nintendo of America	E	Wii
Super Mario Bros. 3	Nintendo of America	E	Wii

Here is the final tally on who, what and where everything was rated for the last week. There were 23 rated entries on eight platforms. PC (8), Nintendo Wii (7) and Xbox 360 (5) had the most games rated. There were 16 of the 23 titles rated at E10+ or lower, six rated at T for Teen and one rated at M for Mature.

Got a comment on the rated games, put it in the section below.  Until next week, make sure you know what your kids are playing……