Catch A Wave and You're Sittin' On Top of the World

Game Wave (http://www.zapitgames.com/index.html)

... is the quiet new video game console in town. It supports up to six players. It looks like PS3! It's a shame this system won't make it. I can't truly review it as I have not played it, but it resembles the 3DO with DVD capability. Games are trivia, logic, wordplay, or gambling. I think this is the "family friendly" game system (gambling isn't evil w/o real money, after all). The system is $50, which is pretty attractive. All of the games are promoted as "...containing no sex or violence." Fair enough!

I have no doubt, from looking at the videos, that they live up to their promise of family-friendly. There is only one problem. No ESRB rating. Remember that it costs money to use ESRB, and contractually, they can charge fines for incomplete disclosure of content. I'm guessing this was to keep costs down. However, Toys R Us really shouldn't be selling unrated games, right? At least, that's their claim.  In fact, Walmart and Target won't carry unrated or AO games, as if they were equivalent.

I'm ambivalent! Should we applaud their independence an credit the retail stores for knowing the system is kid-friendly? Should we be shocked and appalled that they are carrying games w/o an ESRB rating? I'm sure the game "Bang-O-Rama" (I made up the title for example) isn't rated but can I be sure it shouldn't be AO or not?  Is it great to see an unrated game not equivalent to porn? (Hint: yes!)

I'm certainly not going to say anything other than this blog entry and possible mention on my podcast. I'm afraid the marketing of this system is rather poor. I've only seen one commercial ad for it. I hate to say it, but being family-friendly is automatically declaring a limited library. It's just not a winning combination. I still wish you luck, Zapitgames, it looks pretty good at what it intends to accomplish.