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Cooking Mama Moves to Facebook…

Dustin Spencer
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Over the years, we have seen Mama in many titles on the Nintendo Wii & DS, but now fans of the series can get their cooking fix on Facebook. Under the Name of “Cooking Mama Friends’ Café” and developed by both Majesco and Arkadium, Mama is now tackling the social gaming world that lets players chop, mix, stir, fry, bake and pour to create more than 40 recipes with infinite menu combinations. This new title marks Majesco’s first entry into the social gaming scene and it seems like a great move for them to use the easy accessible and much loved Mama series to get their foot in the door.

Majesco also released a bit of what players can expect with Cooking Mama Friends’ Café:

COOKING MAMA FRIENDS’ CAFÉ features the same accessible, recipe-based mini-game formula that has made the Mama franchise so popular. On the Facebook Platform, that mechanic is combined with new menu and customer management within an economy driven restaurant. Players first buy ingredients, then chop, mix, pour and bake with their mouse to create delectable dishes like holiday ham, fried rice and chicken parm. Coins and XP points are awarded to chefs for creating tasty food and serving up dishes to customers. Players can also purchase special ingredients and decorations to customize kitchens with virtual and real dollars. Ultimately, players must return regularly and cook to maintain the business or risk their restaurant shutting down for good.

Sticking to the same formula for the Cooking Mama franchise with this one is sure to draw some attention from the millions of Facebook gamers out there and it sounds a bit addictive as well so I can picture many people hanging up their farming gear for a spatula as this application catches on. The game is free to play so to get started on your cooking career, simply check out the official facebook page for Cooking Mama Friends’ Café by clicking HERE. After you give the game a whirl, be sure to leave us some comments below of what you think of it as well as let Majesco know in the “reviews” section as I am sure they would love to hear some feedback from anyone out there.

Atari Releases New Screens for Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime…

Dustin Spencer
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Atari have been gearing up for their next Ghostbusters title, Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime which will be hitting the PSN, Xbox Live Arcade and PC shortly, and now the company has released a handful of screenshots to give players a peek at whats to come. The top-down twin-stick shooter is looking great at the moment and from the new screens it looks to be a headed in the right direction as many of the bosses and areas are staying true to the Ghostbusters franchise for the most part.

Another interesting thing to note is that teamwork seems to be the heart and soul of this title as it will be needed to take out some of the huge bosses within the game such as the Slime Golem (pictured below). Of course being a shooter, weapons are also another focus with the game featuring the Proton Stream, Plasma Inductor, and the Fermion Shock. With the added online and local multi-player, I am looking forward to busting up some ghosts in with this new control scheme. No date is quite confirmed as of yet, but I would expect to see this one out at least by March, so check back for that soon and while your waiting check out all 8 of these new screens in all their ghostbusting glory.

Nintendo Sells The Most Systems in 2010; Expecting Big Sales for the 3DS…

Dustin Spencer
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If you have called the Wii or DS dead or dying lately, I am sure Nintendo would find that hilarious as they are laughing all the way to the bank with the most home consoles sold for 2010. Nintendo recently offered some statements on the success of 2010’s console sales and as usual, the famed company is still reigning supreme at #1.

Nintendo sold more than 2.5 million Nintendo DS systems and more than 2.3 million Wii systems in December alone, bringing their lifetime U.S. sales totals to more than 47 million and more than 34 million, respectively.

With the new Nintendo 3DS™ system set to launch in the United States in March, Nintendo has strong momentum heading into 2011. Nintendo 3DS lets users view 3D images without the need for special glasses. More information about the system will be made available during a Jan. 19 preview event in New York.

“Nintendo has sold more game systems than anyone else for five years running,” said Charlie Scibetta, Nintendo of America’s senior director of Corporate Communications. “Of the quarter billion hardware systems sold in the United States during the past 10 years, Nintendo sold more than half. We look forward to bringing fun new experiences to consumers when Nintendo 3DS launches in March.”

Three of the top five best-selling games of December play exclusively on Nintendo systems. These include Just Dance 2 from Ubisoft at No. 1, Donkey Kong Country Returns™ from Nintendo at No. 3 and Disney Epic Mickey from Disney Interactive Studios at No. 4. For all of 2010, 13 of the top 25 best-selling games play on Nintendo systems. This includes two of the top five; five of the top 10; and nine of the top 15.

With all of this said comes a bit of wonder of how the Wii will stand to this year’s huge market. Aside from Mario Sports Mix coming out in a month or so as well as Skyward Sword, there isn’t too much first party software hitting the Wii this year so it will be interesting to watch for more games to be announced during 2011. Nintendo are great at last minute announcements so I am hoping we see some more love towards their core audience again like the phenomenal releases of Donkey Kong Country Returns, Super Mario Galaxy 2, and Kirby’s Epic Yarn as I think those three games along probably had a lot to do with sales numbers last year.

Of course the system which is top priority from Nintendo is the 3DS and with all the buzz I have a feeling the launch will certainly be successful, but I would not count out Sony or Microsoft as this will be the year where we are going to see even more of the technology wars as the Kinect and Move start to release bigger titles. That is the greatest thing about the wars among these three giants though, everyone wins as they battle to bring gamers to their side.

Wall of Alduin explains the history of Skyrim

Travis Bruno
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Remember that teaser where we first found out about Skyrim? That wall that we were shown is actually going to play a big part in the game, or at least the history written on the wall will. Game Informer’s website has the entire wall available and it is interactive as well. Users can highlight the different bulletpoints on the wall that detail the story involved with that picture on the wall.

The history details the rise and fall of Alduin and his eventual rise again to take revenge on Tamriel. From the events portrayed on the wall every Elder Scroll game has supposedly been leading up to the unleashing of Alduin. From the very first Elder Scrolls to the closing of the Oblivion gates everything has been set into motion by player’s hands over the years.

Nintendo currently has no plans to bring The Last Story to the West

Travis Bruno
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Bad news for fans of the JRPG genre outside of Japan. Nintendo currently has no plans of even attempting to release Mistwalker’s upcoming game, The Last Story, outside of Japan. It’s hard to understand exactly why they would decide to ignore a worldwide release when more lesser known titles have enjoyed a worldwide release to moderate success. To make us feel even more bad they have released a five minute trailer earlier today.

This news comes despite the fact that The Last Story has been quite popular among Western markets and also sports the developer Hironobu Sakaguchi who created Final Fantasy, Lost Odyssey, and Blue Dragon. Still regardless of this fact VG247 was told by Nintendo the following: “We have no plans at present.” This is very unfortunate news indeed for those who wanted a deep RPG for their Wii system. Bear in mind that although there are no plans at present for a worldwide release, they did not completely squash the idea so one can hope that as long as the sales figures are high in Japan then Nintendo may be more willing to look at the West to release The Last Story.

GTA4 – cars gone wild

Justin Mienkiewicz
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GTA4 – cars gone wild

I think it’s safe to assume most of you have played GTA4 or at least know what it is and how it works.  Big open world environment, free reign to do WHATEVER.  Cars are a big thing in the game since they are wildly abundant and are your main form of transportation.  People always find ways to do silly things in GTA games just because they have the capacity to do so, it’s a big game with lots of potential for tom foolery.  Youtube user dot12321 discovered that by editing a certain file in the game directory (aka PC version editing) you can make the cars fly and swerve around with incredibly comedic effect.  Words won’t do this justice so just scroll down and watch the video, it’s absolutely hilarious.

Zumba Fitness Sells 500,000 Copies…..

Dustin Spencer
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I think everyone is aware of the booming video game fitness trend that is out there, but if Zumba Fitness is any indication, it looks like the genre is getting even bigger. Majesco have recently announced that in just a little over a month, the title has sold 500,000 units since releasing back in mid-November for the Wii, Xbox 360 & PS3. For a fitness game, those numbers are nothing to sneeze at indeed.

Here is an official statement from Majesco:

“We are excited by the sales performance of the Zumba Fitness® video game, and are also encouraged by the continued post-holiday momentum for the title”, said Jesse Sutton, Chief Executive Officer, Majesco. “Zumba fitness programs are a worldwide phenomenon and growing. We believe people will be playing the Zumba Fitness video game at home 365 days a year, and as such expect to see continued reorders throughout the year. In ad0dition, we have extended our national marketing and PR campaign to maintain consumer demand and support retail momentum.”

It is interesting to see which titles can quickly catch on and Zumba Fitness with it’s easy to pick up and play party style seems to be hitting a note with certain gamers without a doubt. Throw in the discounted $49.99 price-tag ($39.99 for the Wii) and motion support on all three consoles and it is easy to see why 500,000 units have shipped since release. To check out more information about Zumba fitness you can visit the official site at www.ZumbaFitnessGame.com or join the community at www.Facebook.com/ZumbaFitnessGame.

Final Dead Space 2 video before launch

Jack Joly
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Dead Space 2 has received its launch trailer, further hammering home that the game is on the horizon, approaching fast.

It is looking to be an atmospheric thriller that promises to scare the socks off anyone, and the trailer only further reiterates that this game isn’t for the faint-hearted . Better bring a spare pair of pants as it is looking like the scariest title in a while, and I expect that although “in space, nobody can hear you scream”, the neighbours will be able to hear your shrill squeals from a mile away.

Dead Space 2 will be available for Xbox 360, PS3, and PC on 25th January in the US and 28th January in Europe. Who’s already counting down the days?

NFS Shift 2: Unleashed – teased and dated

Jack Joly
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NFS Shift 2: Unleashed – teased and dated
The sequel to Need for Speed Shift has been given a release date by Electronic Arts. EA has dated Need for Speed: Shift Unleashed 2 for a release of March 25 in the UK and Europe, with the US getting the game a little later on March 29.
To celebrate the announcement of the release date, EA has also ‘unleashed’ a very nice looking trailer for the game. It shows the game in action, which, to be fair, is looking very sleek and impressive graphically. Come release, it will be available on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.

Will you all have recovered enough from Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit to get back behind the wheel in March?

EA’s Christmas Sale A Call For Concern

Roger Ma
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EA’s Christmas Sale A Call For Concern

EA’s recent Christmas sale on iTunes App store in which the majority of EA’s iPhone titles were dramatically discounted to $0.99 (USD) for 48 hours leading up to the Christmas buying frenzy, has caused much doubt in the rest of the mobile gaming industry over the “success” of the promotion. Controversy surrounds the officially promoted sale by Apple which saw EA dominate the top 10 App chart, due to the sudden drop in prices just before Christmas day. This essentially cut off sales from other game developers in a clear expression of publisher pushing power.

Gameloft founder and CEO Michel Guillemot, expresses concerns over EA’s recent practices “There is a high uncertainty for the future anytime somebody can steal the market at Christmas” said Guillemot speaking at CES 2011, “driving down recommended retail prices to such a degree will foster a ‘good enough’ attitude from developers, innovation and quality stifled as they look to offer games at 99c”. The consequence of discounting on such a large level will surely have long term impacts on a consumer’s perception on what mobile games are really worth. In short, this could mean the demise of the iPhone and mobile gaming as a ‘viable handheld gaming console’ as opposed to just a ‘casual experience’ for people on the go.

 

EA’s Christmas sale in December was specifically timed to coincide with the release of several Triple-A titles from publishers who saw their games such as Real Racing 2, N.O.V.A. 2 and Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light sidelined by EA’s discount frenzy. The majority of EA’s iOS games still remain at a low price. However looking at the bigger picture, EA’s Christmas sale may be a reflection of their financial performance which Q2 figures show that their sales were down by 4% year on year, whilst Gameloft sales were up by 15% in the same period. Whether or not the recent sale was a good move from EA, we will just have to wait and see the long term effects on the gaming market and on the quality of games in general to fully assess the impact of this.

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