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There's some serious Cooking Mama drama going on right now
The game’s license holder and publisher have taken to the internet to squabble over exactly who has control over the title.
Cooking Mama 5 spices up 3DS on September 16
Is your 3DS library coming up short in terms of food preparation sims? Don't worry; Mama will fix this. Cooking Mama 5: Bon Appétit! will hit retailers in North America next month with a gaggle of new recipes in tow. Cooking Mama 5 features 60 new recipes, allowing players to virtually prepare international dishes like sushi, parfaits, Hawaiian pancakes, and the most exotic food of all, chicken nuggets. The game also offers a variety of side-missions and activities like pet-feeding and food delivery, and its multiplayer mode supports single cart download play for up to four competing chefs. Cooking Mama 5: Bon Appétit! premieres on September 29. [Image: Majesco]
Cooking Mama 5 gets served on 3DS this September
Cookiing Mama 5: Bon Appetit will launch in North America this September. The 3DS game first took to digital kitchens in Japan this past November, bringing with it over 60 recipes for appetizers, drinks, main courses and desserts. The game includes six modes, one of which is a new "Cooking Dojo," and features more than 30 extra activities around players' houses and burger shops. Players will also have the option to customize Mama's outfit and kitchen with decorations obtained through the console's SpotPass feature. Majesco noted in its announcement that the Cooking Mama series has sold more than 13 million copies globally. The first game debuted on Nintendo DS in 2006. Cooking Mama 5 will arrive three years after the previous one for 3DS, Cooking Mama 4: Kitchen Magic, which launched in November 2011. The upcoming game also features a four-player local multiplayer mode that uses the console's download play feature, allowing three friends to participate in a cook-off with one player that owns a copy of the game. [Image: Majesco]
Gardening Mama 2: Forest Friends blossoms on 3DS in April
Cooking Mama is back for another round of garden-tending action in Gardening Mama 2: Forest Friends, a newly-announced series entry coming to the Nintendo 3DS this spring from publisher Majesco. Following up on 2009's Gardening Mama for the DS, Forest Friends introduces 50 new horticulture-themed challenges. In addition to fulfilling in-game requests, players can deliver harvested fruits and veggies to forest shops in order to earn new items, decorations, and seeds. Gardening Mama 2 also features SpotPass functionality, rewarding players with unlockable garden backgrounds for meeting up with fellow gardening fanatics. Majesco notes that the Cooking Mama series has sold over 13 million units worldwide since its launch in 2006. Gardening Mama 2 is due to hit the Nintendo 3DS in April. [Image: Majesco]
'Cooking Mama Seasons' goes free to play on iOS
If you've never tried the touchscreen culinary minigames of one of the Cooking Mama games before, now you can sample her recipes for free. Cooking Mama Seasons is now on the App Store, replacing the previous iOS version, with new Retina graphics, "Food Art" decoration, and, of course, a free-to-play model that allows you to buy new recipes to try. A version with more recipes pre-loaded is also available for $6.99.It's worth a download for free, in our opinion, just to have some heavily-accented encouragement from Mama any time we need it.
Cooking Mama: Breaking Bad is the good stuff
Sure, Breaking Bad is a show about the crippling stress and fractured interpersonal relationships of running a high-stakes meth-cooking operation, but it's a show that makes us want to experience that kind of mind-melting trauma firsthand. And now we can, thanks to Cooking Mama: Breaking Bad.Developed by Juan David Gómez, Cooking Mama: Breaking Bad lets players partake in the joy of mixing dangerous chemicals into grade-a meth, without all the hassle of killing your rivals, evading the authorities and losing the love of everyone you ever cared about. Play a few rounds in your browser right here.
Majesco cooking up Cooking Mama combo packs for Wii and DS
Starting next month, it'll be a little cheaper to spend some time with your multi-talented Cooking Mama. Majesco is bundling together six different Cooking Mama games across three different packages: Mama's Combo Pack Volume 1 and 2 on the DS and Mama's 2-pack on the Wii.Mama's Combo Pack Volume 1 includes the original Cooking Mama as well as Camping Mama: Outdoor Adventures, and Volume 2 features Cooking Mama 2: Dinner with Friends and Crafting Mama. Mama's 2-pack, meanwhile, includes Cooking Mama Cook Off and Cooking Mama World Kitchen. The bundles will be available August 14 for $30 each.Now, if you'll excuse us, writing this post made us very hungry.%Gallery-161000%
Hark, the herald Groove Coasters sing
It's a Christmas miracle! Taito Claus has bestowed five new downloadable Groove Coaster songs upon all the good little vector dots and Invader icons of the world -- including a techno-y Christmas tune. We're not going to be listening for the tapping of reindeer feet this Christmas because we're going to be tapping out music. Even better, the game is on sale right now for .99 -- joining other seasonally discounted Taito games including Cooking Mama and Space Invaders: Infinity Gene.
Cooking Mama 4's plush pre-order bonus
How can one learn to cook properly without Mama watching, judging your every move? Pre-order Cooking Mama 4: Kitchen Magic for 3DS from GameStop and you can take a Mama doll home with you. Just place her atop the refrigerator and feel her disappointment magically turn you into a better cook. It's the ultimate tool in negative reinforcement. Don't let the soft demeanor fool you, there is darkness in Mama that dwarfs that of domestic diva Martha Stewart. One doesn't reach 12 million global sales without being a "Business Mama" as well. Cooking Mama 4: Kitchen Magic will pull a dinner out of its hat this October.
'Mama' franchise reaches 12 million sales worldwide, 8.5 million in NA
Majesco had a timeline at its E3 booth showing all of Mama's jobs over the past five years. The poster stated that the franchise had reached 12 million sales globally, with a rep telling us that the sales in North America represented 8.5 million of the total. Mama is currently planning a return to the kitchen and the series that gave the gal her big break, after she does a little camping in September, in Cooking Mama 4: Kitchen Magic this October.
Cooking Mama 4 goes to 3DS, Camping Mama goes to DS this fall
Mama has a very busy couple of months ahead of her. Majesco's patron matron has 60 more recipes to make with your help in Cooking Mama 4: Kitchen Magic! For the first time, her culinary creations will be three-dimensional, because Cooking Mama 4 is headed to 3DS. The minigames in this new version will use both the touchscreen and the 3DS's gyroscopic tilt controls. Also this fall, Mama will return to her roots on the regular DS to take a hard-earned vacation in Camping Mama: Outdoor Adventures, where she'll get a break from all those cooking minigames with ... 100 new outdoor minigames, set in "38 different levels that span forests, mountains and seas."
GameStop lists Cooking Mama 4 for 3DS
According to a new GameStop listing, Mama is going to start making recipes with more depth of flavor. Or at least more illusion of depth. The retailer has listed Cooking Mama 4 for 3DS, with a release date in October. It's perfectly plausible for there to be a new Cooking Mama game coming out in the fall, of course, as that's the cornerstone of Majesco's business. The publisher has recently begun moving toward more 3DS games, with announcements of The Hidden, Face Kart: Photo Finish, and Pet Zombies in 3D. Meanwhile, if you want Cooking Mama on your 3DS ahead of time, you can scan the Cooking Mama Mii prepared by Majesco.
Cooking Mama franchise stirs up Facebook with 'Friends Cafe'
We've already seen the meteoric rise of a social networking blockbuster in which the player cultivates and harvests rich acres of fresh produce -- it makes sense that we'd also witness the arrival of a social networking game in which that produce is prepared for human consumption. That's a niche which the Cooking Mama franchise will attempt to fill with its new Facebook iteration, Friends Cafe. The Majesco-published game features the same food preparation gameplay the series is known for, as well as unlockable (or purchasable!) upgrades for your own personal kitchen or restaurant. Of course, such entrepreneurship requires persistence, as players who neglect their cafes will see them shut down. You can learn more about this heartbreaking process in Majesco's next Facebook-enabled title, Bank Foreclosing Mama.
'Camping Mama' trademark filed by Cooking Mama Ltd.
Mama has proven her prowess at Cooking, Gardening and, soon, Babysitting -- but it seems she could be showing off her remarkable outdoorsmanship in the franchise's next outing. Cooking Mama Ltd., the series' developer, has filed a U.S. trademark for "Camping Mama," which has, in turn, sent our heads reeling over the possible gameplay implications therein. Just imagine the activities Mama could practice in a wilderness setting: Tent pitching Campfire making Marshmallow roasting Mosquito swatting Killing a bear with her own hands and turning its pelt into a victory coat, The Edge-style
Cribs: Babysitting Mama Edition
Majesco has released images of the final doll design and packaging for Babysitting Mama. Cleverly, the box for the minigame collection is shaped like a crib, featuring a phrase we didn't ever think we'd see on a game box: "Wii Game Disc Included (Look Under Baby!)"
Here it is: the Babysitting Mama controller
You know you wanted to see the plush baby that Majesco is including with Babysitting Mama -- the one that, when the Wiimote is tucked inside, functions as the interface for the game. We wanted to see it. We were curious. And here it is -- well, here's a pretty close representation of that baby controller. Majesco was sure to tell us that the design of the doll, and the design of the packaging, had yet to be finalized. The baby controller hasn't reached maturity, essentially.
Majesco's Babysitting Mama includes your very own baby
The "WiiWaa" doll introduced us to the concept of cramming a Wiimote into a doll's mouth and using that to interact with a game. Majesco is bringing that same idea to a much more mainstream game: the previously trademarked Babysitting Mama. Using a plush baby into which you have tucked a Wiimote -- and also using the Nunchuk that is somehow hanging out of this plush baby or something -- you play 40 minigames in the usual Cooking Mama style; representing tasks like feeding and changing a baby, or rocking it to sleep. The game will feature six different virtual babies with unique personalities, though you'll be using the same proxy doll to manipulate all the e-babies. Babysitting Mama is due out this holiday. Unfortunately, Majesco has yet to release an image of the doll, so we can't yet gauge how creeped out we're going to be by this game. %Gallery-93595%
Majesco reports drop in Q1 profits
This week, Majesco reported its earnings for its fiscal first quarter (which ended January 31). As you may have surmised from the recent news of its potential Nasdaq delisting, things aren't precisely where Majesco would want them to be, financially. Its net profit for the quarter was $3.8 million, showing a year-over-year decline compared to Q1 2009's $4.2 million profit. However, the slightly smaller Q1 still seems big enough to make Majesco happy. "Majesco had a very solid first quarter driven by strong holiday sales of our Cooking Mama franchise," CEO Jesse Sutton said, "which once again delivered impressive results, and Alvin & The Chipmunks: The Squeakquel." Yes, that's right, some of you bought something with the word "Squeakquel" on it. "Our results were in-line with our internal expectations and we remain on track to deliver improved profitability for 2010," he added. "We have made significant progress in fine tuning our strategy to meet the challenges of the current operating environment." The latest announcement from Majesco, of course, is another extension of the Cooking Mama franchise, Crafting Mama.
Majesco cooks up Crafting Mama for DS
Almost a year ago, a trademark for "Crafting Mama" was spotted. It's now being put to use, as Majesco has announced, well, Crafting Mama for DS. In her latest endeavor, Mama will occupy her seemingly endless time with a new task: arts & crafts. In a series of 40 projects, players will create things like birdhouses, quilts, kaleidoscopes and adorable new aprons for Mama to wear, as well as Mama dolls. Of course, these creations will all be realized through the familiar touch-based minigames, played alone and in multiplayer, which so many of us have grown to love in the utterly populous Cooking Mama game franchise. It's kind of crazy that a company can announce a game about making quilts and birdhouses, and we can already pretty much imagine how to play it! Majesco plans a fall 2010 release for Crafting Mama, but we suspect the publisher is at least considering bumping that up a bit.
Majesco threatened with Nasdaq delisting, again
Majesco, publisher of Cooking Mama and ... other stuff, has received a delisting notice from the Nasdaq stock market. The company now has 180 calendar days to bring its stock above $1 per share, the minimum required to remain on the exchange. The trick, though, is it can't just pop its fiscally hurting head above a buck for a day and everything will go back to being right with the world again. The company needs to hold the price for "a minimum of 10 consecutive trading days prior to August 30, 2010." This is not the first time Majesco was threatened with being kicked from the exchange. The company came back from the brink of that potential delisting disaster early last year. If you're curious to see what happens after a company is delisted, here are two case studies: Midway and Atari.
