cooking mama
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Hot Cooking Mama screens from the oven
Like an Easy Bake Oven for the 21st century, Cooking Mama on the DS warmed its way into gamers' hearts with Wario Ware gameplay propelled forward by the shame of disappointing dear mother. Now Mama returns in Cooking Mama: Cook Off for the Wii. All the original fun will be there including Iron Chef competition against a friend -- "ALLEZ CUISINE!" Using the Wii-mote gamers will chop, grate, slice, stir and do all the actions of cooking without actually being able to eat anything afterward. There will be 250+ foods to create 55 dishes. No word yet on an actual release date, but find screens for the game after the jump.
Today's yummiest game video: Cooking Mama Wii 'soup'
Now you're cooking with gas. Er, the Wii. We initially joked on that there were several games you wouldn't see on the Wii, and yes cooking was one of 'em. Now we stand corrected, because Cooking Mama actually looks ... well, delicious. Fun, too. We never thought we'd be saying that about a cooking video game, but here it is. Next up, games based on cleaning and doing your homework. Check it out after the jump. You can practically smell the soup from here, and maybe we'll actually learn something while we play this one. When's Quantum Mechanics Mario hitting the shelves?
Get your hands dirty with Cooking Mama
Looks like the folks at GameSpot got their hands on a working version of Cooking Mama at this year's Consumer Electronics Show, and their preview answered a few of our recent questions about the game. It looks like the use of the Wiimote will make the game more immersive, as many more motions can be included, and it seems that they consider the Wii a step up for this game, and more along the lines of what it was meant to be. Cooking Mama: Cook Off features 300 ingredients and 55 recipes -- will that be enough? 55 recipes doesn't seem like that many, but the gameplay is very nuanced -- every little aspect can affect your outcome and your score -- so maybe that's where the replay value comes in. Good news for those looking forward to the multiplayer, too -- it looks incredible, and very Iron Chef. We anticipate many fun kitchen battles, just without all that pesky clean up. You can get a closer look at the multiplayer aspects in the video of a CES demo.
Best of the rest: Ross' picks
Lumines Live! (XBLA) On a big screen with surround sound, Q Entertainment's Lumines Live was easily the most-played game in my library (if you stretch the definition of library to digitally distributed titles). Although I railed against how microtransactions were implemented in this title and still think the extent to which they disclosed the dearth of features was misleading, both the Basic and Advanced Pack got more than enough play time, as did the multiplayer. It is the best Xbox Live Arcade title since Geometry Wars.
Peeking at Cooking Mama's potential
Jeux France has a beautiful image of a Japanese Cooking Mama: Cook Off ad that has our tummies rumbling. It also offers a peek at the game, via teeny-tiny screenshots tucked in at the bottom. It got us thinking -- is this a port/sequel that gets you excited? Certainly the gameplay seems well-suited to the Wiimote, but Cooking Mama DS was an easy choice due to price. It's doubtful we'll see as much of a price break for the Wii version ... so is it tasty enough for you to pick up a copy? There is, after all, additional content for the Wii in the way of the parade of international "mamas." Is it enough? We want to hear what you think about this game and its place in the burgeoning Wii pantheon of games. Will it catch on in the way that the DS title didn't quite manage? Will it offer that universal playability (it's for everyone!) that has been the Wii's best selling point so far? The Wii version does, after all, offer multiplayer functionality, and living room "cook offs" have a lot of fun potential.
Ad critic: cooking with Wii
Gaming site Jeux France has uploaded this Japanese ad for the Wii version of Cooking Mama. Since Nintendo's video commercials, which point the camera at the players themselves, would not translate effectively as a stationary print advertisement, publisher Taito has decided to rotate the camera 180 degrees and present the Wii as a cooking utensil. The logic here, of course, would be, "if you buy this game, you will chop peppers. Peppers are food. Everyone likes food; ergo, everyone will want this game" -- or something similar, we're sure. The advertisement is minimalistic -- lots of unused white space -- placing a greater emphasis and surface area on the pathos-appealing mock-up of the Wiimote being used to cook eggs and prepare meals while relegating screenshots to a tiny row on the bottom. We think it's a fair assessment that Cooking Mama is not pushing the graphical limit even for a Nintendo Wii game; in fact, it looks identical to its DS counterpart. The raison d'etre for the game is an experience that is meant to be easy and fun to play for a wide demographic. In that context, do you think the ad is effective? See also: Ad critic archive [Via bits bytes pixels & sprites]
Cooking Mama set to sizzle in European skillets this winter [update]
If you're a European who loves their DS, odds are you've seen videos of games released in the US and Japan and asked yourself "how many years will it take for the game to get here?" We know your pain, as you fine gaming folk often get the shortest end of an already very short stick, however you may at least take solace in knowing that Cooking Mama is releasing to your region in February of next year. Half a year is better than a whole year, right? [Update: Typo alert!]
Metareview - Cooking Mama (DS)
We lost track of Cooking Mama, assuming it would never wash up on shores outside of Japan. We were surprised when it popped up in a recent release list and picked up a copy right away. This quirky cooking simulator features Japanese-heavy dishes, with a lot of deep-frying and uncommon oceanic ingredients. Reviewers have been giving it points for originality, but docking it for longevity: Yahoo! Games (70/100) - "So while there isn't all that much on the menu, the fast-paced and simple gameplay can't fail to raise a smile, at least for the first few plays. Most will set it aside after that, but it's priced at a decidedly value-conscious $20 -- less than the cost of a good steak." GameSpot (69/100) - "You might glean a bit of info on what goes into some of these dishes, but this isn't a virtual cookbook. There are no precise recipes to be accessed anywhere in the game. There's also no multiplayer component of any kind, though the advertised four-player wireless icon on the back of the box might lead you to believe otherwise." IGN (70/100) - "The big question: is any of this fun? Though the entirety of this game is simply doing what you're told as quickly as possible, it's actually an amusing game if you're not expecting much out of it." Give Cooking Mama a shot, especially if interested in the culture of Japanese food. We don't think it would hold up without the menu of shumai wontons, octopus dumplings, and other unique treats.
Cooking Mama review -- too long in the oven
Nintendo is always on the path to finding a niche market and achieving the status as king of it. So far, in the area of handheld "pick up and play" games, they are king. Electroplankton, Tetris DS, Bomberman DS and many more are a few examples of their idea of games that can be played by everyone. Newly added to that list is the somewhat hard to find Cooking Mama. With all the attention the game has gotten, how does it fare in the kitchen? According to IGN, it does okay. They only gave it an even 7. The basic message is that while Cooking Mama does a great job of being a "pick up and play" title, it doesn't have much to offer other than simple task by task meals with extra recipes to unlock. If you are looking for intense, sweaty chef action -- don't look here. This game won't make you a better cook either. It's just actions like slicing, dicing and stirring in rhythm to make mama proud. Which we all want to do, right?
Cooking Mama all out of ingredients?
One of the journals over at Ars Technica recently documented some trials and tribulations in attempting to find the recently-released Cooking Mama for the DS. With a desire to prepare virtual meals, Ben Kuchera stormed many of his local brick-and-mortar retail outlets to no avail. In leaving the physical world and entering one filled with electronic webs, Ben wasn't able to procure virtual satisfaction either as all the sites he checked stated the game was on backorder. So what say you fine reader? Have you had any difficulty in snagging this at retail? Or perhaps you are the pre-ordering type? [Thanks Nushio!]
Cooking Mama is sizzlin' hot
Personally, we can't cook. Not to save our lives. Give us some packages of Ramen Noodles and we are set. Sad but true story. Fortunately for those who are kitchen retarded, like I am, Cooking Mama is going to give us the run down on how to make some rather interesting, and sometimes disgusting, dishes. GameSpot has the full preview and details with a nice video to show you how Cooking Mama works. Somehow neapolitan spaghetti doesn't sound that great tonight... Bon Appetit!
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Cooking Mama joins Majesco's E3 roster
Do cooking games have any place in the North American market? Majesco seems to think so. The publisher is taking a gamble on Office Create's Cooking Mama, a mini-game-based niche title, previously available in Japan only - yes, we suppose some Japanophiles did go the import route. But will gaijin dig a perfectly batter-dipped and deep fried tray of shrimp tempura? They best swap in some of Colonel Sanders' finest birds to move units on these shores. Read GameBrink's import review.
