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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!]
Wii to be region-locked after all?
After getting promised the beauties of region-free content by our American Nintendo PR peeps, our hopes have been shattered by Nintendo UK who has now gone on record denying the claims. They put it rather bluntly, stating: "We are region-locked," and that Nintendo America made a mistake by claiming otherwise. UK General Manager David Yarnton seems to think that Wii games and online content will be region-encoded, locking out European gamers from US and Japan titles, with the same being true in reverse. Seems to be a pretty major slip-up, though it's possible that since Nintendo America's Perrin Kaplan was only speaking of first-party titles for the Wii, Nintendo UK was merely trying to counteract the misquotes her statement had been getting. We'll be watching this one develop, but for now we're hoping the language barrier will be the only thing keeping us from a flashy first-party Wii cooking title.UPDATE: Bad new, folks. Nintendo has finally clarified this whole rigmarole, and the Wii will indeed be region-locked for both first and third party titles and online content.[Thanks, Timerider]Read - IGN: Wii Titles Region-EncodedRead - IGN: Wii Region-Free Says Nintendo VPRead - GamesIndustry.biz: Wii is region-lockedRead - Joystiq: Wii is region-free / Wii is region-locked
Making some Westfall Stew in real-life
Earlier this evening I was checking out what the WoW Ladies over on livejournal had to say, and a few of them were chatting about how to make real-life Westfall Stew-- you know, the lowbie collecting quest in Westfall that gives you a cooking recipe and some food with a nice bonus.When I checked, they hadn't found the link yet, but now they have, and here it is: Real-Life Westfall Stew (Dave also dropped us a note on this one-- thanks, Dave!). They actually cheat a little bit-- they use chicken for vulture meat, and tomatoes for Murloc eyes. I don't know if you've ever had Murloc eyes in Westfall stew but let me tell you, if you substitute tomatoes, you're probably not going to get that tangy flavor that comes with the real thing! Or the pleasure of taking the eyes from the Murlocs in the first place. But I'm sure this faked stuff is pretty good, too.How soon until we see other great WoW dishes in real life? Who wouldn't want to try some Dusty "Crab" Cakes (who knows where Chef Grual gets those tasty crab legs from), some Cactus Apple Surprise, or some Dragonbreath Chili? And you can wash it all down with some tasty Thistle Tea (it'll get you all the energy you need) or, my favorite (even though you have to be 21 for this stuff), Noggenfogger Elixir. For dessert, a Savory Deviate Delight, of course. With all these great foods to choose from, a World of Warcraft Restaurant is only one Blizzard employee's crazy idea away..
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!
Learn how to do everything using Videojug
We're always on the lookout for new video content to play on our PSPs. If Google Video and video podcasting just isn't enough for you, you might want to try out Videojug. According to the website:VideoJug is every aspect of life explained and illustrated through an ever-growing number of common sense, informative, helpful and entertaining videos. It's like having an army of top-class experts at your fingertips 24/7 to "show you how" and to help you out.So, if you've ever wanted to know how to make gnocchi, how to reset a circuit fuse... whatever comes to your mind, you can check out the site. Conveniently, all videos are provided in iPod and PSP format, so you can learn on the go. If you were intrigued by DS's Down Home Cooking, this might be a nice, free alternative for you.[Via Download Squad]
Down Home Cooking: It works, it really works
When we reported on Down Home Cooking for the DS, we were intrigued at the possibilities such a title could offer. Well, a forum poster by the name of Jonnyram got ahold of it and put it to the test, creating a Sweet and Sour Pork plate through entire instruction from the title. He says it turned out good, and by the looks of it, we'd agree that it is in fact edible food and not some weird concoction of various poisons.Check out the thread, Jonnyram also goes on to answer some questions about the game.
Cooking an egg on a MacBook
Alright, so maybe you didn't want such a warm welcome when using your MacBook, but the list of unadvertised capabilities of these heat-emitting notebooks is growing. Most recently a pioneering fellow decided he liked his eggs over hard -- hard drive, that is. While his MacBook was operating within the manufacturer's specifications (read: likely folding for Engadget or some other such process-intensive task), the underbelly of this beast got toasty enough to literally fry an egg. While probably not the most efficient way to fix breakfast, it's definitely among the most entertaining we've seen, and certainly helps substantiate the, ahem, smoking reviews this machine got.
Brain Age paves way for Culinary Age?
Being dubbed Down Home Cooking, this "game" looks to show the Japanese how to prepare meals. What's even cooler is that the "game" has voice recognition, so that if you're stirring something in a bowl or whatever else you do whilst preparing a meal, you can progress in the recipe. It's all Greek to me, but it looks like you can also save recipes. Whether they're user-created or favorites included in the software is as of yet unknown. [Thanks Ben!]
Online bakery sim heading to PC
Anyone interested in the success of online titles may do well to watch Cake Mania, a downloadable puzzle game set in a bakery. Developer eGames, Inc has partnered with Sandlot Games to bring this online game to retail outlets.Apparently spurred on by its online popularity, the boxed version will feature new levels. Lars Batista of eGames claims that Cake Mania "strikes the perfect balance" between "fun and educational" -- however, we doubt running a bakery is much like the clean-cut cartoony world of this game.
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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.
Can't cook? Employ the Intelligent Spoon
No amount of hours spent in front of Iron Chef and Good Eats will a good chef make, friends, but perhaps one might consider the employment of one MIT Media Lab experiment by Connie Cheng and Leonardo Bonanni: the Intelligent Spoon. This, um, intelligent spoon has zinc, gold, zener diode, and aluminum sensors to detect the temperature, acidity, salinity, and viscosity levels of the human-feed it's currently stirring, which it then sends back to a host computer for processing and direction. We're not sure this would help us to add a certain subtlety or trans-cultural flavor adaptation to the sweetbreads we were planning on whipping up tonight, but it might just do the trick in keeping you from over-salting that pancake mix on a Saturday morning.[Via The Raw Feed]
New DS Training games: Write a recipe on a postcard
Gamebrink brings word that Famitsu has updated their website with some information on three new Training games slated for the Japanese DS. In a continual effort to enhance the human race, Nintendo is now aiming their hugely popular and diverse educational series at the realms of writing, cooking and traveling.The first title allows you to improve your skills at writing Japanese characters which, if our Google translation is to be believed, leads to "elegant prose". We're particularly interested in this one because, quite frankly, our Japanese writing skills are anemic at best. Following that, there's an exciting cooking program that teaches you how to construct gourmet dishes via an entire virtual cookbook. With its inclusion of voice recognition, you can even have it turn the page when your hands are too busy strangling an uncooperative piece of dough. All our past efforts in the kitchen have ended in disaster, so we'll definitely be importing this one as well.Finally, we have an interactive travel guide of sorts that should give you a helping hand when you're trying to find the nearest tourist attraction in China, South Korea, Germany, USA, or Thailand. With each one of our overseas excursions resulting in disgraceful international incidents, we'd best buy this one as soon as it releases. Really, we'd be so much better off once Nintendo releases Everything Training. [Thanks mandarin!]
Fishing & Cooking guide
Are you looking to get your cooking and fishing skills up? Gaming Steve sent us a heads up to his latest post tilted "Clapperoth's Guide to Reaching Level 300 Cooking and Fishing in a Single Day"! It is horde based but overall it is a very good guide. The other nice benefit of this guide is that you could use the fish for the war effort. Keep an eye out for the Rainbow Fin, Yellow Spotted tail, and the Salmon (depending on which side you play). I would also highly suggest looking for a mod or two if you are going to pursue this endeavor.
