minigames
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Mario is having a party, and you're all invited (to a website)
The Japanese Mario Party DS site is open, and full of screens, videos and general festiveness. There's some information about the different multiplayer modes of the game, which include Party Modes such as 4-player Battle Royal, 2-on-2 Tag Matches, and duels. All of them are just playing minigames against other people, but it's nice to mix it up however possible.There are also Minigame Modes, which are different from the Party Modes in some way, and include Free Play, Battle Mode, Score Attack, and more. Extra Modes include Color Territory and Draw and Catch, both of which seem to involve capturing squares on a big board via winning minigames. One thing this website makes clear is that there are a lot of modes. We're happy to see Hudson putting so much effort into keeping this Party fresh.
DS Fanboy Review: Looney Tunes: Duck Amuck
Looney Tunes: Duck Amuck is a very rare game: it has mostly mediocre minigames, and yet is one of the most compelling games released this year. It absolutely triumphs in most aspects not related to gameplay and a few that are; most notably-- and this isn't the boldest thing I'll say in this review-- it is the best Looney Tunes material created in any of our lifetimes. It completely redeems a license and character that have fallen into obsolescence. Forget that Back in Action ever happened. (Sorry if I reminded you that Back in Action happened.) This is a Daffy who can genuinely get away with a Captain Picard reference.
The Frogman Show homepage is awesomely senseless
We could look at screens of Compile Heart's bizarre The Frogman Show all day. We don't know what we're looking at, but we enjoy looking at it. The new website doesn't help at all! With limited Japanese reading skill and no viewings of the television show to provide context, we can look at the randomness and just let our minds go in a Zen-like fashion.We get the feeling we'd have marginally more of an idea if our Japanese were better, but there's just no making sense of some of this stuff. For instance, what is that thing? A DS creature of some kind? The website features lots of screens and even three incomprehensible movies for you to stare at.[Via Dengeki]
The Duck Amuck/Esurance/Leapster connection
Can we admit to something? It's not that bad, but ... we kind of like the animated Esurance commercials. They're shrill, and senseless-- why is she stopping to get car insurance while being chased? And why is she being chased? And why is she always meeting that one David Seville-looking guy for the first time? But we overlook all of that stuff, because the geometric art style is brilliant, and the commercials are gorgeously animated. Whenever we watch one of those commercials, we hope that they are leading the animators into fantastic new opportunities.We were then pleased to learn that the Flash animation for Looney Tunes: Duck Amuck was being done by Ghostbot, the company responsible for the Esurance ads. We don't know if a DS game is really a step up in prestige from a national advertising campaign, but at least the subject matter isn't horribly banal. Besides, doing official Daffy Duck animation for Warner Bros. seems like Real Prestige as far as the animation world goes. So, good for them! They're using the original 1953 "Duck Amuck" model sheets, too, which shows some wonderful attention to detail. This information comes out of an interview between Newsweek's N'Gai Croal and WayForward designers Rob Buchanan and Jeff Pomegranate. Apparently WayForward and Ghostbot already had a connection, after Pomegranate worked on a Batman game with them for the Leapster. Which means that something good came of the Leapster after all.
Furu Furu Park's Love Challenge
We haven't heard anything from Majesco's Furu Furu Park in a while, leading us to wonder if it had been cancelled. Apparently it continues to live, since Games Radar has posted a quick preview of the game. The gist is that even if you think minigames are passé, you may find something to love in the pure weirdness of the game.One of the weirdest parts of the game is the "Love Challenge" mode. We have been curious about this since we saw it in Japanese screenshots (as pictured above), and Games Radar was kind enough to detail it in their preview. Basically, it's a two-player mode in which the goal is to perform at a similar level. Your similarity-- and thus, your compatibility, is then judged by the game's love expert, Afro Love. We look forward to the stories of true love being discovered after short Arkanoid games. If Afro Love tells you it's for real after Arkanoid, you know it's for real.
Cooking Mama 2 hits the table in November
Siliconera reports that everyone's favorite cooking/minigame/paper-doll game, Cooking Mama 2, will be released in the U.S. on November 13-- two days before the Japanese release. Of course that puts it directly in the middle of a frantic holiday game release season, but it also puts it in another special season, one for which we believe it is uniquely suited. We think that Cooking Mama 2 is pretty much the only game that can benefit from a release near Thanksgiving. It's the perfect Thanksgiving-themed game, because it's about food, and eating food is what happens on Thanksgiving. As if that weren't enough, Cooking Mama 2 is all about "Dinner With Friends." Before its release, Majesco will make a deliciously bite-sized Cooking Mama 2 demo available on DS demo kiosks. Feel free to sample it!
Napoleon Dynamite screens are (insert catchphrase here)
When we received a press release containing Napoleon Dynamite screenshots, we immediately loaded up our Snark Guns with fresh supplies of venom and bile, ready to fire a wide spread of lulz out into the Internet. It's a licensed minigame collection! Based on a movie that came out in 2004! That should never have been made into a video game! It was going to be a rare opportunity to hate like we've never hated before. MORE LIKE NAPOLEON DUD AMIRITE, we were going to say.But our Snark Festa ended a little too soon when we saw the screenshots and realized that we sort of respected what Crave was doing with the game. Some of the minigames look a little iffy (like what appears to be dodge ball controlled entirely with the touch screen), and the whole thing seems to be too dancing-based, but damned if they didn't use an intriguing art style.The results aren't always the prettiest, but any game that uses a mixture of pencil-on-paper and photo collage is at least a little bit cool. Man, we wanted to be too cool for this game, but we just couldn't help it. And, uh, we kind of want to play a minigame about throwing food into a llama's mouth.%Gallery-8037%[Via press release]
OMG! 26 scary minigames!
Well, the extremely plausible rumor turned out to be true after all. UFO Interactive is releasing a minigame collection called O.M.G. 26 - Our Mini Games. They've got the web page, boxarts and screens to prove it.Bizarrely, it's a somewhat horror-themed minigame collection, which doesn't strictly follow from the title. It takes place in a haunted mansion, and features "over 25 mini-games that will have you fend off flying dishes, search for keys, escape from ginormous boulders and more." And, apparently, piles of hamburgers.If we had to guess, we would say that this is a localized version of some Japanese minigame collection that we have been unable to identify. Anyone have an idea?
Dressing Mama
What's more appropriate for the kitchen than a cheerleader's outfit? Oh, right, anything else. We're not saying that women can't leave the kitchen, by any stretch of the imagination. You can go ahead and delete that half-written comment right now. Put away your Jump to Conclusions Mat. We're of the opinion, however, that a fictional character called "Cooking Mama" whose sole purpose is to scold you when you screw up a recipe probably doesn't have any business holding pompons. We're pretty sure that's a reasonable observation. She's not a real person at all. Rather than being put off by the weirdness of the dress-up capability, we look forward to juxtaposing out-of-place fashion into our cooking minigames. How ridiculous will we be able to make Mama look? Can we put her in a space suit? Other than the random non-cooking activity, Cooking Mama 2 appears to be shaping up quite nicely into another kitchen-based minigame festival. It's one of the winners of the genre, in our opinion, and it's got ice cream this time! Who doesn't like ice cream?
TGS07: Checking out Cooking Mama 2
Over at the TGS booth for Cooking Mama 2, GameSpot got a sneak peek at the cook-em-up title. While engaged in the virtual kitchen, cooking up some dishes with the mama, they prepared a couple of select dishes, including ice cream and pizza. From their impressions, we gather that fans of the first title should be pleased at where the direction of the new game is headed. Also, with the addition of some new recipes, the title should be fresh and inviting to new chefs aspiring to make a name for themselves in the virtual kitchen. Just don't cross mama. She's liable to grab a knife and cut you.
Play Arkanoid DS right now
The websites for Taito's largely retro-tastic DS lineup have all appeared, just in time for TGS. Unfortunately, the text is not going to be of much use to anyone who can't read Japanese (or, as personal experience can attest to, anyone who can only kind of read Japanese). And even if it were, most of the links in the sites are still greyed out, awaiting updates. However, the site for Arkanoid DS contains treasure in the form of a generous five-round Flash demo. We are impressed, both with Taito's largesse and with the actual game. New additions to Arkanoid include a robotic voice that announces the name of every powerup you pick up, and thumping, hypnotic techno music courtesy of Zuntata. We didn't even know Arkanoid needed techno music, but it turns out it totally does. Speaking of thumping techno music, the Space Invaders Extreme site is basically a browser rave-- which works, for us. Here are all the new Taito DS game sites: Arkanoid DS Cooking Mama 2 Exit DS The Legend of Kage 2 Pet Shop Story DS Space Invaders Extreme A demo for Exit DS will be on the game's site soon, but the link is inactive at the moment. May we suggest playing the Arkanoid demo as a way to pass the time? [Via GoNintendo]
EA asks if you think you're a Smarty Pants
The Wii is the perfect party system, allowing a room full of boring, uninteresting people to have the time of their life. And, that's where EA comes in. Their latest title, Smarty Pants, is very reminiscent of other party games like Scene It!, asking trivia questions and all. But, there are other activities such as dancing to enjoy, should the trivia not be your thing. Anyone thinking this can topple Wii Sports as the go-to party title?
Cooking Mama wasn't enough as Majesco profits show loss
Majesco may be bringing forth a sequel to their smash hit Cooking Mama, but apparently it wasn't enough to bring them into the black. Hopefully, that'll change with the upcoming release of Cooking Mama 2, but the Q3 financial results show the company's profits are down to $10 million from $12.4 million last year. The DS is an important platform for the company, as 66% of their total sales come from games on the handheld. And with the first Cooking Mama game selling over 500,000 units, the company has high hopes for its sequel, as well.
EA Playground, home of spitballs and skateboards
We haven't seen too much of the DS version of next month's EA Playground until now, and we think we know why. While the game certainly doesn't look bad, we're seeing some repetitive aspects in the minigames that seem less than appealing. Can't we shoot spitballs from another location or something? Only time -- and the final game -- will tell. One thing's for certain, though: the skateboarding looks like it could be fun. We may prefer getting our dodge ball fix elsewhere, however ....%Gallery-7376%
Taito goes DS-only at TGS
Taito knows where the money is in the Japanese video game market: the DS. Thus it seems that they've decided to concentrate their development efforts on games for the money-printing handheld. The company released the list of games they'll be displaying at this year's Tokyo Game Show, and every single one is a DS title. Most of the games are things that we already know (and have said "yay") about, but two games are new: the first is Space Invaders Extreme, which, we hope, is either more of an update than Space Invaders Revolution or includes Akkanvader. We also hope it works with the Arkanoid paddle controller. The other is Pet Shop Monogatari DS, which is an RPG about a pet shop. The lineup includes: Cooking Mama 2, Exit DS, Arkanoid DS (and its controller), The Legend of Kage 2, Pet Shop Monogatari DS, and Space Invaders Extreme. All games that we would totally play at TGS ... if we were going. Which we aren't.
Preorder offerings in Korea
Why can't publishers be more charitable with preorder gifts in the states? We're doing them a favor whenever we put down an advance for one of their games, giving retailers an idea of how many they should order to stock their shelves. Japan and Korea seem to get reservation rewards for almost every release! The latest preorder prizes, a branded system pouch and a stylus set, come with EA's SimCity DS and MySims, both due later this month for Korea. Publisher Fujitsu was more creative with its Cooking Mama gift, offering a limited edition pair of cooking mitts to any gamer who reserves the kitchen-themed minigame collection. Hand over five bucks and head past the post break for more photos of the bonus items.
Cooking Mama sequel could bring Majesco back from the brink
Known gaming analyst for Wedbush Morgan Securities, Michael Pachter, recently made comments that the sequel to Cooking Mama could actually help Majesco get out from the red and into the black. Pachter states "Majesco may continue to struggle with its low cash levels, we believe that the company is close to returning to profitability, due to improvements in its sales and cost management." Pachter says that the success of the sequel title will help stabilize Majesco's revenues."We are increasingly positive on the story now that the company has been able to stabilize revenues in the $12 – 13 million quarterly range, and believe that Majesco can be slightly profitable at $65 million in annual revenues." Majesco is due to report its third fiscal quarter earnings later on this month on September 11th.
Sports to the power of ten
We're not sure about the idea that everything in Deca Sporta is controlled through simply shaking the remote -- maybe that's a shaky translation? -- but we do know that the screens from the title are looking pretty spiffy. It's all about the details here: the depressions in the sand, the clarity of the audience members in the closer basketball shots, and the rippling ad-banners. For such a simple style, things are shaping up quite nicely. You'll have to head over to Nintendic to check out the shots for yourself (and mind those enormous watermarks clogging up the works), but we think it might be worth the trip. [Via NeoGAF]
OMG: could this rumor be true?
The answer is yes. We have no reason to doubt the prescient Gamefly, and we have absolutely no reason to doubt the existence of more minigame collections. According to the rental service, a new game called O.M.G. -- Our Mini Games 26 is being published by UFO Interactive, for an October 25 release. No idea what any of the games will be like, but if they're as cute as the title, we might be on board. Finally, the DS has its answer to WTF on the PSP, LOL on the Dreamcast, and AFKBRB... oh, that last one wasn't a game title. We were making a sandwich-- sorry about that.[Via Siliconera]
The evolution of 'Cooking Papa'
When we started working on a post about some new characters in Cooking Mama 2, we saved the image seen to the right of a salaryman called, of course, Papa. When we reloaded the Dengeki page, Papa was no longer pictured in a suit, opting instead for a more casual outfit with khakis. Did we just see game design in action? That's so cool! We aren't sure if Papa will appear as a player guide like Mama does, or if he'll be around at the end of meals for the new judging system, in which people sit down and eat the meals you prepare via minigames. In any case, we can only hope that he cooks as well as Beard Papa.
