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TUAW's Daily App: Deadliest Catch
Brand-based games can be hit or miss -- at worst, they're a crass attempt to cash in on a name, and even at best, they often rely far too much on the license, leaving fun and design out of the equation. But the official Deadliest Catch game for the iPhone actually impressed me. As just a game on its own, it lacks -- it's really just a series of minigames designed to simulate crabbing, which itself isn't that fun to begin with. But if you happen to be a fan of the Discovery Channel show (and I am), trying to guide your boat through stormy weather or hook the crab pots safely is actually a good time. The app has a quickplay mode, where you can just jump into the minigames if you want (steering the boat, hooking crab pots, rescuing a man overboard, or sorting crabs on the table), but the real pleasure is the campaign mode, where you can actually build a boat and crew out of the cast of Deadliest Catch, and then make your own way out into the Bering Sea to try and catch Alaskan crab. Mixing up the minigames is a lot of fun -- just like the real sailors, you lay down pots, check them as they come up, and hope that you hit the crab motherload. The app faithfully recreates the show's feel of going out on the deadly ocean and searching the depths for that big pile of crab that means you'll come home with some cash. The only drawback is that at US$3.99, the app is expensive, especially for a licensed title. Not that $4 is expensive for a quality game (if you like the show, it's worth picking up), but for something that could itself serve as an ad for Discovery Channel, that price is a little steep for the potential audience. The good news is that there are no ads in the app itself (except for some links to both Discovery content and developer Hands-On Mobile in the menu), and it runs surprisingly smoothly, even on my old 1G iPhone. If you follow the Cornelia Marie and the Northwestern like I do, grab it right now and go crabbin'! Everybody else can wait for the eventual price drop.
Nintendo's 'And-Kensaku' turns Google searching into a game
Back in October 2008, Nintendo of Japan showed off a ton of Wii games all at once. They're still not all out yet. Some, like Cosmic Walker, remain largely mysterious, while we're only recently hearing renewed discussion about games like Span Smasher (now called FlingSmash). One of the weirdest games from that already-weird lineup was Kensax, a minigame collection in which competition was based on achieving search engine queries with greater results than your opponents. Nintendo has since renamed the game to And-Kensaku, opened a website (earworm warning!) and announced a new partner for the search engine: none other than Google. Using a set of 10,000 words provided by Google on the disc (with more available by going online with the game), players will compete in activities like guessing which words are more popular, doing "and" searches with given words and your own words and using the number of results to add stairs to a staircase as you climb it, and passing a bomb around that explodes in the hands of the player with the fewest search terms. Yes, it's really, really strange. And-Kensaku will be released in Japan on April 29. There's no word on an international release, though it's entirely possible that Nintendo of America will bring it to E3 and then never mention it again, like Line Attack Heroes. [Via Andriasang]
Chuck E. Cheese's Party Games announced for DS and Wii
You know, some people just don't get it. When you're 36 and you like to hang at the Chuck E. Cheese's, people get the wrong idea. They think because you've got a big, bushy beard, trench coat and some fresh Ray-Bans on, you're hanging around with offensive, illegal activities in mind. Since when is it a crime to love the ball pit? Skee-Ball should be something we all can enjoy at any age, right? Thanks to UFO Interactive, you don't have to worry about dirty looks from parents and possible incarceration any longer, as the publisher is lining up a pair of titles for the DS and Wii. Chuck E. Cheese's Party Games will feature 18 different mini-games -- starring Chuck and his friends, natch -- and various unlockable videos and prizes. Sadly, UFO Interactive doesn't have any media on either game at this time, but in the meanwhile why not just sit back, close your eyes and imagine playing in a ball pit that isn't a cesspool of germ-carrying kids wrist-deep in their nostrils? Ahh, that's the good stuff!
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.
See more Move in Sports Champions dev diary
PlayStation Blog posted a developer diary featuring Zindagi Games, developer of the PlayStation Move minigame showcase Sports Champions. The devs demonstrate the abilities of the Move controller, showing lots of game footage and demonstrations of controller motions. They also describe their excitement about Move and its new opportunities for control -- going so far as to compare it to the feeling of playing a 3D game for the first time. If you were developing one of the flagship games for the thing, you'd be excited too!
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.
Beat City screens are nice and confusing
We suggested our enthusiasm for THQ's Beat City may be reduced upon seeing actual screenshots of the rhythm-based minigame collection. We're delighted to report that in addition to sounding like a neat idea, we think it looks pretty interesting as well! It's got an unusual geometric art style. You can inspect the style of Beat City for yourself in our gallery, and even see storyboard-style sequences that are ... intended to explain the gameplay. We see an assembly line of crows being turned into parrots. We see a loving couple wearing outfits that grow spontaneously more ren-faire. We don't feel illuminated. %Gallery-86760%
Massively's tour of Mini Fighter
In my heart, I really want to like fighting games. And I do, at that, but just like we have to accept at some point that we're never going to become a rock god outside of our living room, I have to accept that I'm just not good at them. At some point my responses to what's happening on the screen fall into hopeless flailing, and I'm left watching my opponent's combo number going into scientific notation. So while on a recent developer tour of Mini Fighter, I got to see a lot of my character winding up and performing some bone-shattering attacks on a target that would have been obliterated, had they not moved approximately ten minutes ago. But it was hard to get upset by that, because the game was pretty unambiguously fun despite my inherent lack of skill. The game is currently in Open Beta, but it already has a lot of polish and a lot of neat features to make it well worth playing. Skip past the cut for the details on the game and our time with it.
'All-Star Karate' for Wii will teach you how to hit stuff
No, you won't learn who the stars of karate are by playing THQ's All-Star Karate. Rather than a licensed game featuring the biggest names in martial arts, All-Star Karate is a fighting game in the same casual Wii series as All-Star Cheer Squad. And though the final product may not turn out to be to everyone's tastes, there's something about a casual-oriented fighting game that sounds fascinating. Or, it would sound fascinating if not for all the minigames. All-Star Karate uses the Wiimote and optional MotionPlus for motion-based karate moves in training. That training can then be put to the test in the Challenge Mode. Also neat (and likely to be overshadowed by the minigame-ness of the whole thing): a kata editor that lets you put together your own choreographed demonstration. All-Star Karate will be available this spring. Beware of the stinky socks!
Kung Fu Funk headed to WiiWare with expert timing
Stickmen Studios, creator of WiiWare's Dragon Master Spell Caster, announced its next game today. Kung Fu Funk is a multiplayer party game, also for WiiWare, with a martial arts theme. In a series of "1970's styled funky Kung Fu mini-games" (like catching flies with chopsticks, most closely associated with 1984's The Karate Kid), players will use the Wiimote to train themselves in "ancient 70's moves" before testing their comedy kung fu abilities in a "disco dojo showdown." It's all your favorite kung fu movie stereotypes translated into Wii minigames -- and set to Carl Douglas's 1974 hit "Kung Fu Fighting." Also, according to the press release, singing yaks figure into the game somehow! Here's where it gets interesting: Kung Fu Funk somehow integrates research from Industrial Research Limited on upper body mobility, seemingly with the goal of teaching you some kind of actual motions. Or something!
WarioWare DIY screens show how it's done
WarioWare DIY's simplified game design interface, used to create five-second microgames in the style of previous WarioWares, seems a lot simpler in these screenshots, mostly because it's now in English and we can read it. Quite helpful, that. And now that we can see it, it looks like an extremely user-friendly, but still complicated, programming language presented as if it's plain English. The game guides you through the creation of animation and sound, and then the development of the in-game actions and conditions. And with those tools, you can create the five-second DS microgame of your dreams! %Gallery-83841%
'Let's Draw,' says Majesco to Nintendo DS owners
Majesco's Let's Draw is ridiculously cute. Chances are it won't be as cute in untrained hands, but that's no reason not to try! Let's Draw combines minigames with Drawn to Life–style customization -- it's part drawing book, part game -- and adorability varies (based on the player's skill). Kids (and yes, this is for kids) draw and color images as prompted by the game, which are then animated in minigames like Whack-a-Mole and Air Hockey. Let's Draw also includes simple drawing lessons, based on a Japanese drawing book series. Drawn to Life was a big success for THQ -- we'll see how this younger take on the idea works out for a somewhat bruised and beaten Majesco when the game releases this March for $19.99. %Gallery-83630%
Cooking Mama taking on two more side jobs this year
In its latest financial results release, Majesco reported satisfying sales for its Cooking Mama franchise. It didn't provide specifics, but CEO Jesse Sutton said that Cooking Mama 3 "performed well," Gardening Mama was "very successful" and Cooking Mama in general was "the most successful third party franchise on the DS" and "an evergreen brand." So, naturally, Majesco is going to retire the series on a high note. Oh, did we say "retire the series on a high note?" We meant "release two more games this year." Sutton said that following the success of the gardening-based spinoff, Majesco is working on two "additional extensions for 2010," as well as looking to "new media channels" for further extensions of the brand.
Tatsunoko vs. Capcom adds 'Ultimate All-Shooters' minigame
Though they've seldom been mentioned since the fighter was announced for a North American release, Tatsunoko vs. Capcom contains a wide selection of minigames -- one for each character in the original Japanese release. While it's currently undetermined whether all the new characters added for Ultimate All-Stars will have unique extra games, Capcom has revealed at least one new one: "Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Shooters," a vertically-scrolling, Commando-esque shooter starring the characters from the fighting game. The up-to-four-player minigame apparently features not only multiple stages, but branching paths, as well as special moves. It appears to be based on the Lost Planet-themed PTX-40A "AK Extermination Mission" minigame, but expanded. See a clip of Ultimate All-Shooters -- which appears to have been captured from VHS -- after the break.
THQ taking DS to Beat City
Ever wonder what a city built on rock and roll would actually look like? Find out this spring when THQ releases Beat City for the DS. Beat City, developed by THQ Wireless developer Universomo, is a series of 20 rhythm-based minigames in which players "tap, swipe, or hold" to the beat, while the city transforms. Success in minigames will help drive Dame Isolde Minor and her Cacophony Corporation, who presumably dislike music, out of the city. While Universomo isn't quite as glamorous a developer as the Nintendo R&D1 team that created Rhythm Heaven, we're delighted to see someone else taking on the idea of rhythm-based minigames. That enthusiasm may diminish when we see actual screens or footage, but why not enjoy the moment? Update: Three screens of some "funky mannequins" are now in our gallery. %Gallery-82928%
FYI: WarioWare DIY does it on DS in March
One of Nintendo's most exciting announcements from E3 was the localization of WarioWare DIY, a DS app that lets players create their own WarioWare games, with custom graphics, sound, and gameplay. Nintendo didn't happen to offer a date during the thrilling E3 presentation, and it's said nothing at all about what should be a major part of the publisher's DS lineup -- until today. In its Q1 schedule, Nintendo provided a date of March 28. You're not buying anything in March, right? The company also offered a Q1 date for WarioWare DIY Showcase, the WiiWare game through which WarioWare DIY games can be uploaded and played on a big screen.
Joyswag: Cooking Mama 3 and Cake Mania 3 (DS) [update]
Update: That's it, folks -- the contest has come to a close! Keep an eye on your email's inbox to see if you won! In our latest Joyswag, we're hooking one lucky reader up with a pair of new Majesco DS titles: Cooking Mama 3 and Cake Mania 3. Keep 'em to yourself or pass 'em along as a gift this holiday season. See how you can enter to win below: Leave a comment telling us whether you prefer to bake or cook You must be 18 years or older and a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec) Limit 1 entry per person per day This entry period ends at 2:59PM ET on Tuesday, November 10 At that time, we'll randomly select one winner to receive Cooking Mama 3 for the Nintendo DS ($30 ARV) and Cake Mania 3 for the Nintendo DS ($20 ARV) For a list of complete rules, click here
Crystal Bearers also has a ballroom dancing minigame
Famitsu revealed two "event" minigames in Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers. We knew about the vaguely embarrassing pool float minigame, and we've actually seen hints of the other minigame in the trailer: ballroom dancing. This seems to take place in the scene in which Layle steals some guy's tuxedo to sneak into an event, and involves rotating the Wiimote and Nunchuk to simulate dancing movements.In the E3 demo, the game was full of diverting events like this. A rail shooter segment opened the game, followed by an airship piloting segment. The main enemy-tossing game will be broken up by events like this one, which finally fulfills the promise of Final Fantasy VIII's most famous scene.
TGS 2009: Hands-on: Minna no Sukkiri
The latest Hot Shots title from Clap Hanz isn't about golf or tennis. Minna no Sukkiri is more Hot Shots ... baseball! And karate! And ... vegetable fighting! And book sorting! And other things that I didn't get to play in my short demo session! Sukkiri (something like Hot Shots: Refresh) is a minigame collection featuring twelve wildly different games. If the four I played are any indication, the descriptions for all of them would include the phrase "and that's it."
Let's tap on our iPhones to play Let's Tap on our iPhones
If you've got an iPhone -- and a really secure case to protect it -- you'll be able to play Prope's quirky Wii debut Let's Tap soon. Prope has started releasing individual games from the Wii collection, with the first, Let's Tap: Tap Runner, available on the App Store today for $4. Gem Game will follow on September 25 for .99, with Silent Blocks, Bubble Voyager, and Rhythm Tap coming after that.In case you don't want to risk tapping your phone right off the table, the games offer a "touch" mode in which you can control them by tapping on the screen, or a "free" mode in which you can tap any part of the phone. Let's watch a trailer after the post break![Via GameSetWatch]
