Every Tuesday, Mike Sylvester brings you REVOLUTIONARY, a look at the wide world of Wii possibilities.
Thought of by many as the "Disney of video gaming," Nintendo has crafted themselves an image of family-friendly entertainment. But to certain generations and classes of gamers, the term "family-friendly" is synonymous with "kiddy," and immediately sparks disinterest. But ever since publishing Rare's Killer Instinct, they've been working on broadening the public's perspective. Trying to appeal to the bloodlust of the Mortal Kombat crowd didn't give them any headway, and as generations progressed and they've garnered more "mature-themed" titles, they still haven't been able to shake the "kiddy console" stigma.
Even after snagging the exclusivity to the Resident Evil series for a generation, Nintendo was largely overlooked by the Playstation-bred gamers that were brought up on the series. How much more will it take for Wii to be regarded as a platform that can satisfy the tastes of mature gamers?
If you're one who wants to know how to prepare food, but has no desire to take any sustenance from the real thing after learning how to prepare it, then rejoice as a sequel to Cooking Mama has been announced for the DS and Wii. With lots more recipes, a new multiplayer mode and new minigames, the title looks to provide more of the same. Whether that's a good or bad thing, is up to you.
As of right now, the sequel has only been announced for Japan, but we're pretty sure she'll be making the rounds to other regions.
Kids these days have it so much better. Not only did we have to walk uphill in the snow to school (both ways!), but we also never had shoes. We were forced to eat potatoes, cold, straight from the ground. We were never able to take part in fun summertime camps where we were shown how to create nutritious, fun meals.
And, sure enough, one camp in central Pennsylvania is set to do that with the Wii and Cooking Mama. In allowing the children to play the game on the Wii, the camp hopes they will be able to translate in-game information into real-world application, showing the kids how to bring the digital recipes in the game to life as they prepare the dishes with real ingredients.
We've seen a few DS franchises expand to the Wii or, in the case of Trauma Center,jump ship entirely. We don't really have a problem with this, and, in fact, it can convert a single-player hit like Big Brain Academy into a party game with no real compromises to the original formula.
We personally have a massive crush on the Ouendan/Elite Beat Agents games, and want to see them on any and every console. We have a suspicion that iNiS could come up with a unique and clever interface for a Wii music game. What DS games would you like to see take the trip into waggle country?
For such a popular console that tries to offer something for everyone, the Wii also manages to be somewhat controversial -- and we're not just talking about Manhunt 2 here. The motion-sensing controls have been a bone of contention when it comes to nearly every game, even those people seem to enjoy. Some gamers find them awesome, and others ... not so much. We've selected six games which cover a range of game types (and aren't all first-party, either) as a measuring stick of what you think is best when it comes to Wii controls. We encourage you to vote early (and often!), but feel free to talk about other choices in the comments, as well as the reasons behind your picks.
You might have noticed that Wii Sports isn't on this list (and neither are several other well-received games!). We considered including it, because not everyone agrees that it works quite well as a showcase of the Wii control capabilities, but decided at the last minutes to include only non-bundled games. Feel free to voice your support for Wii Sports in the comments, however!
We can only guess that these people think that you are playing Cooking Mama every day, or that there will be many, many sequels -- otherwise, we'd have to call them a little late to the party. And really, were they even invited?
We can understand swords and shields. We can even get behind rackets and bats, though they're a little silly. But ... a frying pan? Spatula? Did someone kill off imagination without sending us a memo?
We spent some time playing Cooking Mama: Cook Off this weekend, and generally had fun. We enjoy the varied and novel waggle found throughout the game, and for the most part we find Mama's Engrish endearing and cute.
But we can't figure out what she says when we screw up. We don't even want to color your impressions by guessing. What is she saying? It haunts us like a word-ghost. Please, help us exorcise our haunty word-ghost!
Reader Alex answered our call for photos from Saturday's Cooking Mamakickoff event held at the Nintendo World Store, and he wasn't messing around -- his Flickr set contains nearly 100 pictures! It's just like we were there ourselves, and thanks to his efforts and our caption skills, you can experience it as well. Hit the jump for a selection of photos, and then go wallow in the entire set. It's enough to make our tummies rumble.
Well, obviously Majesco wants everyone to get on the Cooking Mama train (we hear that's how they make that money), but this weekend, as you'll recall, they're offering New Yorkers a chance to get in the game in style. To promote the release of Cooking Mama: Cook Off, Majesco is calling all Iron Chef-wannabes out to show their stuff -- and win free swag. If you're going to be anywhere near the Nintendo World Store this Saturday between 11 and 4, drop by, if only to sample the goodies the on-site chef will be preparing. Now that's incentive.
To our readers in the area: we'd love to see your pictures if you attend. We may even post them and make you an interweb celebrity for a whole five minutes.
We tried everything to convince our parents into driving us to the Cooking Mama: Cook Off launch event at New York City next Saturday -- temper tantrums and crocodile tears -- none of those would move their cruel hearts. We desperately want one of the limited edition aprons that the Nintendo World Store will be giving away as door prizes, and if we have to spend a week pouting with crossed arms at the dinner table to get one, well then that's just what we're going to do.
You might not have to go through the same childish lengths to score some custom kitchen-wear. Video game chef Becky Mueller is hosting a Nintendo-themed cooking contest at N+, offering up her own hand-crafted Cooking Mama apron to the grand prize winner. She spent over 20 hours sewing the fabric together and embroidering the logo until it looked just right. We really have to admire Becky's generosity, donating this labor of love to N+'s readers. It's a lot more than our soulless parents ever did for us...
Head past the post break for a bigger photo of the charming apron and its Cooking Mama logo.
Posted Mar 23rd 2007 1:00PM by Eric Caoili Filed under: News
We've been waiting for the Iron Chef license to appear on the Nintendo Wii ever since the cooking-friendly controller was revealed, but the culinary game show is still woefully absent from the system's lineup of upcoming titles. Anxious gamers have had to settle for the next best thing -- Cooking Mama: Cook Off.
Playing off the battle system in Cooking Mama where you can compete with rival chefs, 1UP has a creative piece comparing the Wii and DS versions of the game in a Kitchen Stadium contest. Fans of Iron Chef will be happy to see that the dramatization follows the Japanese show's format closely with an introduction by the Chairman and constant chatter from the commentators. Cook Off'smultiplayer mode and international menu are emphasized during this console-vs-handheld match-up to see which Mama knows best.
Though Cooking Mama: Cook Off's reviews have been middling at best, seeing the Wii game's strengths laid out like this has definitely renewed our interest. How else are we supposed to act out our epic Ronkonkai Chicken battle against Iron Chef Sakai that we've always envisioned in our minds?
Cooking Mama: Cook Off is already out in shops starting this week, but Majesco's official launch event for the Wii game takes place at NYC's Nintendo World Store on March 31st, the Saturday after next. There will be a variety of competitions for gamers to take part in at the store's interactive stations. We hope that doesn't mean they'll actually be cooking anything themselves, as some 13-year-old kid is bound to burn the Pokémon Center down while trying to flambé.
The Nintendo World Store will have limited edition aprons for attendees and copies of the game for contest winners. If that isn't enough to bring you in, there will also be free food! Keeping with Cooking Mama's theme, an on-site chef will be fixing snacks for the party. If you're in the area, this is definitely worth checking out!
IGN got ahold of some freshly-baked screens for Cooking Mama: Cook Off. The screens depict the various different steps one must perform before making a meal (such meals as Paella). So we get to see some raw meat being sliced, eggs improperly cracked against a bowl and how to properly top off a meal with some cream puffs. So, if you're looking for one tasty time in video game form, look no further.
Bad news for European gamers: Cooking Mama: Cook Off was originally scheduled for late March, but rumor has it that the game has been pushed back over a month to May 10th. Tragic! For now, you'll have to console yourselves with a mouth-watering video (and maybe the DS version).
We've been keepingoureyeonCooking Mama: Cook Off for quite some time now. The game looks fun (and we're mostly hungry all the time), so Siliconera's 7 minute long video demonstrating hamburger construction got us especially excited (and our mouth watering). Everything is covered, from prepping the ingredients, right down to frying the meat.
As always, the video is embedded past the post break.
We've seen a 
Cooking Mama: Cook Off
