Nintendo Wii Fanboy

Majesco had a solid line-up of games at E3. Cooking Mama: World Kitchen looks promising and, until I got my hands on it, Major Minor's Majestic March also looked very good. Suffice it to say I was kind of shocked at just how lackluster Our House is, considering it was next to these games at Majesco's booth.

Our House is going to need a lot of renovations before it's ready for a final inspection.

Ever since it's been rumored, the whole team has been patiently awaiting PaRappa creator Masaya Matsuura's next project. Once it was revealed, I found myself puzzled as to what to expect. Would it be as good as PaRappa? Has Matsuura lost it? Well, that confusion is gone now that I've had time to play the game at E3.

Is it good? Well, read on and find out!

I should preface this by saying I'm not a huge Cooking Mama fan. Sure, she's great and all, but preparing fake food often held a spot in my heart next to making real food. I'm just no good at either activity. But, that isn't to say that Cooking Mama: World Kitchen isn't better by leaps and bounds than its predecessor.

Well, we heard the news not too long ago. Cooking Mama: World Kitchen is getting down to serious business, with updated 3D graphics and sophisticated moton controls. Hooray, huzzah -- too often have we wished the Wiimote to be a spatula for flipping burgers. Why enjoy the sight, smell and taste of cooking real burgers when you can do it without all those sensory annoyances?

Yes, it's always fun to laugh at "life" simulation games (even if this life is a cartoon featuring big-head Mamas and cooking scores). The real truth, though, is that Cooking Mama games are usually pretty fun, and the fresh new gallery shows a pretty decent look at the upcoming Wii installment. Bon appetit!

[Via press release]

We won't even front -- this rhythm game's cartoonish design isn't for everyone, and there are a lot of you who won't appreciate the "Dreamcast-era" graphics, either -- but we still think Major Minor's Majestic March looks like the cat's pajamas. If you need any proof, there are actually saxophone-playing cats in striped sleepwear in the clip above.

We can't tell you how many nights we've spent marching in place to the tune of some distant melody in our living room, waving an imagined, magical baton and granting tubas to dancing pigs. It has been a fantasy we've indulged in for years.

The cat is out of the bag concerning Majesco's line-up for next week's E3. They've got several DS and Wii games that will be available at the show, and you can bet we're going to try and get our grubby little mitts on all of them next week. For the full list, head on past the break.

Gamers anxious for something new to play will only have a pair of titles to choose from, as two new games release for North American Wii consoles this week. The first title is something we haven't really noticed here on the site, but the second game is one we've been talking about for a very long time. Do you plan on picking it up?

• Wonder World Amusement Park
• Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon

According to a press release sent out by Majesco today, Cooking Mama: World Tour is going to represent a significant revamp of (formerly Office Create) Cooking Mama Limited's signature cooking game series. Mysteriously, the press release describes an "upgrade to full 3D graphics." Yes, that means that Mama has gone 3D. It also means that the game's view has flipped: instead of playing in first person, you now look directly at your avatar as he cooks.

For the first time, you'll be able to control Mama herself in spontaneous minigames, as she rushes in to fix your mistakes -- for example, she can catch mis-flipped burgers in her apron. "Additional rhythm and motion" has also been added to the main Wiimote-based gameplay. Whatever that means, at least Cooking Mama Limited is taking steps to avoid stagnation.

[Screens at IGN]

The first actual screens of Major Minor's Majestic March have arrived, and we've been anticipating the first look at the new collaboration between Masaya Matsuura (and his NanaOn-Sha development studio) and Parappa character designer Rodney Alan Greenblat for some time. It's really weird seeing Greenblat characters in full 3D!

The game partitions the screen into two areas: on the top, Major Minor walks through the town, gathering up new musicians. Also, there's some kind of ... gumball machine meter? On the bottom, your current band of animals is presented in side view.

We're hoping that the return of Greenblat will help make Majestic March a work of Parappa-level excellence instead of another Tamagotchi Corner Shop.

Those who love a good, old-fashioned adventure game might be hunting in the museum this holiday season. Majesco is making a Wii budget title based on the PC software Escape the Museum, which released earlier this year. Since we're big adventure fans, a game that utilizes the Wiimote's point-and-click abilities for the low price of $19.99 has found its way onto our radar. At the same time, a quickly-put-together port has the potential to be awful, so let's hope Majesco puts some effort into this one.

The story sounds a little on the "meh" side. An earthquake traps Susan Anderson in a museum, so she needs to find a way out, look for survivors, and rescue priceless artifacts along the way. You could have probably figured most of that out from the game's blunt title, but hey, that's what we're here for.

In 2004, Kenta Cho (under the name ABA Games) released TUMIKI Fighters, one of his many freeware polygonal shooters. Then, last year, Majesco baffled us by announcing plans to adapt it to a retail Wii game. Blast Works: Build, Trade, Destroy is an odd candidate for AAA-ness: it's a game in a dormant, extremely hardcore genre, based on obscure freeware and developed by a company whose previous experience has mostly involved ports and licensed games, without any real input from the original creator. It's also published by a company whose success with Cooking Mama inspired them to go "casual."

These disadvantages would lead anyone to the natural conclusion that Blast Works wouldn't end up a great game -- and they would be correct. It is, in fact, two great games. Or, to take the idea to its ridiculous extreme, infinite great games. We'll stick to two for this discussion, and we'll talk about those two separately.

We're still shocked that Blast Works finally came out after all those delays (and according to a few emails that we've been getting from you guys, some retailers are also feeling disbelief). If you can manage to track down this content-packed shooter, though, we recommend trying your luck at Circuit City. This week, the folks at the good ol' city of circuits will hand you a nice $10 gift card with a purchase of Blast Works. Yet, don't fret if you're having trouble finding this game at brick and mortar locations, since you can also head to the retailer's online store.

For a game that's only $40 to begin with, we have to say -- this deal is mighty tempting. Any takers?


[Via CAG]

We can hardly believe it, but Majesco's Blast Works: Build, Trade, Destroy finally got released. It's in stores right now. And now that it has the distinction of being real and not just some constantly-delayed pipe dream, reviewers can play it and register their opinions.

But, really, how good can a Western-developed remake of a freeware PC shooter, with an editor mode attached, be? The answer is apparently "really, really good."

1UP: A -- Ray Barnholt found Blast Works both a worthy shooter and an awesome game construction kit: "The core game is cute and clever -- probably not a tide-changer, but it's definitely unique enough to be worth something within its genre (it's an awesome sequel to Tumiki Fighters, at any rate). And if you've got the desire to design games (and share them with the world via Blast Works' included online tools), the editor will teach you some basic fundamentals."

IGN: 81% -- Daemon Hatfield heaped more than 81 percent worth of praise on Blast Works: "With BlastWorks, what you get for your $40 is a unique, lengthy shooter, a powerful editor for creating your own levels, plus access to unlimited user-generated content from the game's official website, BlastWorksDepot.com. This is a great package, and although it's not going to appeal to everyone it's great to have something so unique in the Wii's library."

Game Informer: 80% -- Even the lowest-scoring review on the list doesn't have many huge complaints: "It's certainly not perfect; the difficulty balancing is rough around the edges, and the co-op multiplayer is ruined by the fact that the camera doesn't pull back, resulting in total chaos as each player's hunk of junk grows in size. However, I'm pretty addicted to Blast Works, and this addiction might never end due to the amazing level editor and online community functions, which gives players the ability to create anything and everything in the game and share them for free online."

Hey, did you know that Blast Works released this week? Yeah, it's all up on retail shelves right now, waiting for you to pick it up and buy it. Our copy is out there right now, cold and alone, awaiting our loving embrace. But, what about you?

Nabbing Blast Works yourself? Picking up something else? What will you be playing this weekend?

The losers who didn't make the cut for The Biggest Loser needn't bat an eyelid. Everyone's favorite motivational trainer from the hit TV show is boxercizing her way to the Wii in Jillian Michaels' Fitness Ultimatum 2009. The only downside is actually paying her to bark orders a you, rather than competing to win a hefty sum of cash.

So what's the ultimatum? Get fit or be forced to eat a dozen Mega Macs? That's a punishment worse than playing Chicken Shoot. If you need a good reason to play, Fitness Ultimatum will utilize the Balance Board for its exercises, which hopefully means your multi-use Wii Fit peripheral might get some future exergaming use.

You'll be seeing Jillian on the Wii in Q4 2008, so feel free to sneak some yum-yums in (we will) before her brutal training regime crushes your spirit.

[Via GoNintendo]