via ign

Majesco brought Bust-A-Move to the DS in fine form, and now they hope to do the same thing on the Wii. But this isn't quite the Bust-A-Move you know and love. Majesco has tweaked the multiplayer game in a way that drastically changes the gameplay from previous versions.

Bust-A-Move Bash! uses the Wiimote to aim your bubble launcher. You can either use the controller as a pointer, or you can hold it upright and rotate it left and right like the launcher works. Either way, you have an aiming guide to help you out.

Bash! is multiplayer-centric like the DS version was. But instead of playing on your own area and trying to force your opponent's bubbles down to the bottom of their screen, Bash! is a timed game where everyone plays on the same field. Up to eight players can line up at the bottom and race to collect as many jewels as they can before time runs out. Jewels are scattered throughout the mess of bubbles, and you can grab them by popping bubbles adjacent to them.

UFOs have been added to Bash!'s gameplay, as well. The saucers will fly around the screen, sometimes getting in your way and sometimes giving you a useful power-up like the S bubble, which slides to the closest same-colored bubble. Items from previous Moves make a return, as well: the bowling ball which plows through bubbles, the flame ball which explodes on contact and takes adjacent bubbles with it, and the star bubble which clears the screen of all the colors equal to whichever bubble you hit.

If the game ends in a tie and you've collected the same amount of jewels as one or more of your opponents, the chains you made during play will act as a tie breaker. So there is still motivation to go for the big drops.

Single-player modes include the familiar Puzzle and Endless modes, and Majesco is toying with including a Shooting mode as well. The demonstration they gave was a little simplistic: as bubbles float across the screen you aim and shoot. But you'll have to change the color of your aiming reticule to match the color of the bubbles, so it could get pretty hectic as you're trying to pop everything on screen while constantly switching colors. The colors are mapped to directions on the D-pad, so you press the direction of the color you need to switch to, then fire. Majesco said this mode may end up being a mini-game if it doesn't turn out to be substantial enough to warrant its own mode.

Familiar characters like Bub, Bob, and Nin will be making a comeback, but we noticed some new faces on the character-selection screen that we didn't recognize like a Tiger and a Sorceress. It looks like there will be 8-10 characters to choose from.

Bust-A-Move Bash! is a frantic, fast-paced take on the classic Bobble franchise. It may take too many liberties with the formula for some, but we definitely had fun during our session today. It reminds us of Puzzle Bobble 4 in the amount of zany activity going on. Bash! will be available in April or May for $39.99, and we're excited to play more. ...

via ign

Majesco is cooking up a Wii version of Cooking Mama, which was released on the DS last September. But Cook Off isn't just a port of the handheld game -- there are new foods, new modes, and multiplayer, all wrapped around the crunchy center of the Wiimote.

The single-player mode lets you practice recipes under the watchful eye of Mama, who now has a super cute Japanese girl voice. You'll use the Wiimote in a variety of ways to prepare your meals -- point it down and stir like a spoon, hold it horizontally and push forward and back like a rolling pin, or use it like a knife to slice and dice. Each meal is divided into steps, and you'll get a quick tutorial on how to use the controller before you jump into each section. Preparing lasagna essentially becomes a series of minigames.

Once you feel confident with your cooking skills, you can move onto the Challenge mode. Here you're on your own, and you'll have to beat the clock and prepare meals as fast as possible. As you play you'll unlock more recipes. In all there are 300 foods and 55 recipes, including desserts.

Then there is the Friends and Food of the World mode, where you can challenge computer-controlled friends from foreign lands on their local cuisine. You'll receive a gift just for playing, and if you win you'll get an even better prize.

Cooking Mama: Cook Off has a multiplayer mode for two players. Choose a recipe for your battlefield, then see who can complete each step in the recipe the fastest. Anything you've unlocked in the single-player game can be used in multiplayer.

The DS game had a heavy focus on Japanese cuisine, but Cook Off has a well-rounded diet. All the ethnic food groups are represented: Italian, Mexican, American, Chinese, Spanish, and more. The food is photorealistic now, as well. One of the most interesting aspects of the game is that you'll actually learn how some exotic foods are prepared. When making a dish that calls for squid, you'll have to cut the squid's head off, peel its skin back, pull the rubbery meat from the inside -- and if you mess up you'll get ink everywhere. You'll have to clean and gut your fish, too. It's all rather gruesome, actually, compared to the cartoony look of the rest of the game.

Cooking Mama: Cook Off will be served in April for $49.99. We're looking forward to spending some more quality time with our Mama. ...

via ign

Majesco is cooking up a Wii version of Cooking Mama, which was released on the DS last September. But Cook Off isn't just a port of the handheld game -- there are new foods, new modes, and multiplayer, all wrapped around the crunchy center of the Wiimote.

The single-player mode lets you practice recipes under the watchful eye of Mama, who now has a super cute Japanese girl voice. You'll use the Wiimote in a variety of ways to prepare your meals -- point it down and stir like a spoon, hold it horizontally and push forward and back like a rolling pin, or use it like a knife to slice and dice. Each meal is divided into steps, and you'll get a quick tutorial on how to use the controller before you jump into each section. Preparing lasagna essentially becomes a series of minigames.

Once you feel confident with your cooking skills, you can move onto the Challenge mode. Here you're on your own, and you'll have to beat the clock and prepare meals as fast as possible. As you play you'll unlock more recipes. In all there are 300 foods and 55 recipes, including desserts.

Then there is the Friends and Food of the World mode, where you can challenge computer-controlled friends from foreign lands on their local cuisine. You'll receive a gift just for playing, and if you win you'll get an even better prize.

Cooking Mama: Cook Off has a multiplayer mode for two players. Choose a recipe for your battlefield, then see who can complete each step in the recipe the fastest. Anything you've unlocked in the single-player game can be used in multiplayer.

The DS game had a heavy focus on Japanese cuisine, but Cook Off has a well-rounded diet. All the ethnic food groups are represented: Italian, Mexican, American, Chinese, Spanish, and more. The food is photorealistic now, as well. One of the most interesting aspects of the game is that you'll actually learn how some exotic foods are prepared. When making a dish that calls for squid, you'll have to cut the squid's head off, peel its skin back, pull the rubbery meat from the inside -- and if you mess up you'll get ink everywhere. You'll have to clean and gut your fish, too. It's all rather gruesome, actually, compared to the cartoony look of the rest of the game.

Cooking Mama: Cook Off will be served in April for $49.99. We're looking forward to spending some more quality time with our Mama. ...

via IGN

Today Midway Games announced with much jubilation that it has shipped more than 1.8 million units worldwide of its Happy Feet videogame. Based off of the Warner Bros. animated feature film -- which grossed more than $326 million at the box office -- Happy Feet the videogame puts players in the shoes of the tone deaf, tap-dancing penguin, Mumble.

"We are extremely pleased with our continuing expansion into the kids' videogame market and the strong sales of the Happy Feet games," said David Zucker, president of Midway. "Warner Bros. created a wonderful and engaging film for audiences of all ages, and we're ecstatic to have published a game that both complements the movie as well as strengthens our successful holiday line up." ...

via IGN

Today Midway Games announced with much jubilation that it has shipped more than 1.8 million units worldwide of its Happy Feet videogame. Based off of the Warner Bros. animated feature film -- which grossed more than $326 million at the box office -- Happy Feet the videogame puts players in the shoes of the tone deaf, tap-dancing penguin, Mumble.

"We are extremely pleased with our continuing expansion into the kids' videogame market and the strong sales of the Happy Feet games," said David Zucker, president of Midway. "Warner Bros. created a wonderful and engaging film for audiences of all ages, and we're ecstatic to have published a game that both complements the movie as well as strengthens our successful holiday line up." ...

via ign

Sony Online Entertainment and Midway recently announced an agreement to bring classic Midway games to the PlayStation Store. We took a trip down memory lane at CES this week and played all six titles: Championship Sprint, Mortal Kombat II, Rampart, Gauntlet II, Joust, and Rampage World Tour.

With the exception of Joust, which is already out on Xbox Live, all of these titles will be exclusive to the PlayStation Store. They all feature offline and online multiplayer, private and public games, and leaderboards. Pricing hasn't been set, yet, but Sony confirmed they would not be offered as a bundle. The first game should arrive in March, with more releases staggered after that. Sony and Midway have only been working on these ports for a week, so many details have yet to be worked out and some of the titles weren't at 100 percent functionality.

Rampage World Tour

Rampage World Tour: Of the six games we played, we had the most fun with this one. Originally released back in 1997, World Tour updates the classic Rampage game with slicker graphics, more detail, and more stuff to smash and eat. Pick your favorite giant monster and get to destroying some of the world's most famous locations. The game supports up to three players at a time, and the PS3 version will save your progress automatically so you can return to it later.

Rampart

Rampart: Released in arcades in 1990, Rampart is that game that puts you in charge of defending your castle from invaders. Place cannons within your castle walls, send a volley to the enemy, then rebuild before time runs out. The original game used a trackball to move the curser around, and although Rampart has been ported to many different platforms the controls always suffer a bit in the translation.

Championship Sprint

Championship Sprint: This is another game which used a non-traditional control scheme in the arcades (a steering wheel and pedal) and now feels a little strange mapped to the Sixaxis. But the support for four players goes a ways towards making up for the controls. The main problem may be that there just isn't much to the game. Race to the finish line on a track that's only as big as the screen, avoid oil slicks, and don't crash into the walls too often. That's about it. We did notice that some of the colors were different from the original game. For instance, in the winner's circle screen shown after a race, the background was purple, whereas the original game showed the cars sitting on the track. This may be because they've only been working on these ports for a week, though.

Mortal Kombat II

Mortal Kombat II: MKII is one of the highlights of the six Midway games coming to the PlayStation Store. Although not as ideal as an arcade joystick, the PlayStation 3 d-pad works well with Mortal Kombat II. Pounding out the classic moves took as long as it took to dust off the MK section of our brains and remember how to do them. The game looks and plays just the same way as it did in the arcade, straight down to the huge spouts of blood that only a well placed upper cut can deliver. The one new addition to the game is an online multiplayer mode and leader boards. It wasn't up and running yet though, so we weren't able to give it a try. The matchmaking will be a simple affair of just looking for a quick match and being put into a game with another player or creating a private and password protected match. The only real downside to this port of Mortal Kombat II is that Stryker, the most hilarious MK fighter, wasn't put into the series yet.

Joust

Joust: This is the one game in the initial group of Midway games that can also be found on the competing Xbox Live Arcade. The PlayStation version, though, is a direct port of one of the most bizarre games of all time. What kind of drugs were the designers on when they thought a knight on a flying ostrich fighting vulture knights and flying lizards was the next big thing? Oddity aside, Joust is a classic game in every sense and it handles well with the PlayStation analog stick. The only problem we found with the game is that we couldn't stop killing each other long enough to focus on the enemies. It's Joust just as you remember it.


Gauntlet II

Gauntlet 2: The classic multiplayer arcade game returns, though this time it won't eat every last one of your quarters and then leave you wondering how you were going to pay the bus fare home. Curse you Gauntlet 2! Unlike the other Guantlet game to come out in a digital distribution form, this one won't have a button to add quarters and increase your health. You can still continue when you die, but getting a high score becomes a difficult task. Those who are pros at finding keys, gold, and food to stay alive will sit at the top of the online leader boards with pride. The controls are simple here and so they work fine with the PS3 configuration. ...

via ign

Today Ubisoft announced that it is currently working on a PlayStation 3 version of the Japanese action-RPG, Enchanted Arms. Previously an Xbox 360-exclusive game, Enchanted Arms is created by From Software in Japan and is set to be one of the first Japanese RPGs to hit the PlayStation 3. Enchanted Arms includes more than 50 hours of gameplay, and makes use of the exclusive SpeedTactics Battle System, which enables the player to use distance-dependent attacks in battle.

With its move to the PlayStation 3, Enchanted Arms has made use of the Sixaxis's motion-sensing abilities to craft a more detailed experience. Players can harness weapons, recover their EX power meters, unlock more powerful attacks, and solve puzzles all through real-world manipulation of the controller. The game features more than 500 chanracters, including 130 unlockable creatures to control in battle. The PS3 version of the game also includes 30 exclusive creatures for your battling pleasure. Other PS3-exclusive additions to the game include an all-new English language track and ten additional minutes of anime cutscenes.

Expect Enchanted Arms to spread its tactical charm on the PS3 this March. ...

chrismulhearn posted this news:


Could this be the start of a real attempt to get Linux on the PSP, well lets hope so ...

via ps3fanboy

Why does this game look so ridiculously sexy? Maybe I'm a sucker for weird reddish-pink blonde hair. Maybe I'm a sucker for RPGs. Maybe I'm just tired of playing PS2 games and really want to feel what the "next-gen" is in regards to role-playing titles. Whatever the case, both of the PS3 Final Fantasy XIII titles are lookin' hot. Or hawt, depending on how nerdy we want to get. We can't really say what the article is telling us, since Babelfish has decided to shun us at the time of this writing. It doesn't matter, though. We'd much rather have those scans translated. Is it just us, or is Shiva transforming into a motorcycle in one of the scans? Transforming is awesome. Especially if you're Optimus Prime.

What's interesting, though, is that there's finally something that appears to be "cinematic" and we can therefore assume the other images we've seen thus far are at the very least "cutscene gameplay" -- that is, extra nice... er... normal graphics. We chose to throw the cinematic image up because, well, it looks damn near like a real person. But it isn't. Because no one looks like that. Unfortunately. Are we gushing too much? It's just exciting! Take a look yourselves and grin in silence.

Scans Here ...