When you imagine a successful casual game, you probably imagine a game like Brain Age or Nintendogs, right? Well, think again. Cooking Mama is joining the crowd as Majesco announces that it has sold upwards of 1.6 million Cooking Mama games. This total figure includes the sales of the original title (which comprises of 1 million of the total number of games sold), the Wii spin-off Cooking Mama: Cook Off, and the Nintendo DS sequel Cooking Mama 2: Dinner with Friends.

It’s safe to say that this is the biggest hit Majesco Inc. has had in years. With their focus moving to casual games, it’s living proof that Nintendo’s “casual revolution” is having a strong effect on the industry. With the aid of Cooking Mama, the Nintendo DS is shaping up to becoming the most diverse video game platform ever created. Of course, Majesco is only one of many third parties taking advantage of the new casual boom. Ubisoft’s main focuses seem to have switched primarily to casual titles as well when it concerns Nintendo platforms. You could argue that this is a bad thing, given that we core gamers generally don’t take much interest in casual games, but it’s undeniable that statistics like those produced by Cooking Mama are successful in expanding the gaming industry. Will it keep up? We’ll have to wait and see.

Recently in the videogame business there has been a lot of emphasis on selling bundles. While some bundles are great value for consumers, they tend to be the exception to the rule. This week, Sony has reported that the PSP Daxter pack sold over two million units worldwide, that is a substantial number for a 3 year old system. So what makes gamers fork out more money for a system that comes with things you may or may not want? Lets see, the Daxter pack comes with Ready At Dawn’s Daxter which was released March 14th 2006, it comes with an Ice Silver PSP Slim and Lite, a copy of the UMD movie Family Guy: The Freakin’ Sweet Collection, and a 1GB Memory Stick Pro Duo.

I think the boys (and girls) down at Sony have definitely done their advertising homework on this one. First off the game Daxter is a spinoff of the Jax and Daxter franchise created by Naughty Dog, this game was Ready At Dawn’s first game and received very favorable reviews. The Ice Silver PSP Slim and Lite is the sleekest incarnation of the PSP to date, and by including a color other than black for their PSP, sony gets gamers with the original PSP Phat to notice both the new design and upgrades along with the new color options. Family Guy is an Emmy Award winning show currently rated 9 in the top 25 syndicated Television shows with an audience of over 6 million viewers, and the 1GB Memory stick retails for about $30.00 alone.
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Many will agree that the stylus is the most prominent and innovative feature of the Nintendo DS. Using it, we have moved characters, aimed guns, and also cooked food and managed infantry units. The stylus has been a magic wand, a crayon, a baton, even a syringe. This simple object has sparked the creativity of game developers worldwide, and although we have seen similar uses in previous games, the stylus has never been as much of a pen as in Drawn to Life, a platformer that allows you to single-handedly create a game character and objects and items for him or her to use. Not as much of a gimmick as you might think, this premise evidently separates Drawn to Life from standard titles of the genre and gives it a unique playing experience.

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The last couple of years have seen a huge explosion of games in a relatively new genre: mini-game collections. Mario Party, WarioWare, and Bomberman Land are some shining examples of console games that have already received inatallments on the DS. Numerous popular game characters have found themselves spun off into their own party titles as well, including Rayman, Pac-Man, and, to some extent, the Hero of Time himself Link, with the recent release of Link’s Crossbow Training for the Wii. Needless to say, a ton of intellectual properties based on movies and TV shows have milked the genre to its fullest. It’s easy to see that developers view mini-game collections as the ‘easy’ route; usually consisting of a simple compilation of various basic game engines with some unlockables. They are easy to make and don’t take much development time, so no wonder we have so many of them. Sometimes, however, a development team goes beyond the basic mini-game formula and creates a more robust package, a well-made blend of various genres and gameplay mechanics that ultimately make up a good game. The folks at Sega have done just that with Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, previously released for the Nintendo Wii and now available for the Nintendo DS.

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The PSP is already coming up on its 3rd anniversary, and what better way to celebrate this momentous event than to release a new upgrade for it? Over these past three years the PSP has gained quite a following of devoted gamers, but within that following is a minority who have been using the PSP for its multimedia capabilities. Sony’s new 16 Gig memory card will probably bring a sigh of relief, then, to those who use their PSP as their main source of entertainment on the go. For those who have not been keeping track, the PSP can currently be used as an music player, a movie player, a camera, an internet browser, a GPS unit, a telephone, an instant messenging device, and has video chat capabilities (take that iPhone!).

For those of you who are looking to double your PSP’s storage, those who would like to use an HD camera, and especially for those who use Skype a lot, this upgrade should come as no surprise. What should come as a surprise, however, is the price. At a whopping $300.00 you’re paying more for this memory stick than you did for your PSP, so I don’t think it’ll be long before 3rd party offerings start competing for your hard-earned dollars. The new Sony Memory Stick Pro Duo is also compatible with Sony digital cameras, VAIO Computers, PDAs, the PS3, and cell phones. Look for these mighty little cards at a retailer near you in March!

The Advance Wars series has always been known for its unusual, almost disturbingly lighthearted take on the brutality of war. In fact, that very aspect of the series is what has largely drawn in so many so many fans of the franchise who enjoyed its colorful, up-beat style. Yet with Days of Ruin, Advance Wars finally decides to take itself seriously, bringing some lessons about the true nature of war along with it.

Advance Wars: Days of Ruin is the fourth entry in the critically praised grid-based strategy series. Therefore, as you’d expect, the gameplay is very familiar for returning tacticians. You begin many battles with virtually nothing, and then build your grand army with the use of factories, ports, airports, and other resources. As the turn-based game progresses, you move your units along a grid with the objective of either capturing your opponent’s headquarters or demolishing their entire army. Sounds like fun, right? Lucky for you, it’s not just fun, it’s a blast!

At first glance, you may not notice just how much has changed with this installment. Yes, the core mechanics remain the same, but the gameplay has been tweaked to not only make the game more strategic (and less reliant on luck), but to balance just about everything in the game. For example, CO powers are no longer the drastically powerful, game-changing forces they were previously. Instead, your CO is actually embedded into a unit on the battlefield, with that particular unit emitting a range of effect that gives bonus stats to all units within that area. When your meter builds up through attacking other units, you have the ability to use your CO power. While the CO powers still have an effect on battles, they don’t have the overly dramatic effects that they had in Dual Strike (at last, no more ridiculous tag powers!). Along with this, infantry units are no longer as “spammable” as they were in previous games (although I’ve already experienced plenty of this online), units such as the Neotank and Megatank have been ditched in favor of the War Tank, and of course new units like the anti-tank have been added to the large roster of units.

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Usually when a high-profile game is about to be released, the internet is awash with screenshots depicting every little detail fans have to look forward to in the final release. So far, Square Enix has shown considerable restraint by not flooding our eyes with spoiler-ridden pictures of their upcoming PSP spin-off, Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core. Well, fanboys and girls, prepare to be spoilerized. Thanks to PSU, we were able to get our hands on a bunch of new (to us) screenshots from the Japanese release of the game. The shots depict what is most likely one of the opening cinematics, as well as a few battles in and around the Midgar train station. After almost a decade of absence, seeing these familiar scenes again was definitely enough to warm our hardened, gamer hearts.

We also get a look at some of the new gameplay mechanics in the in-game shots, including the target locking system and the “Digital Mind Wave” system. Needless to say, everything about this game is pretty, right down to the protagonist’s hairstyle. We can’t wait to find out if there is substance to match the game’s good looks when it arrives on March 25. In the meantime, check out what other gaming publications are telling us to expect from the final release.

Screenshots added January 27, 2008:

According to recent word from Gamestop, the company will be offering a free Demo of Patapon with all preorders for the game. I wrote a preview on Patapon earlier this week and when I heard this news I had to share it, in case any of you are as excited for this release as I am. Starting this coming week, if you preorder the $19.99 game with Gamestop you will recieve a demo with a few sample levels on it. This is a great opportunity to test out the very original gameplay in this title and find out if it appeals to you or not (you can always change your pre-order if you don’t like it). Also included in this offer is a special bonus, a weapon totally unique to the demo called the “spear of protection”. How exactly the weapon works hasn’t been revealed but reports will likely roll in this coming week.

Another added bonus is the ability to import this weapon into the final game via a save file on the PSP, and for a demo thats not a bad perk at all. Weather or not Patapon will live up to it’s hype is yet to be seen, but I know I personally am hoping for a sleeper hit in this title. Keep your eyes here at PVG for demo impressions later this week and a full review when the game is released February 28th.

Despite Sony’s confidence in the UMD media platform and the initial enthusiasm shown by studios, the pint-sized optical format has been all but abandoned by customers and retailers. Most ciritcs have pointed to two major reasons for the monumental failure of Sony’s new format. First, although there were some great offerings on the shelf when studios signed on to distribute UMD versions of their films, there was also a lot of dreck. What dim-witted movie executive believed that the PSP-owning demographic would be remotely interested in buying Daddy Daycare on UMD? Don’t they know that we already have the platinum edition DVD box set with director’s commentary? Secondly, the price point was considered way too high by many customers, who complained that the low resolution and lack of features did not warrant a second purchase of any film, no matter how great it was on DVD.

In a new agreement with Sony, MTV hopes to address at least one of these complaints by hitting the PSP-playing demographic right where it hurts (the wallet of course!). With great shows like Beavis & Butthead on offer, the UMD format starts to look more appealing. At $14.99, however, many customers still might not be ready to welcome UMD movies back into their lives. Hit the jump to see what other titles MTV plans to bring to the diminutive format, and let us know if you find any of these new releases tempting.

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So, you just bought Advance Wars: Days of Ruin and you’re looking for someone to play with online? Well, look no further than PVG to settle your online gaming needs. That’s right, it’s time for PVG’s first ever online tournament!

To participate in this event, you will be required to supply us with both your friend code and your name (can be a username). Once this information is gathered, your information will be archived and used to setup the tournament. The tournament will run in a simple bracketed manner, which means that the more of you we can get to participate the more elaborate and (arguably) more fun this tournament will be. To allow this tournament to take off though, we’re going to need your participation. Sign up starts immediately, so please provide your desired nom de guerre and “friend” code in the comment section below.

We will be allowing sign ups through the end of the weekend, and matches will start this coming week. You will be required to finish your battle with your assigned opponents within a set amount of time, at which point we will pair you up with a new challenger. The winner walks away with some serious bragging rights, having essentially bested the entire internet (or at least our little slice of it). A full list of the matches will be posted in the coming days.

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