First Cooking Mama, then Gardening Mama, now Crafting Mama? If a recent trandmark by the series’ developer Cooking Mama Ltd. is any indication, arts and crafts may be Mama’s next venture.

There’s no confirmation or official press releases stating that there will actually be a game entitled Crafting Mama so no details or anything to go along with the recent trademark findings. Altough, I’m sure you can guess what the gameplay will entail.

What’s next? Cleaning Mama?

Read (Joystiq)

It’s official, the Metal Gear franchise’s debut for the iPhone (and iPod touch) has dropped; originally dated for a March 19th release, Metal Gear Touch has actually hit the App Store today, the 17th, a day early.

I have confirmed the presence of the game on the App Store, it’s currently priced at $7.99 (as opposed to the expected $10) and has an average review of 4.5 stars.

What are you waiting for? Go get it, it’s only 8 bucks!

Despite a small number of displeased buyers, MadCatz’ Street Fighter IV branded FightSticks have managed to fly off the shelves. In fact, these controllers sold so fast a number of orders were left unfilled.

Well, Capcom has issued a statement saying the problem is being addressed and MadCatz will increase production to meet demand. In fact, Capcom expects existing orders to be filled when more of these controllers ship by the end of next month.

Let’s hope this means that these new units will be completely free of any problems. Although, the problem apparently wasn’t as big as everyone made it out to be.

Read (Capcom-Unity)

Gamers have been complaining about downloadable content since its inception. In some cases griping seems justified; Bethesda charged $2.50 for a simple content pack that only included armor for your horse, no side quests or other content. Many complain that the DLC should have been put in the game to begin with. Most recently when Capcom announced the ‘Versus Pack’ for Resident Evil 5 many were up in arms over the five dollar price tag for the online multiplayer options.

A statement has come forth from Capcom in response to the angry thread started on their forum page via Christian Svensson, VP of Business. Mr. Svensson wastes no time on idle pleasantries and pulls no punches: “I’m sorry guys, but this is the part where I have to call “BS”.  RE5 is well worth every penny of $60. A huge game, with tons of replay value, loads of unlockables, new weapons, co-op, mercenaries mode, etc. If any game warrants its price point, it’s RE5.”

While Mr. Svensson is arguably biased regarding the overall value of the game, his argument is sound as he goes on to remind gamers that the title was created on a certain budget and the DLC was created as a separate project with its own budget and thus is expected to generate its own revenue. He also points out that before the announcement there was no one questioning whether or not the game was worth the $60 price tag and suggests an option for gamers who don’t feel that the content pack is worth the $5: “don’t purchase it”.

Here’s another great alternative: wait a few months when you can get a used copy for cheap on eBay or from whatever used games vendor you prefer and you’ll be able to get the game for far under the $60 price tag and then download the DLC pack with the money you’ve saved.

It should come as no surprise, because nowadays with high speed internet everywhere including at least a token multiplayer mode in your game is vital to sales and can help boost review scores. EA has just announced that in addition to the already announced multiplayer modes for The Godfather II they’re adding on a mode called Don Control.

While the existing multiplayer modes take you out of the strategic style of the game and are mainly deathmatch/objective based, Don Control is the multiplayer mode for the true strategy lover. You’ll take your well-honed organized crime skills online and pit them against other human opponents. As with the other multiplayer modes your successes and failures will reflect on your single player campaign. Up to sixteen players can join in the havoc and aspiring Dons can recruit other players to their family for a portion of the profits. Unfortunately if you lose, whatever money you’d invested is lost. The game has already gone gold so the mode won’t be on the disc, but EA is taking the honorable approach and releasing it as a free patch available as soon as the game itself launches (April 7th in North America, the 10th in Europe).

Digital versions of the Hasbro Family Game Night by Electronic Arts will now be available for download starting Wednesday thanks to the efforts of EA and Hasbro.

The HASBRO FAMILY GAME NIGHT destination is one of many ways Xbox 360 is bringing families more fun and entertainment at a greater value than ever before. Xbox 360 puts the entertainment you love all in one place. Want to host a family movie night any time? Download or instantly watch one of the 30,000 movies and TV shows on Xbox LIVE.(3) Looking for a new twist on game night? Pick up one of the more than 200 family-friendly games that get everyone playing together on Xbox 360.

The HASBRO FAMILY GAME NIGHT lineup takes full advantage of the latest features and innovations on Xbox LIVE. Play as your own custom avatar and use voice chat to declare, “I win!” in real time to friends and family around the world. You can show off your mad word skills, increase your Gamerscore, earn Achievements when you connect four in a row and compete for a top spot on the Xbox LIVE Arcade leader boards.

To ensure family game night is always family-friendly, Xbox 360 also offers robust and easy-to-use parental controls called Family Settings for both online and offline use. Family Settings help parents manage kids’ online interactions over Xbox LIVE, the types of games, movies and TV shows they have access to, and the amount of time they can spend on the console.

(Source) Press

Big Huge Games, developer of the Rise of Nations series, is up for sale, according to publisher and owner THQ. The publisher released a statement regarding the matter;

“THQ informed the staff at its Big Huge Games studio in Timonium, MD, that it plans to close the studio if a sale is not completed in the near future. These actions were unfortunate but were necessitated by the difficult economic environment.”

THQ acquired Big Huge Games last year, but the economic downturn is forcing the publisher to cut jobs across the board, an estimated 24% of THQ workforce might lose their jobs this year. Big Huge Games is said to be working on two titles at the moment; an RPG for the PC, Xbox 360 and PS3, and a separate Wii title as well.

Street Fighter 4 Game Review–The Epitome Of Mediocracy
Days 2 Die Game Review–Insane Zombie Blasting Fun
Bloody Fun Day Review–Killing Cute Critters In Puzzle Fashion
The West Review–Sometimes You Get What You Pay For
DropSum Colours Review–Multi-Leveled Fun
Mass Effect 2 Officially Announced
Transformers Song Coming to Guitar Hero
Marvel Getting into MMOs
BottleRocket Strikes Back at Namco
Valkyria Chronicles DLC Coming
Valve adds DLC support to Steam
Radeon 4890 listed at online retailers
Red Faction Guerilla demo coming
Ninja Gaiden 2 coming to PS3
Dynasty Warriors Gundam 2 Pushed Back
MechQuest Review–Sometimes You Get What You Pay For And Then Some
Tales of Vesperia Review–It’s All About Style Over Substance
2112 Coop Game Review–It’d Be More Fun If There Were More Of It

One of the good parts about being a gamer toward the top end of that vaunted 18-35 demographic is that you remember all the movements of the past.  Many of my readers, for instance, may not remember that most gaming was done in public buildings for profit called arcades.  Indeed, arcades also offered the very latest and the very greatest games–no home gaming system could ever possibly compete against the might of an arcade machine, and that was why we were more than willing to pump quarters into those things like no tomorrow.  Today, arcades survive largely on sufferage, and those that do offer a panoply of experiences, like jet ski simulators and kayak simulators and the like.

Thus I’m surprised to mention that a little bit of the arcade came roaring back today in the form of Street Fighter 4.  I was arcade gaming back in the days of the original Street Fighter, thus it was a real thrill to see this venerable old franchise back in the saddle once more.

And it’s every inch a standard Street Fighter title, just given that full next-gen sort of treatment.  Every fighter–and there are a whole slew of them–comes standard with their own backstory introduced in a really smooth anime-style cutscene that packs in everything from laughs to sorrow and beyond.  It all leads up to a battle with the main bad guy, Seth, whose powers are all surprisingly familiar.  All your favorite characters are back in full form, along with a whole host of new characters, once again with their own backstory.  It’s great to see that this game can still pack in some originality, despite the fact that it’s really just the same game that we just played five, ten years ago.  It’s also great to see how many different motivations can drive so many different people down the same path–whether they’re out to prove their might or just take out a rival, no two of the Street Fighter characters ever really have the same motivations for doing anything.

The game could not look better, and it plays just about the same as it ever did.  A few new features are available for use, such as the focus attack and the ultra combo.   The only real downside to this game is, despite how good it looks and how smooth it plays, is that, at its roots, it’s really just the same game you’ve already played five or six different versions of.  This is just another Street Fighter game, no matter how pretty it looks or how well it plays.  It’s just another game where you punch and kick and juggle and special move your opponent into oblivion.

And for some people, this is good enough.  They’re just so glad to see Street Fighter back in operation again that they don’t CARE that it’s JUST Street Fighter.  If you loved Street Fighter, or any kind of action-packed fighting game, then Street Fighter 4 will be the experience of a lifetime.  Otherwise, it’s just another lukewarm beat-em-up.

I’m a big fan of zombie movies, and by extension, games that act like them.  And I may well have found the toughest challenge I’ve ever taken on in the form of Days 2 Die.

Newgrounds offers me up an incredible zombie apocalypse scenario–it’s just like a whole lot of others.  No one really knows how it happens, or when it’ll end, but man, is it ever a brutal one.  You’ll be dispatched to survive a legion of the walking dead engaged in attacking you in several different locations, and each wave will get steadily more difficult.  But you’ll have a variety of weapons to choose from, and be able to place barricades to help fend off the waves of walking dead.

In early levels, you’ll be able to set up a simple KZ (kill zone) with the help of your barricades, then just stand behind them and blast away.  But in the later levels (I found it started around the police station) even the best gun you have is downright insufficient to deal with the dense mobs of highly resilient zombies.  Thus, the difficulty level may be just a bit too high for the casual zombie blaster, and even experienced shooter players could be in for a bit more fight than even they can handle.

But either way, you should have plenty of fun with this one, so go on out to Newgrounds and take on Days 2 Die.