Cooking Mama

The favourite childrens character Cooking Mama now returns to two new video games, said publisher 505 Games. Released today, the Cooking Mama World: Outdoor Adventure and Cooking Mama 4 for Nintendo DS gets the evergreen character back.

Joystiq: Mama has proven her prowess at Cooking, Gardening and, soon, Babysitting -- but it seems she could be showing off her remarkable outdoorsmanship in the franchise's next outing.

From Gaming Target The thing about cooking in large quantities is that the food often turns out to be bland and inedible. That's not so in the case of Cooking Mama, which Majesco announced has surpassed four million copies sold based on the gaming recipe of developer Cooking Mama Limited.

Majesco have confirmed the existance of Cooking Mama 3 and that it will be playable at E3 2009.

Siliconera: Who would have guessed Cooking Mama would grow into a hit franchise and span games that had nothing do with cooking? Majesco that's who and they're banking heavily on a Mama series. Gardening Mama, Pet Shop Mama, and today according to a US registered trademark, Babysitting Mama. I think the title is self explanatory. Unlike the Pet Shop Mama trademark Babysitting Mama was directly registered by Cooking Mama LTD and all of their trademarks matriculated into retail products. And, no joke, there is a Cooking Mama corporation too.

411mania gives a rundown on this week's game releases. Highlights include Major Minor's Majestic March, Rhythm Heaven, and Gardening Mama.

Kotaku writes: We've been following the PETA Cooking Mama back and forth with bated breath. First PETA created a gruesome, but sort cool take on Cooking Mama, using the doe-eyed chef to highlight some issues the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals have with Thanksgiving. Then Majesco responded, pointing out that their games have plenty of vegetarian recipes, and even taking the issue to Cooking Mama herself for some overly cute quotes about animal lovin'. Now PETA, quick to recognize a publicity train when they see when, have responded in an open letter, telling Majesco just how much they love their Cooking Mama games and asking for a vegetarian-only Cooking Mama game in the future. They're even offering to help promote it, if the vege game comes to fruition.

Majesco has announced its Q4 and fiscal 2007 results, showing holiday sales of $11.9 million and losses down slightly to $1.5 million led, as usual, by its Cooking Mama franchise, and has further detailed plans for its new internal casual game effort, Majesco Studios. In the fourth quarter, Majesco sales reached $11.9 million, compared to $21.5 million the year prior, when it had first launched both Jaws Unleashed and the first release of Cooking Mama. 79 percent of these sales came from handheld releases, 72 percent on the DS alone, and 21 percent from consoles, eight percent on the Wii. Losses for the quarter were $1.5 million, down slightly from $1.9 million the year prior.

First released in September 2006, Cooking Mama on the DS allows gamers to virtually prepare recipes by using the stylus to do cooking tasks such as chopping vegetables, tenderising steak, and stirring soup. In August, the franchise scored 500,000 copies, and now-- months later--505 Games has announced that it has sold over one million units in Europe alone.

Cooking Mama both on the Wii and DS were pleasant enough games and they have sold pretty well (considering it was full price here too). With that 505 Games have announced an agreement with Cooking Mama Ltd., a subsidiary of Japanese developer Office Create, to publish Cooking Mama 2 across Europe. This comes as no surprise as that is where Cooking Mama sold has best. No game features have been announced yet but expect more touch games and motion based cookery.