Majesco Entertainment today reported its third quarter fiscal results for the period ended July 31. Net revenue climbed 18.9% to $17.2 million, driven in large part by the Cooking Mama franchise (which has sold 4.5 million to date) and the new Gardening Mama title, but the company suffered a net loss of $5.2 million in the quarter, compared to net profit of $500,000 a year earlier.

Majesco put much of the blame on Night at the Museum: Battle at the Smithsonian, but titles like Go Play Lumberjack and Circus Star underperformed as well. So far, for the first nine months of the publisher's fiscal year, sales are up 53.7% to $70.6 million, but net loss is at $2.7 million versus net income of $3.0 million a year ago at this time.
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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. "
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Gamers of a green-fingered persuasion will be able to sample the latest in the Mama series early as the Gardening Mama demo is now available on Nintendo's Wii channel. The demo is available to download and transfer to DS via Wi-Fi connection.
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Not a lot of new games this week. The main releases are X-Men Origins: Wolverine available for most consoles. For the little ones Hannah Montana: The Movie Game is out this week and for you SingStar fans, SingStar Pop Edition releases for PS3.
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GamingShogun.com writes: "This is a letter to you wonderful readers from Mama of Gardening Mama fame... Happy Earth Day!

Good morning Earth lovers!

Happy Earth Day! It's Mama, from the first-ever gardening video game, Gardening Mama. You may know me from Cooking Mama, the best-selling cooking video game series but now I'm out of the kitchen and embracing the season in my bountiful gardens.

I'm encouraging you to take some time and think about what you can do today, and every day, for our beautiful Mother Earth! Celebrate by making new resolutions to help the environment: try gardening your own fruits, flowers and vegetables; avoid bottled water and bag those plastic bags. Use this day to appreciate the Earth, celebrate what you've done so far and raise the bar for the days ahead..."
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411mania gives a rundown on this week's game releases. Highlights include Major Minor's Majestic March, Rhythm Heaven, and Gardening Mama.
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In Gardening Mama, players must dig soil, plant seeds and harvest crops to turn their simple plots into a garden paradise. Strong performance unlocks rare plants, fruits and vegetables, as well as ornamental objects such as swings, benches, flower pots and garden gnomes for decoration. There are over 28 different plants to unlock and grow with a host of fun and accessible mini-games and if that's not enough there is even wireless multiplayer for up to 4 players.
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Guitar Hero Metallica kicks off the new video game releases in the week ahead. It'll be available this Sunday for the Xbox 360, Wii and PLAYSTATION 3. Another new music game out this week for the Wii is Major Minor's Majestic March. It's coming from Masaya Matsuura and artist Rodney Alan Greenblat, who were the creators of the cult-classic music/rhythm game Parappa The Rapper. Lead a band of green monkeys trumpeting, blue bears drumming and cats on saxophones. Yeah, it's different. The new Nintendo DSi will be out in just about a week, on April 5th, but you may want to get your pre-order in soon! The DSi is likely to be in high demand. Early adopters will get 1000 DSi Points for logging into the DSi Shop.

New video game releases for week of 3/29/09:
(subject to change)

Xbox 360:
Guitar Hero Metallica
Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust

PLAYSTATION 3:
Guitar Hero Metallica

Wii:
Backyard Baseball 2010
Cradle of Rome
Crayola Colorful Journey
Dance Dance Revolution Disney Grooves Includes Two Dance Mats
Don King Boxing
Gold's Gym Cardio Workout
Guitar Hero Metallica
Major Minor's Majestic March
Nintendo 2000 Points Card (DSi or Wii)
Offshore Tycoon

Nintendo DS and DSi:
Nintendo DSi Console - Matte Black (available April 5th)
Nintendo DSi Console - Matte Blue (available April 5th)
Don King Boxing
Fashion Studio: Paris Collection
Gardening Mama
Imagine: Family Doctor
Nintendo 2000 Points Card (DSi or Wii)
Pet Vet Down Under
Tokyo Beat Down

PSP:
Air Conflicts
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Cooking Mama's stepped out of her kitchen and into the backyard for some gardening fun with Mother Nature! Join Mama from the award-winning, multi-million selling Cooking Mama franchise as she grows, harvests and enjoys a huge variety of fruits, vegetables and flowers in the first ever gardening game.
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