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Majesco

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review

Wild Earth: African Safari Review: A-Wiimoweh

In the jungle, the quiet jungle, the lion sleeps tonight... He also roars, scratches, paws the ground, stalks prey, and kills other members of the animal kingdom, and you can snap pictures of it all with Wild Earth: African Safari for the Nintendo Wii. Released in 2006 as Safari Photo Africa: Wild Earth for the PC, the family-friendly nature and innovative controls of the Wii made the edutainment title a prime candidate for a port. You step into the shoes of a photojournalist taking pictures for a nature magazine in Africa's Serengeti National Park, getting up close and personal with all sorts of exotic plants, animals, and their feces.

Yes, within the first few minutes of the game you'll find yourself tasked with taking a photo of a giant pile of elephant dung. Does it get better from there? Read on, brave adventurer.

More »

1:00 PM on Fri May 2 2008
By Mike Fahey
10,712 views, 46 comments

Latest by Fatass of Kickassness: @mistersneak: "a lot of the Wii games that look really nice have you in little corridors (Metroid), or they don't render full 360 degree environments (Smash Bros), etc. So maybe cut the Wii port a little slack for some low-res more »

breaking

ESA Confirms Activision/Vivendi Departure

The Entertainment Software Association told Kotaku today that both Activision and Vivendi are no longer a part of the industry trade organization, confirming a rumor we broke earlier this morning.

"While the Entertainment Software Association remains the preeminent voice for U.S. computer and video game publishers, we can confirm that Activision and Vivendi Games opted to discontinue their membership. The ESA remains dedicated to advancing our industry's objectives such as protecting intellectual property, preserving First Amendment rights, and fostering a beneficial environment for the entire industry. Our high level of service and value to members and the larger industry remains unchanged."

- Rich Taylor, Senior Vice President of Communications and Research, Entertainment Software Association

This comes a day after it was noted that Activision and a number of other notable publishers were not listed as showing at the industry's big conference.

Neither Activision nor Vivendi have responded to requests for comment. More as this breaking story unfolds.

9:08 AM on Fri May 2 2008
By Leigh Alexander
7,272 views, 22 comments

ds

Majesco Promotes Calm Flying With 'Air Traffic Chaos'

Flying has become a bit nerve-wracking almost anywhere you go around the world. Luckily, Majesco is fighting fear with education, and they want to teach us all how to be air traffic controllers in Air Traffic Chaos for the DS. Or as Majesco VP deftly explains: "Air Traffic Chaos means fun is taking off from Terminal A." More »

12:00 PM on Wed Apr 16 2008
By Mark Wilson
1,024 views, 8 comments

girl games

Babysitting, Now Without Getting Paid

As the oldest child of four, I'm no stranger to babysitting. But I'm sure many of you only and youngest children felt left out of the diaper-changing, room-cleaning, child-screaming fun. Now, no child or teen need miss out on the "joys" of babysitting, thanks to the recently announced Babysitting Mania:
"Babysitting Mania brings the fun and excitement of this universal teen occupation to the DS," said Gui Karyo, Executive Vice President of Operations, Majesco "This dynamic task management game will keep even the oldest babysitter on his or her toes."
I would be laughing much, much, much harder at this game if I hadn't spent many years of my life reading The Babysitter's Club, dreaming of the day I too could be a responsible teen. I'm disgusted that my younger self would buy this game in a heartbeat. More »

1:00 PM on Mon Mar 10 2008
By torif
8,001 views, 33 comments

Latest by Passa: Urgh.. a Babysitting DS game? Oh boy.. On another note though, my sister has virtually every single book in 'The Babysitters Club' series from that pic :) more »

musical revelations

Parappa Team Creates Major Minor's Majestic March

Back in December Majesco announced they were reuniting the Parappa team of artist Rodney Alan Greenblat and musician / game designer Masaya Matsuura for an exclusive Wii title, and now we know that title's title! Major Minor's Majestic March (Mmmm) will see you using your Wiimote as a band leader's baton, helping your adorable animal marching band keep time, recruiting new members, and picking items on the road towards creating the most impressive parade the world has ever seen. The game will feature 8 locations, 15 musical instruments, and over 25 marching band tunes from around the world, composed into original medleys so the player can mix and match instruments to create their own unique sound. Sounds like exactly the sort of whimsical musical concept that made us fall in love with the Parappa series in the first place. Mmmm. More »

9:20 AM on Thu Jan 31 2008
By Mike Fahey
2,466 views, 30 comments

Latest by UnJamma6096: It's definitely a step away from all the hardcore rock games like guitar hero ans such. more »

mmm

Cooking Mama: 1.6 Millions and Millions Served

Majesco has done pretty well in North America with the Cooking Mama franchise. Between their three titles on the market (2 for the DS, 1 for Wii), they've sold 1.6 million copies here. But the larger stats freaks among you will note that the original Cooking Mama DS sold over a million copies—or roughly 2/3 of the total sales from 3 games. So it doesn't feel like much of a stretch saying that the series' popularity may have peaked.
More »

1:20 PM on Wed Jan 30 2008
By Mark Wilson
2,613 views, 91 comments

Latest by MedelliaObscured: thats what im talking about man woot woot i wont eat for like a week after that lmao...j/k more »

demo

DS Download Stations Infested With Eco-Creatures

Oh yeah, Nintendo has those Download Station thingies, don't they? Majesco reminds us of this fact by announcing a playable demo of their upcoming ecologically friendly RTS Eco-Creatures: Save the Forest is now available at any of 10,000 download stations across the the US. I don't think I've ever actually used a DS Download Station in my life (lies!), but Majesco seems to like them.
"We are excited that Eco-Creatures now joins the ranks of Cooking Mama, Cooking Mama 2: Dinner with Friends and Cake Mania as a phenomenal game launching with the support of a great demo available through the Nintendo kiosk program," said Gui Karyo, Executive Vice President of Operations, Majesco.
Eco-Creatures is set to launch on March 4th, so you have from now until then to find a Download Station and determine whether or not that news should excite you. More »

9:40 AM on Tue Jan 29 2008
By Mike Fahey
1,915 views, 16 comments

Latest by Sabre_Justice: Is the ultimate unit Captain Planet or what? more »

impressions

Left Brain Right Brain Surprisingly Brainless

The success of Brain Age on the Nintendo DS had one very immediate effect on the handheld gaming scene, in that any game with the word Brain in the title and simplistic mini-games was bound to get a green light, whether it deserved it or not. Majesco's Left Brain Right Brain (Use Both Hands - Train Both Sides) teeters precariously between these two classifications. On one hand (ha!) it is a nifty little time-waster that is quite interesting conceptually - using drills to train your off hand to function as well as your dominant one. On the other hand the game boils down to 15 relatively boring mini-games and a simple progress tracking mechanism that are hardly worth $20 of your hard-earned monies. More »

9:30 AM on Mon Dec 31 2007
By Mike Fahey
3,264 views, 34 comments

Latest by rainofwalrus: yesyoudo more »

impressions

Hands On With Blokus Portable

I had never actually played the board game Blokus, but after my hands-on time with a preview build of Majesco's Blokus Portable: Steambot Championship for the PSP I might have to pick it up. Basically the game involves four players, each with a similar set of differently shaped blocks takes turns placing them on a grid. Each piece has to have a corner touching the corner of another, and no sides may touch. It starts off simple enough, but when the board starts getting crowded and other players start purposefully blocking off your corners the strategy element really kicks into high gear. What Majesco has done is merged this intriguing gameplay with characters from the Steambot Chronicles universe in an attempt to add a recognized name to a new game, though unless some changes are made to the game options the merger of properties might end up doing more harm than good. More »

11:40 AM on Wed Dec 19 2007
By Mike Fahey
1,238 views, 20 comments

Latest by Chef: ..it got shoehorned in... ugh....typos... more »

game announcement

Wild Earth: African Safari

Safari Photo Africa : Wild Earth is a PC game released last year that took home three awards from the 2003 Independent Games Festival awards, including the coveted Seumas McNally Grand Prize. Now Majesco is bringing the adventure to the Nintendo Wii this Spring with Wild Earth: African Safari. The game places you in the role of a photojournalist exploring Africa's Serengeti National Park, tasked with taking photos of 30 different animals in their natural habitat. Get close to the animals for the perfect shot, but get too close and the Wiimote will rumble, making it harder to snap the shot. The Wii version includes co-op multiplayer, allowing one player to drive while two others snap photos, and a mini-game mode that allows players to see things from the animals' point of view. While the visuals don't hold a candle to Afrika for the PS3, this game you'll actually be able to play sometime soon. Dead Wildebeast! More »

10:20 AM on Thu Dec 13 2007
By Mike Fahey
3,502 views, 47 comments

Latest by hrabbit: i don't know if the dead wildebeest will attract me enough to actually buy it ¬_¬ but im sure I will end up buying it for wii for my little sister (would buy it for pc but then she would more »

game announcement

Wonderworld Amusement Park Brings Mini-Games To Wii

Majesco is bringing all the fun of a visit to a theme park home to the Nintendo Wii this summer with Wonderworld Amusement Park. Along with some playable 3D carnival rides, the game will feature 30 mini-games for the whole family based on real carnival games but designed with the title's five different themed areas in mind. I am guessing that one of those themes is nursery rhymes, making the girl in the screenshot above Little Miss Muffet instead of creepy forest spider rice-cake girl. Players will also be able to create their own character and dress them up in items bought with their carnival winnings, so if you really want to be creepy forest spider rice-cake girl knock yourself out. All I can say is it is about time the Wii got a compilation of mini-games. More »

9:40 AM on Tue Dec 11 2007
By Mike Fahey
1,711 views, 42 comments

Latest by liquidmonk: I'd rather read a book. more »

parappa team returns

PaRappa Creators Re-Team For Wii Exclusive

PaRappa fans rejoice! The award-winning team of artist Rodney Alan Greenblat and legendary musician and game designer Masaya Matsuura is back, this time bringing together their awesome talents for an exclusive music-based game for the Nintendo Wii, coming in late 2008 from Majesco Entertainment. While details on the project are basically non-existent, just the fact that these two are working together on a new game is enough to get me all tingly. Majesco CEO Jesse Sutton has high hopes for the title.
"We are incredibly excited to be working with talent of this caliber and believe our game shares the same broad mass market appeal as successful music-based products like Activision's Guitar Hero and MTV's Rock Band."
Okay really high hopes, but that's understandable. Being a huge fan of the PaRappa series (Jet Baby is my personal hero), I've got high hopes too. More »

9:20 AM on Mon Dec 10 2007
By Mike Fahey
3,854 views, 55 comments

Latest by Ainai: @RPGr: Maybe "swing, swing, thrust!" but that sounds kinda dirty. @Topic: This is still good news even if the game isn't a PaRappa/Lammy sequel. New IP most likely, but I wouldn't mind a port of Mojib Ribbon using brush controls. more »

game annoucement

Majesco Merges Steambot With Blokus

Blokus is sort of a Tetris board game, where up to four players place one of block shapes onto the board until no one can place anymore, with the winner being the one with the least amount of pieces left over at the end of the match. It's the sort of game you'd sit around and play with your family if you weren't such a video game addict. Luckily for us, Majesco has just announced Blokus Portable: Steambot Championship for the PSP, which merges the award-winning board game with characters from the Steambot Chronicles PlayStation 2 game to perhaps make the board game sound a bit more compelling. With support for 16 players in ad hoc mode or three players with game sharing, I doubt the title needed the extra boost, but a little anime charm never hurts. Blokus Portable: Steambot Championship is due in early 2008. More »

6:00 PM on Wed Dec 5 2007
By Mike Fahey
927 views, 20 comments

Latest by junta0: yeah i bought the blokus board game a long time ago when i saw all of these award winning stickers on there. my first thought was "whoa, they have board game awards?!" FYI they offer free online play at [blokus.com] if more »

impressions

More Cooking With Mama

The original Cooking Mama for the Nintendo DS had just the right amount of quirky charm to make it a great success for Majesco in North America. Now, over a year and a console version for the Wii later, Majesco has released Cooking Mama 2: Dinner with Friends for the DS, and while the charm is starting to wear on me, I'm still finding it every bit as addictive as I found the original. More »

11:40 AM on Thu Nov 29 2007
By Mike Fahey
2,707 views, 41 comments

Latest by Taiyaki: I adored the first one, the one on the Wii had wonky controls. This one, I agree, has way too many rainbows and explosions of hearts and flowers. The celebration music is like someone did an overlay at more »

hands-on

Nanostray 2 Masters Shmuppets

While Nanostray was a solid side-scrolling shooter for the Nintendo DS, it wasn't without its fair share of problems, the most glaring of which was the endless continues, that made the game far less of a challenge than it could of been. Along with requiring the touch screen for weapon selections, these two features bogged down what could have otherwise been the perfect little handheld shmup. Now Nanostray 2 is still a couple of months away, but from my time with the preview build of the game Majesco was kind enough to send my way I can say that it triumphs over the original in every way. More »

11:30 AM on Mon Nov 19 2007
By Mike Fahey
3,336 views, 24 comments

Latest by melw: The worst issue with the original title was it being too easy - didn't have anything to do with the endless continues even, as you almost never died. :) By the looks of it, the sequels sounds like something the first more »

shmuppet master

What's New In Nanostray 2

Nanostray was a lovely little shooter for the Nintendo DS, but certainly not without its faults. The touch screen controls were a bit iffy, and unlimited continues meant you could finish the game even if you were really, really horrible at it. While it might mean that I won't be able to finish the game, Majesco assures us that these issues have been addressed and improved upon in the upcoming sequel, aptly titled Nanostray 2. The game now features a standard control scheme on top of touch screen, and continues are no longer unlimited - you have five, and earn extra as you progress. The game is now played from a top-down perspective as opposed to the angeled view of the original, with levels alternating between horizontal and vertical, bringing to mind the old classic Vanguard. They've even fixed the leaderboards so they use Nintendo Wi-Fi instead of the old method of inputting a code at the website. It's nice when a developer listens to gamers and fixes problems. It's even better when they fix them and then keep going. Nanostray 2 could very well turn out to be a must-have for shmuppets everywhere. Hit the jump for more details on the sweeping changes. More »

4:00 PM on Tue Nov 6 2007
By Mike Fahey
1,380 views, 31 comments

Latest by roker: I'm not so keen on the switch up games (I'd rather a shmup stick to one perspective), but this game looks pretty good. I'm going to hold off on a "must-have" label and wait on gamers' views. more »

industry news

Majesco Goes Casual With Former Sega Exec

Every day, more and more non-gamers are being drawn into our web by the gateway drug that is casual gaming, and Majesco wants a piece of the action. The developer has just announced a new studio opening in the LA area with a focus on casual gaming properties. Tapped to head up this new operation is former Sega VP of Development Bill Petro, who has also held that position at Atari along with working as a developer for companies like Konami and EA.

Majesco operations VP Gui Karyo said the new studio would focus on building a product line and IP assets that "emphasize fun, addictive game experiences." Karyo also praised the experience of Petro, who will report to him, as he welcomed him aboard in the studio's leading role.
See? Fun and addictive, but eventually leading to the harder stuff. Before you know it they'll have millions playing Advent Rising and they'll finally have to make the sequel. Feel free to steal that evil plan, Majesco.

Majesco Announces New Casual Game Studio, Appoints Former Sega Exec In Lead Role [Gamasutra]

9:00 AM on Tue Nov 6 2007
By Mike Fahey
404 views, 13 comments

Latest by NeoVidar: @Cappy: You're not the only one that enjoyed it all the way through. Sure the bugs were annoying, but what game doesn't have them. I still hold out hope for the sequals to come. more »

brain training

Majesco Plays With Your Head

You know what we could really use on the DS? A game that exercises your brain. That would be awesome! Good thing Majesco is on point, announcing Left Brain Right Brain for Nintendo's handheld, a game that not only trains your head meats but helps develop manual dexterity as well. The game will include 15 different mini-games created to help develop speed, accuracy, association, recognition, memory , and strategy. Played in book-style, the game requires players rotate the DS in order to exercise both their dominant and withered, unused husk of a non-dominant hand. Between this holiday release and the countless other brain training titles for the DS, by the time the aliens arrive they'll look human and we'll all be giant-skulled ambidextrous mutants who have developed precognitive abilities to the point where we'll have the Twilight Zone queued up on loudspeakers for that auspicious event. More »

10:20 AM on Tue Oct 9 2007
By Mike Fahey
1,161 views, 6 comments

Latest by n/a: @Nullzero: Agreed completely. I actually registered an account to give this write up some props. I started loling at work and drew more than a few puzzled looks. more »