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Nintendo Bringing Game Demos To North American Malls For The Holidays

Justin Berube — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 14:27:35 +0000

Nintendo is planning to showcase their holiday lineup across all their platforms in North American Malls starting this month! For information on where you can sample the hottest Nintendo games, including select locations that will demo The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword early, be sure to read the official Press Release below!

Want to stay up to date on the latest Nintendo news, information, editorials, and more? Follow me on Twitter @KingNintendoFan or Like Me on Facebook. Be sure to let me know what you think about this Nintendo Mall event!

NINTENDO MALL PROGRAM PUTS SOME ZIP IN FAMILY SHOPPING TRIPS

Nintendo and Cast of Characters to Showcase Great Video Games for the Holidays

REDMOND, Wash., Nov. 3, 2011 – Whether your feet are aching from a long day of shopping or you just need some advice about what to buy that video gamer on your holiday list, Nintendo has you covered. Nintendo is visiting malls nationwide to give families hands-on time with great Nintendo games during the busy holiday shopping season, plus a chance to meet some of Nintendo’s favorite characters. Like cookies, presents and visits with relatives, the Nintendo mall program has become something of an annual tradition since 2006. Nintendo estimates that last year more than 850,000 people got some hands-on time with Nintendo games.

Nintendo will be at two dozen malls from Nov. 21 to Dec. 18, prime time for holiday video game sampling. Shoppers will be able to spend time checking out all the coolest games for the Nintendo 3DS™, Wii™ and the Nintendo DS™ family of systems. In advance of the mall program, 10 select malls will also get a special preview of the upcoming epic game for the Wii console, The Legend of Zelda™: Skyward Sword, which will make a 10-day appearance from Nov. 11 to Nov. 20.

“Nintendo has something for everyone on your holiday gift list,” said Scott Moffitt, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “Shoppers can stop by to test-drive games, meet Nintendo characters or just to take a break from their gift hunting and have some fun.”

On weekends visitors also may have a chance to interact with various Nintendo characters like Mario™, Luigi™, Donkey Kong™, Kirby™ and Pikachu™.

Nintendo 3DS games available to play at the mall program include Super Mario 3D Land™, Mario Kart™ 7, The Legend of Zelda™: Ocarina of Time™ 3D, Pokémon™ Rumble Blast, Star Fox 64™ 3D, Tetris® Axis, nintendogs™ + cats, Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure™ from Activision Publishing Inc. (also available for Wii) and Super Street Fighter® IV 3D Edition from CAPCOM.

Wii games available to play at the mall program include The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, Kirby’s Return to Dream Land™, Mario Kart™ Wii, New Super Mario Bros.™ Wii, Super Smash Bros.™ Brawl, Donkey Kong Country™ Returns, Wii Play™: Motion, Wii Sports Resort™, Just Dance® 3 from Ubisoft and Zumba® Fitness 2 from Majesco Entertainment.

Games for the Nintendo DS family of systems available to play at the mall program include Kirby™ Mass Attack, Fossil Fighters: Champions™, Professor Layton and the Last Specter™ and Bejeweled™ 3 from PopCap.

The complete list of malls on the Nov. 21-Dec. 18 program is as follows. Malls marked with an asterisk will also participate in The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword preview program Nov. 11-20. The complete list can also be found at http://www.nintendo.com/whatsnew.

Annapolis in Annapolis, Md.
Barton Creek Square in Austin, Texas
Castleton Square in Indianapolis
*Chandler Fashion Center in Chandler, Ariz.
Danbury Fair in Danbury, Conn.
*Dolphin Mall in Miami
*Eden Prairie Center in Eden Prairie, Minn.
Fox Valley in Aurora, Ill.
Garden State Plaza in Paramus, N.J.
Houston Galleria in Houston
King of Prussia in King of Prussia, Pa.
Natick Mall in Natick, Mass.
Perimeter Mall in Atlanta
*San Francisco Centre in San Francisco
*Southcenter in Seattle
*SouthPark in Strongsville, Ohio
*The Parks at Arlington in Arlington, Texas
*Topanga in Canoga Park, Calif.
*Twelve Oaks in Novi, Mich.
Tyrone Square Mall in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Valley Fair in Santa Clara, Calif.
Washington Square in Portland, Ore.
Wolfchase Galleria in Memphis, Tenn.
*Woodbridge Center in Woodbridge, N.J.

Remember that Wii and Nintendo 3DS feature parental controls that let adults manage the content their children can access. For more information about this and other features, visit http://wii.com or http://www.nintendo.com/3ds.

New BloodRayne: Betrayal Screens are Bloody-licious

Stephanie Gutowski — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 18:21:35 +0000

You remember BloodRayne, right? Not the ill-fated films that Uwe Boll warped into living piles of screaming feces, but the game that taught us that killing Nazis is way more fun when you’re a lady dhampir wearing skin-tight everything. BloodRayne: Betrayal, Majesco’s latest contribution to the franchise and WayForward’s first foray into the series, is about to launch a hack and slash side-scroller for XBLA and PSN– but they want you to feast your eyes on some more screens first. Personally, I think they’re a tad bit cooler than the last batch we showed you.

It’s a little bit anime, and dead ringer for Castlevania, aside from the fact that you’re playing as a half-vampire. And the blood. I don’t remember Castlevania boasting Tarantino-like geysers of blood. Not that I’m complaining.

Who knew that the publishers of Babysitting Mama would be so gung-ho about a game revolving around bloodsplosions? BloodRayne: Betrayal is due on Xbox Live Arcade and the Playstation Network later this year. Looks like it could be a bloody good time.

Five Juicy New Bloodrayne: Betrayal Screens

Chris Carlson — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 23:43:09 +0000

Majesco have just released five brand new screenshots for their upcoming side scroller, Bloodrayne: Betrayal. If your inner vampire has you craving for blood, then these new screenshots should tie you over until next month.

Bloodrayne: Betrayal is set to release on August 31st for XBLA and PSN.

Babysitting Mama and its Baby-Shaped Controller

Demi Adejuyigbe — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 22:56:54 +0000

Apparently, I missed the announcement of Babysitting Mama, Majesco’s newest foray into the “___ Mama” series that started with the surprisingly-excellent Cooking Mama. On Thursday, Joystiq got a quick look at the game’s plush controller- a baby that you tuck the Wiimote inside of.

Majesco was very careful to say that the baby controller hasn’t been finalized, and could change in the future. However, it will still probably end up being a baby that you put a controller inside of. Majesco’s next game, Cleaning Mama, complete with a Windex bottle to hold your Wiimote, has not yet been announced, rumored, or (hopefully) even thought of.

Congratulations to our GoG.com Contest Winners

Sam Naylor — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 23:34:05 +0000

You may remember that we ran a contest last week to promote the release of two new (well, old) Majesco titles on GoG.com. We received around 40 entries, but unfortunately we only have 15 codes to give away. This of course means that we had to choose between you, bringing our collective heart here at Ripten close to breaking point when we realised that we’d have to let 25 of you down.

The winners are as follows:

shindakun, CJAwesome KieranD, gene26, Maxdoggy, darth_careful, lotr-sam0711, DavidGX, Ralackk, Toyoch, Vestin, nickreaume, JamesGecko, catshade, and jandeilson.

You will be sent your codes via the email addresses you used to register with Ripten. Thank you for entering, and congratulations! Good luck next time to all who didn’t win!

Contest: Win The Video Game of Your Choice From GoG.com and Ripten

Sam Naylor — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:05:22 +0000

Good Old Games, the best place for nostalgia-loving PC gamers, announced the arrival of some brand new old games to their ever-growing catalogue this week; Majesco Entertainment’s Advent Rising and the highly acclaimed Psychonauts. To celebrate, we’re giving 15 Ripten readers the chance to win the game of their choice from GoG.com’s archive of over 160 classic PC games.

All you have to do is register for a free account here at Ripten and post a comment in the comments section below. Let us know which game you’d like from the library of games at GoG.com and a brief explanation why.

It really is that simple, folks! Just remember, you can’t win if you don’t register for an account here at Ripten. We’ll pick the winners on Monday, November 9, so you’ve got plenty of time to think of a game you’d like to add to your collection. All winners will be contacted through the email they used when registering.

Update: The competition is now closed. Thanks to all who entered! Here is the post outlining the winners!

Cooking Mama 3: Cook Hard With A Vengeance Has You Shoppin’ & Choppin’

Demi Adejuyigbe — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 01:42:34 +0000

Before you get all excited over Cooking Mama’s new M-rated murderous approach, I’ll have to tell you that the “Chop” in its title has nothing to do with killing, as it would suggest. However, if you’re willing to substitute limbs for vegetables, you can enjoy Cooking Mama 3: Shop & Chop just as much.

The third title in the Cooking Mama series has you cooking food with Mama, but also shopping for the food you’ll end up cooking. It doesn’t seem at all like the previous titles in the series to me, but that could be due to the fact that the game has a bunch of new recipes & methods of cooking, and a lot more mini-games than the previous games. Actually, if I can recall, the previous two had, uh, none.

Cooking Mama 3: Shop & Chop hits the DS this October for $30. Hit the jump for the full press release.

MAJESCO ENTERTAINMENT RELEASES THE FIRST TRAILER FOR ‘COOKING MAMA 3: SHOP & CHOP’

EDISON, N.J., September 10, 2009 – Get ready to shop and chop your way to the top! Majesco Entertainment Company (NASDAQ: COOL) today released the first trailer from Cooking Mama 3: Shop & Chop for Nintendo DS™, the latest addition to the hit cooking video game franchise that has sold more than 4.5 million units to date.

Using the stylus as the ultimate cooking tool to chop, slice, stir, spread and sprinkle, players can cook 80 fresh new recipes – including pumpkin gnocchi, chili con carne and more. The all-new gameplay mode called “Let’s Shop” lets players swing by the store to buy ingredients necessary to prepare delicious digital dishes. Interactive culinary games have reached a whole new level of cuisine artistry!

Cooking Mama 3: Shop & Chop brings Mama back into the kitchen with eight gameplay modes, 80 new recipes and 200 mini-games that let you play with your food in fun new ways. Cooking Mama 3 also supports gameplay connectivity with Gardening Mama so players can use items grown in Mama’s garden within her kitchen in Chop and Shop.

Cooking Mama 3: Shop & Chop for Nintendo DS™ is expected to release this October for the SRP of $29.99. For additional information about Majesco’s line of products, please visit www.majescoentertainment.com.

Seriously, No More Heroes: Majesco Announces “My Hero” Aspirational Games for the DS

Demi Adejuyigbe — Tue, 19 May 2009 23:56:24 +0000

Majesco is no stranger to great games. From Cooking Mama to Psychonauts to Bloodrayne, they’ve got games on the both sides of the gaming spectrum, but I think the “My Hero” series is the first series of Majesco games to have a focus on those with low self-esteem and high ambitions.

Majesco’s “My Hero” brand is a series of games that focuses on such inspirational jobs as Firefighter, Doctor, and Astronaut. To me, the game sounds like a high brow version of Ubisoft’s Imagine series for the DS, but as always, I’ll reserve my final judgement for the franchise’s release in August for $20. Hit the jump for a gallery of screenshots.

Hands-On: Major Minor’s Majestic March

Emily Balistrieri — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 20:20:51 +0000

I led a parade of animals through E3 yesterday, but it was pretty unobtrusive since all I had to do was wave a Wiimote at NanOnSha’s station in the Majesco booth.

Major Minor’s Majestic March (from Masaya Matsuura and Rodney Alan Greenblat, the designer and artist of PaRappa the Rappa) is a music game where you set your own tempo as the conductor of a marching band. Through the colorful, cartoon levels you recruit new animal musicians to flesh out your band and collect helpful items, all while keeping a good stepping pace.

Each of the seven stages start with a tempo setting period. You raise and lower the baton (Wiimote) as fast as you want to go, but can always make gradual adjustments later if you find you’re going too slow to keep the interest of your band members, or too fast for you to hit the beats.

Once you’re off and marching you’ll come across animals and items on the side of the path. By flicking the remote left or right on the indicated beat you can recruit characters to follow you. Keeping good time can be tricky with all of this flicking, but if you collect jelly beans your band will be able to continue keeping time even while you’re busy doing something else. If you lose the beat, there’s a metronome showing the up and down swings on the left hand side of the screen.

Besides jelly beans, there are other items such as sunshine, which improves morale (three Xs and they walk), rain that lowers morale, and whistles that halt the band so your can rest your arm. The chili pepper will make members of your band run off, and the aubergine character will steal them away, too.

Major Minor’s Majestic March ships holiday 2008, so they still have some time to iron out the sometimes awkward controls. Frankly, it’s adorable and a great way to use the Wii’s motion control, so I’m hoping there will be a little tightening here and there and some tweaking of the graphics– it’s another one of those games, like No More Heroes, where imagining it on the Xbox 360 or PS3 – just visually – makes you shed a tiny tear.)

Major Minor’s Majestic March will be a good present for the nephews, nieces, and band geeks in your holiday circle.

DS Review: Cake Mania 2

Jenni Lada — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 15:27:47 +0000

Cake Mania 2 was recently released for the Nintendo DS, and it is basically an update of the original Cake Mania. Once again, players are thrown into a bakery and must make custom cakes for demanding customers. If you’re a casual game or puzzle fan, you’ll probably be salivating at the chance to make cakes at a frantic pace.

There are some twists this time around. In the story mode, Jill’s dream of revitalizing her grandparent’s bakery has fizzled, and she wants to move onto better things. Coincidentally enough, she receives two requests – her friend from college wants help with a city bakery and her ex-boyfriend wants help with a bakery at his undersea amusement park. So players get to decide Jill’s fate – will she work for love or for fame.

Once again, the bakery starts out barren. Each challenge has two goals, bakery goal and superstar, where Jill must make a certain amount of money before the month ends. That money can then be used to buy new bakery accoutrements or upgrade existing equipment.

There’s also a new Endless mode, where players can just bake cakes endlessly. Since the first Cake Mania DS game pretty much ended after you beat the story mode, this is a welcome addition to casual players and fans of the game.

Despite being a casual game, Cake Mania 2 is definitely not for beginners. In fact, you’lll probably have to have played a bit of the first Cake Mania to figure out some of the more intricate cake combinations. Cake Mania 2 will not hold your hand and help you in the kitchen – it will leave the stove on hot, and allow you to figure out that fire burns.

This is demonstrated in two ways. First, is through lack of tutorials. You make one cake with the help of the game, and it’s a simple one too. After that, you’re thrown into work. The first assignment isn’t too bad initially, but after you buy three ovens, you’ll start getting requests for 2 layer cakes with decorations, without any explanation how to make one.

Then there are the chapter descriptions. They will occasionally hint at a helpful product for the coming level (like the TV). This is nice, except it comes up after the utensil buying section. So you’ll find out right before the level starts that the upcoming customers can be appeased with a TV, and you won’t have one.

Cake Mania 2 really does improve over the first DS Cake Mania game. It is more challenging, attempts a deeper story with the ability to guide Jill the baker’s fate and provides the Endless cake mode where you can bake as much as you want. On the other hand, it betrays its casual gaming fans and roots by offering little in the way of explanations or tutorials and jacking up the difficulty level.

What does this score mean? Check out our review scoring breakdown.