You, of course, know Ottumwa, Iowa as the birthplace of actor/raconteur Tom Arnold and M*A*S*H*'s Radar O'Reilly. But were you aware that it's also "The Video Game Capital of the World"? It's true! How did they nab such a lofty distinction? Well, basically, they just called it yesterday afternoon. Yeah, that's apparently all there is to it. Just calling dibs. The next step they want to take on is, apparently, building a Video Game Hall of Fame.
Their basis for the claim? Billy Mitchell scored a Donkey Kong world record at an Ottumwa arcade in 1982. In fact, you can now see that machine for yourself, as The Mitch donated it to the city yesterday. Book your summer holiday early folks!
Jose R. Tavarez, treasurer of the Delta Theta Sigma fraternity at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is accused of stealing $12,000 from the group. Tavarez says that he took the money to buy video games because his bank card is linked to his parents and "he did not want them seeing that he spent his money on the games."
So embarrassed about his video game habit that he stole? We'd love to know how far he'd go to cover up paying to join a fraternity.
First, let's clarify that we're talking about mediapiracy, not seafaring piracy. If you were expecting buckles to be swashed, you can look elsewhere. So, the news then: The office of the United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk has elevated Canada to its "Priority Watch List" in the 2009 Special 301 Report, which covers "the adequacy and effectiveness of intellectual property rights (IPR) protection by U.S. trading partners." This marks the first time that Canada has been on the list, which, according to the report, reflects "increasing concern about the continuing need for copyright reform, as well as continuing concern about weak border enforcement."
The Entertainment Software Association, unsurprisingly, has cheered the report, with GamePolitics reporting that CEO Michael Gallagher called the act "a signal of the Obama Administration's commitment to strengthening global intellectual property protection, and its intent to address this issue firmly with the Canadian government." He adds that Canada's "weak laws" aid game piracy and "pave the way for unlawful imports into the U.S."
The ESA has numerous hopes for the Canadian government, such as the outlaw of mod chips and "game copiers." Additionally, the organization would like to see "legal incentives" for internet service providers to fight piracy, border seizures of pirated games and more focus on prosecuting intellectual property crimes.
We really aren't going to get into a semantic discussion about Borderlands' new art style, so feel free to call it cel-shaded or illustrative, it's all marketing-speak bullet-points to us at this stage. Thing is, the game looks totally different than it did back in the day.
We're just curious to see what Borderlands looks like in action now, and we'll hopefully have that chance at E3, commencing in just a little over a month. Check out the gallery below for new images (for the internets, at least), and be sure to click the hi-res button in the gallery to embiggen.
When Prince isn't busy changing his name, starring in Hollywood movies, or giving your mother hot flashes, he enjoys making music. Nowadays, he's hocking his latest album at your local Target, which is the reason PBS caught up to the man for an interview.
The interview is pretty extensive, spanning a great deal of Prince's illustrious career, but of most interest to the gaming crowd is surely Prince's thoughts on Guitar Hero. When asked, Prince said, "Well, I ain't mad at them. I hear it made, like, $2 billion and they came to us and offered us a very small portion of that," which Prince, obviously, turned down. Prince thinks, "it's more important that kids learn how to actually play the guitar," even though he says it's incredibly tough to learn. According to him, the payoff is the joy of creating something from nothing.
Prince thinks that making music is the best thing in the world, but we think he's overlooking one important fact: You can create music with Guitar Hero'sinstruments.
Hey, David. (We figured the nature of this post would only interest one person on the planet. We took a shot in the dark and went with David. If you're name is David, and find this post interesting, WE'RE IN YOUR MIND.)
You know how you're looking forward to Bioware's upcoming fantasy RPG Dragon Age: Origins -- enough to drop a Lincoln to ensure your copy is readily available come launch day -- but you're afraid said game will be too difficult? Great news, David! Gamestop is giving two in-game items to the game's pre-orderers: A "Memory Ring," which hastens XP acquisition, and a "Memory Band," which will "help apprentices retain their lessons." We don't know what that means, but we bet you do, David.
Go ahead, David. Go pre-order it now. Your wallet is on the dresser. Your keys are in your left work shoe, sitting by the front door.
It appears the demo for X-Men Origins: Wolverine is available now on Xbox 360. Go experience the thrills of watching Wolverine cut bad guys into meaty chunks and shove them head-first into ... well, you'll see. Don't be fooled, gamer parents out there: Activision may have the PG-13 rated movie's title on the box, but this game is certainly rated Mature and likely not suitable for the kiddies. Definitely take Wolverine for a test drive if you're up for an intense God of War experience set in the Marvel universe.
Though its highly anticipated, National Treasure meets Duke Nukem shooter The Conduit has yet to hit store shelves, High Voltage Software is already teasing the big E3 reveal of two new Wii-exclusive titles. According to French gaming site Nintendo Master's recent interview with Voltage's Eric Nofsinger, the developer is cranking out another FPS (one with even stronger visual tech than The Conduit), and another title which is "a different kind of a thing." You know what that means? Equestrian breeding sim. Check out the video interview after the jump!
Breaking through the fire and the flames to bring you this week's Guitar Hero: Smash Hits track list update, the game's publisher, Activision, likely embraced the coolness of some nearby raining blood before continuing on. But the company didn't stop, not even to lay down for a moment, as it knew that in order for you fine folks to rock and roll all night, it must persist in its journey.
And so, as Activision managed to miss murder once again and bring us a short list of tracks to be included in GH: Smash Hits -- this week from Guitar Hero III -- we're starting a cult of personality around the publisher. Barracudas be damned, we say! Try and hit us with your best shot! Fire away!
Or, ya know, check out the three new screens in the gallery below and the full list of tracks after the break. But you already know them, don't you?
Patapon 2 is finally coming to the PSP in North America. While associate producer Chris Hinojosa-Miranda couldn't precisely explain why the title has taken so long to reach its final destination, he did say that the added time provided more focus on localization and translation. (Even still, we manged to spot a few lingering instances of "Engrish.")
Hinojosa-Miranda told us that the development team continues to get requests for a downloadable PS3 version of Patapon that features online modes, which he says the studio is "listening to." The team is also looking at licensing out more of those popular Pataponplush dolls (in case you missed the first batch). Will there be a Patapon 3? "There's such a critical love for Patapon, the characters, the story overall, and the music especially ... there's a good chance that the franchise will continue," Hinojosa-Miranda suspects.
As you probably already know, the latest issue of Nintendo Power blows the doors off of the recently announced sequel to the Wii's slightly disappointing, sword/gun-toting FPS launch title, Red Steel. Now that the mag has landed in a few quivering, anticipatory hands, more details about Red Steel 2are beginning to surface.
First and foremost, the title will apparently be cel-shaded -- hinted at by the sole piece of concept art we received yesterday, and confirmed by a number of scans which are beginning to creep onto the internets. Also, we recently got confirmation from Nintendo Power itself that the game will be "Wii MotionPlus exclusive," a phrase we can only interpret to mean "you need a MotionPlus dongle to play it." (Are you guys comfortable with calling it a dongle? That's such a lovely word. Don-gle.)
We'll let you know when we hear even more facts about the game. And by facts, we don't mean "my brother's girlfriend's sister's stepmom goes to a beauty parlor where she read about Red Steel 2 while waiting for her bouffant to dry."
In a new clip for Eidos's best effort yet, we get a glimpse at some of the stylish ways The Bats can dispatch his many foes. Whether it's a clothesline, or a full-on bodyslam, the world's greatest detective knows how to handle a crowd (and look while doing it!). Generic thugs, your days are numbered!
After spending some quality time perusing the classic arcade collection amassed by the FunSpot and the American Classic Arcade Museum, we had a chance to speak with one of the museum's founders, Gary Vincent.
An employee at FunSpot since the '80s, Gary was instrumental in creating an environment where classic arcade machines were preserved for future generations. Sitting next to the mini-golf course that helped to launch FunSpot in the early 1950s, we discussed the origins of the museum, how technology has both helped and hurt the arcade scene and the process of bringing a classic back to life.
Microsoft Canada has told Joystiq that a new console bundle is headed exclusively to the Great White North. The Grand Theft Auto IV: Limited Anniversary Edition bundle packs the best-selling "American Dream" simulator, GTA IV, with an Xbox 360 Elite console. As for other extras, the bundle comes up short.
Included in bundle are the standard Elite offerings (black console, controller and wired headset) along with 400, one month of Xbox Live and two promotional stickers: One for Grand Theft Auto IV itself and one for the Liberty City Swingers baseball team. That's it. The downloadable, Xbox 360 exclusive GTA IV: The Lost and Damned is not included.
The bundle is set to hit stores on May 4 and is priced at $399 -- the standard price for Canadian Xbox 360 Elite bundles. So, yay: a new bundle celebrating the one-year anniversary of GTAIV. Sorry if we don't bust out the confetti but this isn't even half as exciting as the Game of the Year edition bundle revealed earlier this month.
Update: FutureShop is now taking pre-orders on the GTAIV Elite bundle.
With only two short months until its North American release, over the top action game Prototype got a new trailer today. Before you read any further, you must know this: Yes, you are able to mow down "infected" enemies (read as: zombies) using the (pilotable) helicopters. Finally!
Now that we've gotten that out of the way, in the trailer above, Prototype's executive producer Tim Bennison explains the various mission types you'll be playing. Between "shank dude then appear as him" and "chase giant monster through the city" (clearly the official names), we're hoping the game has enough variation to keep us interested. But, then again, we could always just run up a building and then glide down to the ground off the side of it, killing helicopter pilots on the way down, in mid-air.
Last generation, it was like Ubisoft could do no wrong, developing and publishing an extensive catalog of commercial and critical hits. Do we even need to name-drop? (Prince of Persia, Splinter Cell, Beyond Good & Evil, Far Cry, Brothers in Arms, Rainbow Six 3, and so on.) As reported yesterday, the company has continued to grow as an industry juggernaut with sales up 14 percent to nearly $1.4 billion in the last fiscal year (ending March 31, 2009), but it's done so by splitting its focus.
Ubisoft has continued to succeed as a business because it has targeted the done been had emerged casual market, dreaming up more Imagine themes and My Coach scenarios, and unleashing more Petz and darned Rabbids games than we care to recount. Perhaps not surprisingly then, 47 percent of Ubisoft's sales were attributed to the DS (29 percent) and Wii (18 percent) platforms during the last fiscal year, up a combined 11 percent from the 2007-08 fiscal year. By comparison, combined sales of Ubisoft's PS3 and Xbox 360 games were down 7 percent -- and so was production. (The full sales breakdown by platform is posted after the break.)
This is not to suggest that Ubisoft has been wrong to cut resources on big budget, dare we label "hardcore" titles. Indeed, a number of those excellent games of yester-generation have aged into tired franchises. In fact, while Ubisoft may be quickly cashing out its street cred around these parts, the company is generating precious revenue, which can be conceivably recycled into quality IP that we (you know, the 'core) want to consume. Who do you think's paying for the Assassin's Creeds and new Princes of Persia? Yeah, that dude up there.
Source - Ubisoft reports full year 2008-09 sales, pg. 5/6 [PDF]
Last week we had the honor of being some of the first people outside Sony to try out MAG, Zipper Interactive's first game on the PS3. While you can find out a lot of information from our hands-on report, we wanted a bit more insight into one of the most ambitious shooters to come along in recent memory. Russ Phillips, art director for MAG, was kind enough to answer some of the questions that came up during our extended demo of the game. Hit the jump for the full interview.
With competitive shooters these days, one of the things that really drives the community is online integration. The ability to log on, see your character and his stats, see how your clan is doing, etc. Is that something that you guys are looking at integrating into MAG?
Definitely! We want you to be able to follow your character, build a career with him, and be able to get on any time of the day -- especially to follow your Faction's progress and what is actually going on in the 'Shadow War' so we'll have websites dedicated to providing this information. I think any player that has played a game like this will want to know where they sit and and where their faction sits. So yeah, we've given a lot of thought to that.
A new trailer for Army of Two: The 40th Day has surfaced (embedded after the break via GameVideos). The quality of the video isn't fantastic (a promised high-def version is premiering tonight on GameTrailers TV, for you videophiles), but there's still plenty of information to soak up. You'll get to see Shanghai being overrun by the so-called 40th Day Initiative, which is apparently laying waste to everything and everyone in sight. One thing we noticed very quickly is that the tone of the trailer is very serious. The buddy comedy vibe present in trailers for the original Army of Two is almost completely absent, save for a single modest one-liner at the end.
Oh, and don't worry, there are plenty of explosions too.
Update: We've temporarily removed our link to the trailer as a courtesy to EA, whose European branch inadvertently made it available for short time earlier today. To make up for the gaffe, the publisher is providing us with a new HD trailer you'll be able to watch right here -- in this very post, for easy bookmarking -- tomorrow morning at 7 a.m. PST / 10 a.m. EST.
Two big deals appear on the PSN Store in the US this week. Killzone 2 gets its first batch of DLC and the Marvel vs Capcom 2 demo is now available for everyone to enjoy. Yes, even those of you in Europe, if you've got a US account. Other than that it's mostly DLC, including even more Disgaea 3 content. PSP owners have a Patapon 2 demo to try out in preparation for its imminent release.
Choose your platform to view the corresponding release list:
(Note: Continue past the break to view both release lists.)
On his way out the door, Sony Europe President David Reeves believes the PS3 will be the market leader in three to five years. GI.biz's interview with the parting exec reveals his prognostication that the PS3's performance will be a "tortoise and hare situation," with the PS3 obviously representing the slow and steady creature from the fable.
Reeves restates that he is actually "retiring" and that we won't announce he's with a new company on May 1. He believes that he might do some stuff in the games industry, but he has no concrete plans. Right now, he's just going to "get some rest because it's been a very tough year."
EA announced all of The Sims 3's community and microtransaction features today. TheSims3.com will become the hub site for all community and marketing features when the game births June 2. Players can use "The Exchange," which allows megalomaniacs to search and browse content, plus the site also allows the creation of movies and stories. More importantly for EA, there is also "The Sims 3 Store," an online retail location where users spend real money for SimPoints, which grants access to premium content.
Meanwhile, Janco Partners analyst Mike Hickey predicts that Sims 3 could sell over 4 million units in 2009, reports Gamasutra. Hickey has no estimate about how much The Sims 3 Store's premium content will add to the EA coffers. Seriously, though, parents: watch that credit card when little Susie or Michael starts begging for plaid furniture for their virtual dollhouse.
Source - The Sims 3 Full Online Feature Set Source - Analyst: Sims 3 Could Sell 4 Million In '09
Open for nearly two years at this point, Kuju-owned, digital distribution-focused doublesix studios has begun to get a foothold in the burgeoningdigital landscape. Speaking with GamesIndustry.biz this week, studio head James Brooksby said he and his studio prefer the direct consumer communication offered when working with the PlayStation Network over Microsoft's Xbox Live.
"We listened to what people were saying and ... it will have features that people have asked for ... [when] we do our first expansion pack [it'll be] actually tailored according to what people are looking for," Brooksby said, noting, in his work with XBLA on the upcoming Southpark game, that Microsoft handles the community communication all by it's lonesome. "We're developing it for them and it's their relationship to take to the consumer and carry on," Brooksby says of the company. Though considering the recent closing of Microsoft's Gamerscore Blog, we're betting that relationship will fall more into the hands of the developer/publisher as time moves forward.
At this point, after "supposed" artwork was leaked and the franchise's publisher, Microsoft, circulated a survey inquiring about the game, you'd think the company would just up and announce Forza 3 already. Not so, however, as Microsoft's also notoriously cagey about the game's "possible" existence within its own doors!
As you can see in the video embedded after the break (and in the less than beautiful screen grab above), Microsoft hides a logo for Forza even when showing the game to its own employees a group of Xbox community members from PortalXbox.com.br during a recent, camera-laden meeting in Brazil. The crowd audibly cheers "Forza!" when the logo appears and the man in charge goes on to speak about his love for past entries in the franchise -- never mentioning "Forza 3" by name, mind you. All we get after this is a banner marked "AGUARDEM," meaning "coming soon."
Will we see more of the game at E3 2009? Our money's on "Yeah, we'll probably see it then." Oh, and hey, Portuguese-speaking readers, feel free to drop us a tip with the fully translated transcript when you get a second. Thanks!
UPDATE: Reader Daniel Gomes has informed us that the event was actually the "National Forum on April 25th in São Paulo" for PortalXbox.com.br, "the largest Xbox community in Brazil." Good to know!
UPDATE 2: Apparently the YouTube clip we embedded after the break got pulled. Luckily, we had already downloaded the video! Feel free to check it out, still after the break!
Oh Lionhead, we're going to miss these little chats. For nearly two years, Lionhead developer diaries have been our link to the company, and, in our darker moments, the only thing keeping us going. Now, we're getting our last sneak peek at Fable 2 in the final developer diary, this time centered on the upcoming "See the Future" DLC.
We haven't watched it yet, but we're going to preemptively say "Oh God, it looks so good, we want to play it so bad. Oh please, oh please, just come out already." We'll be sure to edit the post if we're wrong ... which we're not.
The Call of Duty: World at War Map Pack 2 (c'mon, guys, you can surely come up with something catchier using all that dough) will introduce three new multiplayer maps: "Banzai," a jungle environment riddled with caves; "Corrosion," a Russian train yard; and "Sub Pens," a rain-drenched submarine base.
That's all well and good, but now for the good stuff: a new Nazi Zombie map! "Shi No Numa," home to this guy, promises new Perk machines, a new weapon, new Achievements / Trophies and flaming Hell hounds. It also promises to keep our repository of nightmare material well-stocked.
If EA Sports head honcho Peter Moore knows one thing really well, it's handling controversy surrounding his particular division of EA and the PC games market. After getting in trouble last year with PC gaming football fans for choosing not to produce Madden '09 on PC, he's back in it this year, telling Edge Magazine, "The business model right now, shipping a physical disc for the PC, simply isn't working for us."
He's explained in the past his company's reasons for choosing as such, citing low sales numbers and PC gamers trending towards console sports gaming, and this time is no different. "I've got to find innovative ways to bring our content to life on the PC and online is the way that that's going to happen," he claims. Sounds like EA Sports has some digital distribution ideas up it's collective sleeve then, eh?
Double Fine has released a new batch of Brütal Legend screenshots. There's plenty of metal goodness to be had, including dragons, cars and giant-fisted baddies. We won't lie though, the most exciting screen, as you can see above, is that of the Kill Master, played by MotörHead's Lemmy. We're not entirely sure what he's doing with that bass guitar -- what are those strings attached to, anyway? -- but we're fairly certain it's something awesome.
Check out all the new screens in the gallery below.
The Brisbane Times reports that "Pacific people" are upset by the "torture and murder" of Pocket God's adorable island natives. The media outlet reports that a spokesperson for the Pacific Women's Information Network questions how people would react if players were killing Mexicans or Asians. She believes people would be outraged.
Dr. Malakai Koloamatangi of New Zealand's Canterbury University is touched for saying, "I'm not saying let's bring in the thought police but there needs to be limits on what is acceptable, and this surpasses those." Here's your sign.
Pocket God's developers, Bolt Creative, stated the game depicts no particular ethnicity. The "game," which is more like interactive art, is only a buck. Check out Pocket God for yourself to see if you think the game is racist.
For those who didn't keep up with the collapse of Midway in real time, or aren't in the mood to check out every bit of minutia about the epic, Gamasutra has extracted the highlights. The piece showcases the publisher's financial issues -- like the fact Midway hasn't had any annual profits since 1999 -- the management's lack of vision, and finally the last couple years where even the most casual industry observer could watch things go horribly wrong.
The second half of the feature covers the anatomy of the disaster and stops short of getting into these past six months, which, in fairness, given the mysterious Mark Thomas, still makes very little sense. It's definitely worth the read for those who want to know how not to run a company, and for those who just like to point and cry at the stupid.
Game Developer magazine's 2008 Game Developer Salary Survey features something we wouldn't expect to see: good news. Gamasutra's summary of the survey notes that the average salary for people working in the American game industry (those who still work in the game industry, at least) went up 7% in 2008, from around $74,000 to around $79,000.
Business and marketing commanded the highest salary, at an average of $102,143. Programmers had the next-highest average salary of $85,024, followed by producers ($82,905), sound designers ($78,167), artists and animators ($69,532), game designers ($67,379), and QA ($39,571).
If you happen to be in one of those upper tiers and you'd like to read the full report, it's available for just $2,995.
After falling and falling hard for Robert Ashley's monthly gaming podcast A Life Well Wasted, we made the decision that we'd give you a heads-up whenever a new show goes live. Why? Because it's just that good. Plus, completely selfishly, we want you to subscribe so he'll keep making them. So sue us.
This month, Ashley spends the episode asking why he games, and "gets a first-hand account of what it's like to work on terrible games." So ... what are you waiting for? Go listen!
During yesterday's financial results conference call, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot mentioned that his company had already begun preparing for the next set of consoles. Does this mean that Ubisoft has been shown the plans of the hardware developers? Probably not! It's preparing with money.
"We need to get ready for the future generation of consoles," Guillemot told investors. "In the next few years, there will be new home and handheld consoles, and if you don't invest... you will not be able to cope with both [the existing and new generation consoles]."
We can only imagine how difficult it must be for Ubisoft to predict how the next generation will look. Right now, judging by the current generation, the company doesn't know what kind of media games will be stored on, whether there will be any media, or even how many screens its handheld games will occupy. It doesn't know how many years into the PS3's "ten-year plan" Sony will introduce the PS4, and there's basically no predicting what Nintendo's next device will look like, nor whether it will be more appropriate to put Tom Clancy sequels or Petz sequels on it.
While the Wii can often become a minigame jukebox, games like House of the Dead: Overkill and MadWorld prove that there's still room on Nintendo's console for players hungry for more than just another party. Despite Nintendo's preaching that it has not abandoned core gamers, others, like Illinois-based High Voltage Software, are doing something about it.
High Voltage's upcoming shooter, The Conduit, was positioned early on as the studio's effort to prove that the Wii could handle a hardcore FPS. Now, with it set to release in June, we cornered High Voltage creative director Matt Corso and spoke at length on the Wii, its perception with the hardcore crowd, and how his game's graphics size up to other titles like Gears of War.
Have you been abstaining from zombie slaying until the cost of entry dropped to the low-low price of free? If so, you're in luck. Valve is making Left 4 Dead available to all Steam users for free this "Freaky Free Friday" with a 24-hour trial version available at 12:01AM GMT. However, you can download and preload the game and the free Survival Pack DLC right now to get ready for a day with the undead.
We suggest calling in sick to work, ditching school and skipping Aunt Mabel's funeral (she might be a zombie herself, after all) if you haven't been a part of this game yet. Just don't blame us when you yearn for more undead cleansing the next day and end up (*gulp*) spending money!
EA Sports president Peter Moore spoke to VG247 about the state of the economy, offering careful statements about layoffs, sequelitis, and PC releases of sports franchises. But of everything happening at EA Sports, Moore had the most to say about the upcoming Wii exercise program, EA Sports Active.
"I call it a platform," Moore said. "Yes, it's a game, but it's bigger than a game, bigger than a franchise, bigger than a product. It's a true platform that we can sell expansion packs, sell more peripherals, ultimately get some download on there." Interesting choice of words, considering that EA Sports Active's biggest competitor is literally a platform.
Moore said that he hopes to add biometric data soon. "If I can do that, if I can get your heart-rate on the screen, I mean then I can really drive towards what my vision of this product ultimately can be."
Active and other exergames like it, according to Moore, can help EA and the game industry in general deal with "the most vitriolic press," including the Daily Mail, who frequently "blame [videogames] for pestilence, the plague, everything, and I think it's good that we have things to point to that say, 'This is getting you off the couch' and provide a little bit of balance."
Information continues to trickle in from the trusty crystal ball regarding Fable 2's upcoming "See the Future" DLC, which Lionhead now reveals will be available on May 12. The content will cost 560 ($7) Microsoft Points, a currency that thankfully still holds value in the distant future.
In addition to adding in new items, quests and fluffy companions, Lionhead also promises that all Xbox Live Silver account holders will be able to adventure alongside their Gold cousins for free from May 8 through May 11. So grab your dog and your favorite sword -- the future's waiting.
click for a larger steak -- it's what's for dinner
Cook or Be Cooked -- quite an ominous subtitle to a Food Network game for Wii, no? Fortunately, the only thing potentially dangerous we spotted in our hands-off demo of Food Network: Cook or Be Cooked was a scolding by silly-looking caricatures of the network's personalities.
To be honest, it wasn't the thought of learning to prepare food properly via a video game that intrigued us. We just had to check out a cooking game by Red Fly, developer of Mushroom Menand the upcoming Wii version of Ghostbusters: The Video Game. That and the title is slated to utilize Wii MotionPlus -- but it wasn't doing so at the event.
The brief demo we watched took place inside a nicely realized virtual kitchen, with the demoer following steps on a recipe card to make steak and mashed potatoes. The former required the proper oven temperature (turn the Wiimote to twist the knob, naturally) and frying pan handling. The steak was left in the oven too long, causing the kitchen to fill with smoke. Potatoes had to be cut with small chopping motions and, later, pulverized by holding the Wiimote vertically and mashing away.
More of a simulation than the arcade fun of Cooking Mama, Food Network: Cook or Be Cooked could easily be renamed "Learning to Cook WithoutRuining Real Ingredients." Now, if you'll excuse us, we have some bacon to waggle.
, one month of Xbox Live and two promotional stickers: One for Grand Theft Auto IV itself and one for the Liberty City Swingers baseball team. That's it. The downloadable, Xbox 360 exclusive 
