There is plenty of speculation about the new Nintendo Wii console and I was pretty excited to find a little ‘fact sheet’ this morning that gives a bit of a peek at what the Nintendo Wii 2 will be like.

Nintendo Wii U

First up, it looks like it’s going to be called the Nintendo Wii U. Plenty of other names for the video game console have been circulating (such as ‘the stream‘, ‘the cafe‘, ‘the feel‘, ‘Nintendo HD‘ or even just simply ‘Beem‘) but Wii U seems to be the one they have settled on.

The size of the new Wii U console seems to be on a par with the original Nintendo Wii; according to the fact sheet it will be about 10.5 inches long, 6.8 inches wide and 1.8 inches tall.

There will be a new controller designed specifically for the Nintendo Wii U- it’s also nice to know that the new console will be backwards compatible with other controllers from the original Nintendo Wii. Up to four controllers will be supported by the new console including the Nunchuk controller, Classic Controller, Classic Controller Pro and Wii Balance Board. But back to the new controller (which looks awesome by the way)…

The new controller incorporates touch screen and traditional button controls, including two analog Circle Pads. It also includes a built-in accelerometer and gyroscope, rumble feature, camera, a microphone, stereo speakers, a sensor strip and a stylus. The specs for this thing are off the chart! Feast your eyes on this baby!

I’ll skip over all the other techy stuff from the ‘fact sheet’ and jump to the more exciting juicy stuff (like which games will be available at launch)…

Games for the Wii U

Here’s a quick list of the games rumoured to be available for the launch of Nintendo Wii U:

• Smash Brothers
• Battlefield 3
• Batman: Arkham City
• Assassin’s Creed
• Ghost Recon Online
• Darksiders II
• DiRT
• Aliens: Colonial Marines
• Metro: Last Light
• Tekken
• Ninja Gaiden 3
• FIFA 12
• Madden 12
• Driver
• Lego City Stories

Out of this awesome list I think I’d be most keen to play Batman and Driver (feel free to post a comment saying which ones you are most looking forward to on the Wii U).

But don’t be confused, we’re not talking about preparing and cooking ‘game’ here. No, rather than recipes for rabbit, squab or duck from such popular cooking shows as Masterchef Australia, My Kitchen Rules or Jamie Oliver, people are chomping at the bit to take the controls and actually play cooking games on their computer, Nintendo DS, Wii, Playstation, Xbox 360 or any console for that matter!

So with that in mind, I thought it would be a nice idea to take a look at some of the cooking games that are available on the different consoles, and let me point out that it’s not just about cooking games for girls, no there’s cooking games to suit boys, girls and people of all ages. This time around we’ll feature games about cooking for the PC.

Cooking Games on the PC

There are plenty of cooking games for the PC, but let’s take a look at some of the highest rated ones on Amazon.com.

Cake Mania

Game Reviews from people who purchased Cake Mania on Amazon.com:

i like these kind of games, this one isnt too bad, it gives you a lot of upgrade options and all but i finished the game pretty fast. Cake Mania 2 is much better, it just keeps going!!

3 out of 5 stars

This game may seem childish for some but after a while you will find yourself addicted to it. It’s simple but challenging. Overall, a great product and well worth the price.

5 out of 5 stars

Burger Shop 2

Game Reviews from people who purchased Burger Shop 2 on Amazon.com:

Burger Shop is great fun and highly addictive. Burger Shop II is twice as good! I like the Breakfast and Dinner levels in this game even more than the lunch menu carried over from Burger Shop I, and the new customers and their quirks add to the fun of the game yet more. I have loads of games and I play this one far more than any of the others even though I have been through it several times already.

I found the ‘Story Mode’ of this game not quite as challenging as Burger Shop I, but that’s okay, because expert mode will challenge me for a long time to come, I think. I haven’t earned all the trophies, and don’t think I ever will, but I also think I won’t ever stop trying.

The only change I would like to see in this game is the ability to play an ‘All Breakfast’ or ‘All Dinner’ story mode or challenge mode, but the only option is to play all three meals. A minor point. This is a great, great game that is well worth the price.

5 out of 5 stars

I had played this game prior to buying it and I LOVE IT!! I’ve wanted to buy the whole game and not just get a free trial for a long time now. I would recommend it to anyone who loves time management games like Diner Dash.

5 out of 5 stars

My Disney Kitchen

Game Reviews from people who purchased My Disney Kitchen on Amazon.com:

I’m 11 and I love this game! My Disney Kitchen lets you cook food for mIckey and Minnie, and you can even play Make-a-Cake games and Good Morning Griddle! It’s absolutely fun, and I’m an 11 year old Iron Chef America fan! My Disney Kitchen is PERFECT for Disney fans and Food Fans alike

5 out of 5 stars

My Disney Kitchen is a simple, basic 2-dimensional point and click style children’s game. Very little graphical complexity, and the technology could easily be pre-1995. But of all our computer and video games, it’s the favorite of my 2 and 4 year old niece and nephew. Baking cakes, making pancakes, spaghetti, peanut butter sandwiches (or any combination of those), or just raiding the refrigerator make for hours of fun. It’s a basic combination of kids’ two favorite activities: eating and making messes.

The interface is simple point, click, and drag, and any child old enough to use a mouse can make a meal. Although originally built for Windows 95/98, it plays in XP perfectly well with only an occasional sound hiccup due to delayed CD-read reaction times. Your kids will love it.

4 out of 5 stars

Part 2 of our Cooking Games extravaganza will feature Cooking Games on the Nintendo DS.

Well today, I thought it would be nice to look at one of the games that is being passed over by many but is still a fun little game for the 3DS. I’m talking about Steel Diver.

Steel Diver is a unique submarine battle game for the 3DS.

Most of the reviews you will read for Steel Diver rate it quite low and I tend to agree with these reviews although I do feel they are a little harsh – the game is still quite fun and should keep you happily occupied while you wait for more 3DS games to be released.

Here are a few comments about Steel Diver from Reddit users when asked to suggest a good 3DS game:

Steel Diver is great if you don’t mind a really slow game. It’s not really action oriented and is really more of a simulation than anything. I’ve had a ton of fun with it and would recommend it, but I think it’s a game where you either love it or hate it. – Bossman1086

Definitely Steel Diver. I’m having a blast with it. – Mojo_Nixon

Too Long; Didn’t Read version: If you have played through all of the popular 3DS games that were available at launch and are waiting for more to be released, Steel Diver could be a fun little game to pass the time – albeit  a little frustrating.

Buy Nintendo 3DS Games here!

Instead of playing Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition, download Street Fighter IV

In one of my posts last week I asked the question Will the Nintendo 3DS be a success or a flop? Well in my ‘glass is half full’ kind of way I said that it would be a huge success for Nintendo, after all I am a raging optimist – but the 3DS is pretty cool in its own right.

One of the arguments that were made during this post was that the Apple iPhones and iPads are very popular with children and parents alike these days – kids love them because you can play games on them and parents love them because the games aren’t going to cost them an arm and a leg to buy!

Well my friend who made this comment would love to read this post on modojo.com which lists alternatives to a bunch of 3DS games that were available at launch. Check it out and I would love it if you came back here and posted a comment or two if you think this kind of thing is going to pose a problem to the ongoing success of the Nintendo 3DS – especially if there is a cheap alternative to every 3DS game!

Buy Nintendo 3DS Games here!

If you’ve played through all the 3DS games that were available at launch, especially the ones I mentioned in 3 must have games for the Nintendo DS, then you won’t have to wait too long to get your hands on Starfox 3D, and that’s excellent news for anyone who has managed to get their paws on the Nintendo 3DS and is a fan of the original Starfox series (on SNES and 64).

Even so, it’s still about a month before Starfox 3D will be on our shores so you should still have enough time to play through some of the other hot 3DS games that were available at launch, such as Pilotwings Resort, Nintendogs + Cats, Super Monkey Ball 3D, Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars, Steel Diver and Rayman 3D amongst others.

Just like The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, Starfox 3D will be an enhanced remake of the Nintendo 64 version of the game. Even so, it is on the must have list of 3DS games for many fans, and I for one look forward to playing it!

What was your favourite game on the N64 that you would like to see enhanced and remade for the 3DS, or would you just prefer a straight copy of the game without any tweaking? Leave a comment below!

Buy Nintendo 3DS Games here!

There are several demo reels and side by side comparisons of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D that show the 3DS game is faithful to the original N64 game, albeit with some spruced up graphics and vibrancy. Given that the N64 version of Zelda is now over 10 years old and the graphics are starting to look a little dated, I welcome this change. However that sentiment is not echoed by every fan of Ocarina.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocatina of Time 3D side by side comparison of graphics from the N64 (left) and the 3DS (right) (this photo is borrowed from the Nintendo3DS blog - link at end of article... pun intended )

Some fans of the original Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for the Nintendo 64 are complaining that the spruced up graphics of the 3DS game have changed the feel of it for them. They argue that the new graphics do not suit the mood of the location because they are oversaturated and just too bright. But then there are others, like me, who like the updated graphics and think they look fantastic and wonderfully detailed.

Aside from the graphics it will come as welcome news to many players of the original Ocarina of Time on the N64 that the usability of items has been improved with the touch screen of the 3DS game – especially good news for those who got stuck with the iron boots in the water temple!

Exclusive Content for 3DS version of game?

Like many fans of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, I have been keen to find out if there will be any exclusive content in the 3DS game. It would be good to have some added content like new dungeons or something like that to give the veterans every excuse to buy this game on the 3DS.

One exciting bit of news I have heard is that the Ocarina of Time 3DS is set to include Master Quest!

In any case, I think Ocarina of Time 3D will be one of those 3DS games that will become forever cherished and be on every ‘must have’ list of games for the 3DS forever and a day!

Well that’s it from me, but before I go let me ask you – what do you think of the new graphics for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D compared to the N64 version. Love them, hate them or indifferent? (take a look at all of the comparison pictures over at Nintendo3DSblog).

Buy Nintendo 3DS Games here!

Well, after much ado here is my list of the 3 most underrated Mario Games:

Super Mario Sunshine

Super Mario Sunshine was released on the Nintendo Gamecube back in October 2002, and although it has snuck under the mainstream radar, many a Mario fan still holds fond memories of this game. Super Mario Sunshine was the second 3D Mario game (the first being Mario 64) and was based on the tropical Isle Delfino. Probably the main disappointment about this game comes about because it was released after Mario 64 which was considered quite groundbreaking at the time.

After the spoils of Mario 64 Super Mario Sunshine didn’t seem to offer anything revolutionary or mind-blowing; whereas Mario 64 introduced a whole new way to play platform games, Super Mario Sunshine didn’t bring with it any new innovations.

Super Mario Land 2

Super Mario Land 2 was released on the Nintendo Gameboy (the Nintendo 3DS’ big, big brother) way back in 1992. To be honest, the reason Super Mario Land 2 is underrated is probably only because of the fact that Super Mario Bros. 3 is revered by many and looms over so many other deserving Mario games. Others might say that the game play was faulted on the Gameboy and that’s part of the reason it is so underrated. The game design was decent and the levels and power-ups were fun but some of the physics of gameplay left a little to be desired.

The Super Mario Land games are considered by many to be totally off-the-wall but still awesome and here’s a little fun fact: Super Mario Land 2 is actually the first game to feature an appearance by Wario!

Mario Golf

Mario Golf doesn’t get half as much recognition as the other sports titles in the list of Mario games. Mario Golf was released on the Nintendo 64 in 1999 and also had versions made for the Gameboy Colour, Gameboy Advance and Nintendo Gamecube but hasn’t made it across to the Nintendo Wii as yet, which is a shame because it would be really cool to play with the motion sensitive controllers.

Update: Hold on to your hats, I just took a look over at the official Nintendo website and it looks like they have released Mario Golf as a classic game on the Wii.

What’s your favour underrated Mario game?

Buy Nintendo 3DS Games here!

Just Cause 2 (OFLC: MA 15+)

Just Cause 2 is an open world action adventure video game that was released on the PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2010. It is a follow up to Just Cause that was released in 2006. There’s a lot of chatter about Just Cause 2 being comically bad (it’s so bad it’s almost good) with terrible voice acting and lack of meaningful plot, but the game play itself is just good mindless fun. If you don’t mind a silly plot with poor voice acting, you will be rewarded with some really fun game mechanics and a huge open world to explore.

Fallout 3 (OFLC: MA 15+)

The Office of Film and Literature Classification originally banned Fallout 3 when it was released on the PC, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2008 but it was eventually released as an edited version. The controversy was supposedly caused by the inclusion of ‘chems’ that gave the players positive or negative effects and was deemed too close to promoting substance abuse. The actual gameplay is very immersive and worth a look.

Crysis 1 (OFLC: MA15+)

My first article on this blog debated whether or not Crysis 2 is better than Call of Duty: Black Ops (if you’d like to have your say about this just pop over and leave a comment or two on the post). Well, obviously before Crysis 2 there was Crysis 1 (released in 2008) – and quite frankly this is probably the game that would have really put your gaming PC to the test (if you could play Crysis on your gaming computer you could do just about anything!). Unlike the other games I have mentioned on this list, Crysis was not available on the Xbox or 360 but was released exclusively on the PC. If you ask me, the single player mode plays to the strength of this game and is the reason I have listed it in the Top 5 PC games from the last 5 years.

Sins of a Solar Empire (OFLC: )

Released in 2008 exclusively to PC Gamers, Sins of a Solar Empire is a SciFi realtime strategy game. This one is for the space travel strategy lovers. It has also continued to receive expansion packs to keep the game fresh, such as Entrenchment which was released in 2009 and Diplomacy which was released in 2010. Sinsofasolarempire.com is an active site that at the time of writing this post was running a poll on whether players would like to see a new expansion pack – the results were a landslide in favour of ‘yes’ so expect to see even more expansions to this great strategy game.

Borderlands (OFLC: MA15+)

Borderlands was released in 2010 and is available on the PC, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. The co-op campaign mode provides hours of fun when played with a friend. This game does suffer a little from mouse acceleration issues but it is basically an awesome game that is definitely worth checking out.

Don’t agree with some/any of these top 5 picks? Leave a comment!

Sony Xperia Play - bringing PlayStation games to the Android market.

In my previous post I posed the question will the Nintendo 3DS be a success or a flop? Well in today’s post I would like to talk a little more about video games on hand held devices (such as the iPhone, iPod Touch, Nintendo DSi, Nintendo 3DS, Playstation Portable), but take it in a slightly different direction. You might have noticed that the odd one out in the list I just mentioned is the iPhone/iPod Touch – well even though you can play games on them they’re not really games consoles and neither is Android, but… *drum roll please* the Android has a surprise in store!

Why the drum roll for the Android? Well, after the discussion about all the video games that are already available on the iPhone and iPod Touch and whether that creates stiff competition for the new Nintendo 3DS, today I found out that Sony are starting to release some of their PlayStation games on to the Android market.

According to droidgamers, the following games have just been officially released on the Android mobile phone market:

• Syphon Filter
• Destruction Derby
• MediEval
• Jumping Flash
• Cool Boarders 2 – I used to love that game!

Now, I’m not sure of the exact pricing details or release schedule, but droidgamers suggests the games are available for $6.38US each and are paving the way for the launch of the Sony Xperia Play (Sony’s PlayStation Phone).

I think this is pretty exciting news, but do you think the graphics of the old PlayStation games will be able to hold their own against other handheld/mobile games optimised for today’s capabilities?

Who cares, just release it in Australia ASAP!

Nintendo 3DS: will it succeed?

I was chatting to someone on a forum the other day who questioned whether the Nintendo 3DS will be a success… well they were more blunt than that and said it would be a flop.

To put it in context, we were chatting about the uptake of 3D devices and whether they would ever really take off like most people have expected. This eventually turned in to a conversation about whether the 3D effects will translate well on such a small screen as the 3DS has, and whether this will be a big enough drawcard to attract all the iPod Touch/iPhone games players.

My friend argued that we now have a generation of kids and parents that are used to the convenience of games that are cheap and can be instantly downloaded and played on your iPhone or iPod Touch. Not to mention that Apple is very trendy at the moment and parents will love the fact that the games are not going to cost them an arm and a leg… all of which he translated to mean that the new 3DS will be a flop.

However, in my opinion comparing the Apple iPhone/iPod Touch to a pure bred games console like the Nintendo 3DS is as useful as comparing apples to oranges (update: I just noticed there’s a pun in there – let’s say it was intended!).

Yes I think that Apple is gaining strength by numbers with the amount of games that are readily and cheaply available on the iPhone and iPod Touch, but the Nintendo 3DS will have it over them in terms of quality. The Nintendo 3DS already has a stable full of top notch games ready for launch (including Super Street Fighter IV: 3D edition, Star Wars Clone Wars III 3D and Ridge Racer 3DS, all of which I chat about in my post ‘3 Must Have Games for the Nintendo 3DS’), and this list will continue to expand with quality titles such as The Sims 3, Mario Kart 3DS, Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D and many others!

Not only is it an argument about quantity vs quality, but most people are used to having more than one device for different purposes (at least until the day someone creates the magical all-in-one hand held, possibly holographic, device that does everything perfectly). I’m sure you even know people that have both the iPhone and iPod Touch, so if they’re interested I’m sure there’s nothing stopping them from buying the Nintendo 3DS as well.

I think the 3DS will be a big success for Nintendo, not just because of the 3D effects without glasses that it promises, but mostly because of its fans who already love the company and its characters.

Oh, and after all that let’s not forget the graphics – the previews I have seen for the 3DS look awesome so far!

For what it’s worth, I can’t wait to get my hands on the Nintendo 3DS.

Update: I just checked a couple of the online game shops (EB Games and Game.com.au) and it looks like EB have already sold out of the Nintendo 3DS. Looks like it’s already a hit!

Buy Nintendo 3DS Games here!