2008 Video Game Awards
I’ve already set my Tivo. Besides the awards, there will also be previews of new games for 2009. Plus, you can’t go wrong with Jack Black, who is hosting the awards show. Thanks to GoNintendo.com I just learned that you can also watch the VGAs streaming live if you don’t have Spike TV (just click that link). Spike TV says it’s for the network for men, but that’s lame. I’ll watch Spike. Well, except for the cage fighting.
If you want to find out about the hot video games planned for 2009, as well as enjoy the humor of Jack Black, tune in Sunday, Dec. 14, to Spike TV’s 2008 Video Game Awards. The awards recognize “artistic and technical achievement.” Host Jack Black is a big video game fan; I wonder if he’s played Kung Fu Panda on the Nintendo DS? The awards show airs from 9-11 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.
First pirates, now Nintendo DS counterfeiters. This is serious stuff. Government entities are warning about a scourge of counterfeit Nintendo DS and DS Lite consoles. It’s not just that people would be buying an inferior, perhaps non-working product that’s completely illegal. You could get the shock of your life. The consoles come with a power adaptor that, according to Nintendo, has not been tested, and could pose a fire hazard or other risks.
Hundreds of fake consoles were seized this week in the United Kingdom, and officials expect counterfeit imports will hit the U.S. as well. The consoles show up priced at about half the usual retail value, often on Asian Web sites.
I see a lot of posts on money-saving messages boards, especially from moms looking for holiday gifts, hoping to find a DS Lite deeply discounted. Or, they can’t find the one they want in stores and get desperate. The fact is, Nintendo sets the price at $129 and discounts are few and far between. The best deals can usually be found when the console is bundled with a game and/or carrying case. Rarely, a console will go on sale at reputable retail stores or online for as little as $110 or $105, or, in the case of the Pink Ribbon Nintendo DS on Cyber Monday, $99.95. But if you see a new console priced lower than that, consider the source and remember the adage: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
Busy Mama
The simulation game will allow players, as “Mama,” to grow and nurture their own garden, from flowers to fruits and veggies. Jesse Sutton, chief executive officer of Majesco, stated in a press release that Mama’s “first brand offshoot captures those features that made the Cooking Mama series a best seller–an innovative concept, full Touch Screen control, approachable gameplay for everyone and, of course, a charismatic mentor who pushes you in her own endearing way to give a gold medal performance every time.”
The stylus is key in the game, and besides the cultivation component, players will be able to follow through on their harvest, such as by turning strawberries into jam. Also, Mama’s outfits can be changed and her garden decorated. The game will be WiFi enabled for multi-player use.
PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) has come up with its own “Unauthorized PETA Edition” of the popular Nintendo DS (and Wii) game Cooking Mama. It’s subtitled “Mama Kills Animals” and is part of PETA’s campaign to get the original game’s maker, Majesco, to put out a vegetarian recipe version in which Cooking Mama only cooks up food without eyes.
You can read more about the Thanksgiving-themed campaign, and see a mockup of the bloodsplattered game cover, at the PETA Web site. You can also play the Flash game where PETA’s blood-drenched version of Mama rips the internal organs out of a turkey and performs various other carnage to carne, but I tried and it was just icky. I guess that’s the point.