Tagged: majesco

Casual Games Bring in Profit for Majesco

Once financially-ailing publisher Majesco has hit the rebound button as the company raked in profits of $4.2 million, driven by Cooking Mama titles and Jillian Michaels’ Fitness Ultimatum 2009. The power of casual games brings in money once more.

Company CEO Jesse Sutton said: "We are well positioned to capitalize on the increasing demand for family friendly mass market games, the fastest growing segment of the industry, which in part is being driven by the success of Nintendo’s platforms."

Parappa Creators Making Wii Game

Majesco Entertainment announced that it has formed a partnership with legendary game designer and multimedia musician Masaya Matsuura, and famed New York artist Rodney Alan Greeblat, to develop and publish an original music-based game set for release next year. Both Matsuura and Greenblat are the creators of the best-selling PaRappa the Rapper series and are dedicating their distinct style exclusively for the Wii this time.

“Masaya Matsuura and Rodney Alan Greenblat are industry visionaries whose legacy was built on crafting groundbreaking, genre-defining entertainment experiences that everyone can enjoy,” said Jesse Sutton, Chief Executive Officer, Majesco. “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.”

Adds Masaya Matsuura: “Majesco’s publishing know-how and retail relationships allow us to stay focused on creating a game that is conceptually unique and, above all else, fun. Working with Rodney is a true creative collaboration.”

“Matsuura-san and I share similar artistic perspectives so I welcomed the opportunity to re-team with him and NanaOn-Sha to produce a one-of-a-kind music game designed from the ground up for the Wii system,” said Rodney Alan Greenblat.

Left Brain Right Brain Announced

To bring out more ambidextrous gamers, Majesco has announced Left Brain Right Brain for the DS. This game features puzzles and mini-games that will have players honing their mental skills while improving the dexterity of both hands. It will feature multiplayer support, four single-player modes, 15 different mini-games and more. Look forward to it this Holiday season.

Cooking Mama Sequel on DS

Want to cook on the go? Majesco has heard you, because they are publishing Cooking Mama 2: Dinner with Friends for the DS on November 13. It will also be released for the Wii.

Not a full-fledged cooking simulator like the console version, the arcade-like title will offer up 80 virtual recipes, the taste of which will be judged by an in-game panel of food critics. There will be 150 cooking mini-games and four player wireless multiplayer.

Eco Creatures Announced

Tree huggers everywhere – rejoice! Majesco has announced Eco Creatures: Save the Forest, a RTS game for the DS. Being developed by Lightweight Co. and Headlock Corporation, the game promotes awareness of environmental perils while tasking players with defending the woods against them.

The game has players using the touch-screen to control units of woodland creatures – named Ecolis, Ecoby and Ecomon – to protect the Mana Woods and recover the polluted lands. All creatures have unique skills that will help the player through 40 missions. Eco Creatures includes a Land Make feature that allows players to create and play their own maps. Multiplayer is supported by Wi-fi for up to two players.

Eco Creatures is expected to hit stores early next year.

GameTap Gets Majesco

Majesco Entertainment sent out word that it has released a couple of its games on GameTap, a subscription-based broadband gaming network. Titles from the publisher include Psychonauts, BloodRayne 1 & 2 and Jaws Unleashed, which are all available for subscription play and digital download on the service. These games will also be made available on the GameTap‘s recently launched ad-supported game play website.

“Given the limited shelf space and relatively quick turn of titles at retail nowadays, we consider GameTap to be a valuable vehicle that can help extend the video game lifecycle,” said a Majesco spokesperson.

Bust-A-Move Bash! Details

Additional details of Bust-A-Move Bash!, previously dubbed Bust-A-Move Revolution, has been sent out by Majesco. The game, scheduled to ship early next year, will utilize the Wii’s unique controller to bring a new perspective to puzzle games.

The new details revolve around the game’s various features: it will include 10 different characters, four game modes (see below) and a new Hyper option that speeds up gameplay. New modes being offered include a Puzzle Mode, offering 500 levels across five different puzzle areas; Endless Mode, which, as the title suggests, tests the players endurance; Vs.Mode, allowing up to 8 players to go at it head-to-head; and a Shooting Mode where bubbles come at players from all angles.

Bust-A-Move Bash! is being developed by Happy Happenings and is one of Majesco’s premier titles for the Wii.

Cooking Mama: Cook Off

Love to cook, but don’t want to kill people gastronomically? Then Cooking Mama: Cook Off for the Wii is for you: Majesco has announced the follow-up to the DS title that will make use of the Wii remote, letting players mash, slice, chop and stir their ways through more than 300 real-world recipes from ten different nations. The game will also offer two-player kitchen competitions to see who can cook the best meal the fastest.

In development at OfficeCreate, Cooking Mama is set for release early next year exclusively for the Wii.

I initially read the title as “Cock Mama: Cock off”… a ‘suitable’ title for a, err, suitably named console.

Majesco is Steamy

Majesco and Valve jointly announced that the former will offer titles from its catalog on Steam, the latter’s broadband content delivery service. As of now, BloodRayne 1 & 2 and Advent Rising are available for download, with Psychonauts going live in early October.

BloodRayne 2 and Advent Rising are selling for $20 on Steam, while BloodRayne 1 is available for $10. Those who purchase the titles during their first two weeks of availability will receive a 10% discount.