There's hope for the quirky games industry yet; last week, MCV reported that the unusual cooking simulation, Cooking Mama for the Nintendo DS, has sold over one million units in Europe alone. What a lovely surprise! The game has been so well-received that the developers intend to release a sequel, with even more recipes.
Cooking Mama's the latest example of non-traditional computer games gone good. Most titles of this ilk come out of Japan and generally get a very limited release in Europe. Other imports that have done well include gamesblog favourite Katamari Damacy, personal fave Parappa the Rapper, musical puzzler Vib Ribbon, legal interactive story Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, medical adventure Trauma Center and melody simulation Electroplankton. Perhaps it's not a surprise that most of these are on the Nintendo system, although the PlayStation too has its fair share. The Xbox's record for alternative titles isn't as great, but its outlet for off-the-beaten path games is Xbox Live, which should produce a library of unusual releases.
