But despite all the hoary old clichés associated with cookery, the general public never seem to tire in their obsession with it, forking out (arf) on expensive restaurants and hundreds of recipe books, or watching the hours and hours of TV devoted to the subject.
With Cooking Guide we’re clearly back in classic Nintendo territory – pushing the boundaries of gaming. In fact, Cooking Guide isn’t strictly speaking really a game at all. So what is it?
We decided it was best to go direct to Nintendo to find out. DS senior product manager James Honeywell tells MCV:
“Cooking Guide is part of our unique Touch Generations software range that is designed to appeal to anyone aged five to 95. It offers something to everyone, whether they are gamers, non-gamers, casual gamers and even senior people who have never considered using a video system before.”
“We feel that DS can provide them all with useful software, as well as entertainment, and can have a positive impact on their lives. Of course, with DS we offer all of these things in a portable package that people can always take with them,” he adds.
So, there you have it. Cooking Guide is a wide-appealing piece of handy software. In practice, Cooking Guide turns the DS into a recipe book and much more, with 250 international dishes covering breakfast, lunch and dinner (or tea if you prefer).
The game takes users through each recipe step-by-step with options to search, including video and simple guides. The dishes themselves are split into easy-to-find categories, including country, ingredients, difficulty level and even calories for waistline conscious users. Once the recipe is chosen, the DS carefully guides the user through, only moving on when he or she is ready.
Cunningly, Cooking Guide doesn’t just rely on classic DS stylus play as, let’s face it, cooking can be a messy business. That’s why the title can be controlled via the in-built microphone when hands are busy getting jiggy in mixing bowls and such like. Honeywell adds: “As it is fully portable it could be used at various times, such as when you are on the way home and quickly need to choose a recipe. Even if you want to cook several things for a special event, it can even help you plan ahead for this.”
Not content with easing the culinary process, Cooking Guide also helps out with the shopping. Sadly it doesn’t carry the bags for you, but it does help provide a shopping list based on the ingredients of the recipes the user has chosen. Clever stuff, eh?
So, who is Cooking Guide targeted at? Honeywell explains: “As this product offers so much, it could be used by so many people, whether they are a young professional, working parents who don’t have the time to think ahead or someone looking to prepare something new.
“This title can help the experienced and inexperienced alike to prepare amazing dishes.”
So with yet another genre-busting title to add to its increasingly extensive list, it seems like Nintendo has another mass-appeal release on its hands that is destined to sell like those proverbial hot cakes.
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