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It's hard to resist Mama, Majesco's cooking series' head chef and gourmet, with her big, bright eyes and charmingly accented adulations. Stirred your soup particularly well? "Goo-late jahb!" she congratulates. "Bettah zen Mama." And with Wii debut Cook Off's motion controls, chopping onions and grinding beef was never quite so fun. The satisfaction from a meal well cooked is profusely evident in both the original DS game and Cook Off -- not so much in Cooking Mama: World Kitchen. This latest installment moves Mama to the back burner, with you taking center stage as her apprentice. Worse yet, the motion controls are now slow and cumbersome.

Company X -- a Canada-based manufacturer of so-called "social gaming" accessories -- has brokered a deal with Everlast to produce genuine boxing gloves for Wii owners. Made from actual Everlast gloves, wannabe pugilists can slip their Wii remotes and nunchuks into the straps affixed to the top of the gloves, lending a little authenticity to their fake boxing experience. As an unadvertised bonus, they're also likely to help cushion the blow whenever you accidentally toss a haymaker into your kid sister's temple.

Master Higgins Speaks
Takahashi Meijin speaks about Hudson Soft, retro games, and vicious schoolyard rumors. By Ray Barnholt

Codemasters has announced that it is at work to produce DiRT 2 on a variety of consoles in 2009. The follow-up to the critically applauded DiRT will be simultaneously released for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, PC, Nintendo DS, and Sony PSP. The sequel promises real-world environments and officially licensed rally cars and off-road vehicles. The Group N Subaru, a favorite vehicle from the first game, will be the first car players drive in the sequel. Codemasters also claims it will have online racing functionality and social features, though the company hasn't specified what those are quite yet.

Relic's made -- in my humble opinion, at least -- the greatest real-time strategy games to date. The original Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War not only tapped into my love for Games Workshop's fantasy/space lore, but it also presented a new type of strategy that amounted to more than just mobbing the right mix of infantry against your opponent. Company of Heroes, and its expansion, Opposing Fronts, continued to evolve the genre by adding destructible terrain, the option to retreat, and an array of minute details that made the outcome of battle feel more about who understood their units rather than who could click the fastest. But while Relic's evolved strategy into a perfect mix of micromanagement and large-scale conflict, they've never succeeded in making me care about my units. Enter Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 2, Relic's upcoming sequel to the original DOW, and a game where you get to know your troops like never before.