Mama heads to the garden

The Cooking Mama brand is expanding into the world of gardening.

505 Games has today announced the development of Gardening Mama, the latest instalment in the million plus-selling Cooking Mama brand.

Mama is hanging up for oven mitts and donning a pair of gardening gloves as she heads for the great outdoors to turn an empty garden into a tranquil paradise. Using the touch screen players will be able to dig holes, plant seeds, mix fertiliser and grow a range of fruits, flowers and vegetables.

Just as Cooking Mama broke down the cooking process into different stages, Gardening Mama will separate the plant growing process into small bite-size chunks of gameplay.

"The Cooking Mama brand continues to be one of our strongest sales successes on Nintendo DS and we're confident Gardening Mama will be a fantastic addition to the series," said Ian Howe, managing director, 505 Games. "We're also sure that Cooking Mama fans will love this new take on the incredibly popular franchise."

505 Games is publishing Gardening Mama for Nintendo DS across Europe in spring 2009.