Want to learn how to fly, but can’t afford the several courses and insurance? Scared of heights, but have dreams of becoming a pilot? MadCatz delivers the goods with the Pro Flight Cessna Cockpit. The entire setup will set you back $4,999, but  penny-pinching pilots can purchase other parts separately starting at $59.99.

I had the opportunity to test this product with a modified Microsoft Flight Simulator X, and a licensed pilot by my side. When I asked him how accurate this was, he said, “aside from the g-forces you feel through your buttocks, the gravitational forces, and the communication, it’s completely accurate. We’re trying to get this product officially licensed for [pilot license] training.”

I was blown away by nearly every aspect. All the knobs, flips, switches—it was incredibly realistic! I won’t say I was very good at flying, but I can tell you that I’m better than the pictured Mr. Jeffrey L. Wilson who is seen in the photos giving all onlookers motion sickness due to his less than stellar flying. I completed a barrel roll without destroying the aircraft. I was really close to landing it, but forgot to pull out the yoke. Total crash and burn.

You can pick up the individual parts right now.

The Google Plus game library expands with today’s announcement that Zynga will bring its incredibly popular casual game, Cityville, to the upstart social network as CityVille+. This move deals a major blow to Google Plus’ main competitor Facebook.

CityVille has been the most popular game on Facebook and at one point had more than 100 million users. Recently, the game’s popularity waned, which resulted in a decline to a little more than 70 million users. If Google Plus is to succeed, it needs to provide (and improve upon) the services that Facebook users crave. CityVille helps Google come closer to that goal while simultaneously freeing Zynga from the vice grip grasp that Facebook has had on the company.

Under the current agreement with Facebook, it was unclear if Zynga could offer its games to other platforms. Zynga had agreed to keep its games exclusive to Facebook, in exchange for marketing support, and the use of Facebook Credits, but then had to hand over 30% of its revenues to Facebook.  Many thought that Zynga couldn’t port its games to other platforms, but the company proved that was not the case. According to some reports, Google Plus is offering lower fees to developers, which is a wise move to attract more game makers.

Google Plus has approximately 50 million users compared to Facebook’s staggering 800 million. If Google Plus hopes to snatch away users it has to do everything it can, and this move is a step in the right direction for the expanding social network.

The game creation process. This is probably not what you imagined in your dreams.

Everyone who has fancied themselves gamer have at one point dreamed of crafting their very own video games. After all, with so many games sopping in the juice called suck, their ideas would succeed because they know games better than some passionless suit, right? Kairosoft tests your game design, marketing, and employee management skills with Game Dev Story, a $3.99 universal iPhone and iPad game. You play the role of a game development company president who attempts to transform a small, indie company into a gigantic AAA level studio over two decades while staying within budget and appealing to the whims of game players and reviewers.

You begin Game Dev Story by naming your company and hiring coders, musicians, visuals artists, and other who will take your genius video game idea and turn it into an actual sellable product. These individual talents are typically one-trick ponies who specialize in one area of game design, but you can level them up to be more productive worker bees (with the trade-off of higher salaries). You’ll do the majority of the work in-house, but you can also hire freelancers to handle the load.

The PC is your initial platform of choice, but you’re presented with the option to program for numerous home consoles that parody real-world gaming machines both past and present–but it comes at a cost. For example, if you want to program for the 16-bit Senga Exodus, you have to purchase a license. These licenses don’t come cheap (and can eat a nice chunk of your budget), but should you craft a hit title you can expand your base and rake in big bucks. Even better, you can rewrite history; you can, for example, keep the Senga Uranus on the market with a string of hit titles. Should you conceptualize the right title.

Pictured: The Senga Exodus announcement at a trade show. Totally not at all related to the SEGA Genesis.

And this leads me to my biggest gripe: Game Dev Story stifles innovation. My idea for a ninja puzzle game was deemed poor after completion and received crap reviews from the gaming press. On the other hand, my idea for a ninja action game was far better received and generated lots of income. After some semi-deep thought, I concluded that this could’ve been meta commentary on the game industry itself. Still, I was quite disappointed that I had to stay within the safe confines of the video game industry  and gamer interests in order to make my company grow. Experimentation was very much discouraged, so I started making very similar games over and over again. That got old fast.

Game Dev Story features cute and colorful 16-bit graphics that look like they were pulled from a SNES. They do a good job of  individualizing each worker as they rattle off code and get in a zone by catching on fire. The environments are simple offices that become more expansive as your rent bigger space to house your employees. Game Dev Story makes small use of the  allotted space; it takes up just have of the interface, revealing its Asian cell phone origins. Chipper 8-bit music backs the simulation, which is fitting considering the simple visuals.

Game Dev Story is a fun, engaging title, but after a few hours of repeating the same formula, you’ll want to set it aside a bit. But until you reach that point, you’ll have a blast rewriting history and, eventually, creating your own video game console. For $4, this little dose of video game history is well worth the price of admission.

Players can compete in 3 to 9 rounds of mini-games in the All Star Party Mode. The rounds begin with each of the 4 players selecting their favorite show on the Town map – playing a super-quick game to see whose show wins and then playing a mini-game within the location selected. Some of the mini-games are locked at first but become available as you play through the All Star Party or Free Play modes. The player who racks up the most points and rewards at the end of the tournament is the party’s All Star.

There is nice range of 1 vs 3, 2 vs 2, and free-for-all mini-games and the controls are very simple. No nunchuck is required, but a lot of moving, jumping, and twirling around is. I mean, you could cheat and move your Wii remote up and down instead of actually jumping, but then you shouldn’t deserve the “All Star” title, should you? The games offer standard Wii gameplay:  you point, shoot, race, shake, and dance with games like “Human Foosball” in the “Phineas and Ferb” map and beach basketball in the “Hannah Montana” map. What was not so fun, however, was the poll game in every map where, yep, you take a 5 question poll. Polls? Really??

If you’ve mastered the mini-games, or if you just want to hone your fashion designer skills, you can customize your Mii’s or the 9 Disney stars’ outfits in “Closet” mode. Otherwise, Disney fans will have fun playing against other friends, get a mini-workout, and rock out to the shows’ hit songs.

Clearly, this sort of game wasn’t developed for the older crowd but if you’re looking for a way to connect with the younger members of your family or need a gift idea for a Disney Channel lover, All Star Party won’t disappoint.

It was only a matter of time.

Direct on the heels of its successful iPhone launch, the time-killing app you know and love has made its way to the bigger and more beautiful iPad – giving players yet another way to tend to their farms. The iPhone, iPad and Web platforms all work together, updating information between them or allowing players entirely new ways to kick of their farm.

While this is Zynga’s first native application for the iPad, FarmVille still works the same way it did on the iPhone. Players swipe a finger or double tap the touch screen to view their farms, harvest crops, or drive tractors.  The main difference between the two app is that the iPad one has custom graphics built specifically for the bigger, prettier screen.

iPad users will also be alerted to the status of their crops and farm through push notifications. As if you needed any more reason to check in.

“We want to reach people wherever they want to play the games they love, and deliver the most fun and social experience on every platform,” said Steven Chiang, president of Zynga studios. Congratulations, Mr. Chiang; you’ve created yet another way to suck hours out of our day.

Farmville is free and available at iTunes.

Laptop editor TJ Fink, ex-farmboy and owner of one of the finest ‘staches this side of Tom Selleck, has reviewed Farmville from the perspective of someone who has, well, spent a significant amount of time on a farm. I won’t spoil his verdict here, but let it be known that Farmville does not have, and I quote, “enough man-on-fox violence.”

Make of that what you will.

[Hat tip: Laptop]

She may speak choppy, fresh-off-the-boat English, but Mama has taught millions of Americans to cook and garden. Her next mission? To teach you arts and crafts.

Crafting Mama allows you to grip your DS’ stylus so that you can glue, cut, paste, and sew your way through a slew of tasks including quilt making, birdhouse building, and earring crafting. Creative gamers can even dress Mama up in a new apron they’ve sewn or toss a freshly folded paper airplane.

Crafting Mama is packed with over 40 craft projects, as well as a scrapbook in which you can save photos of your creations. Multiplayer support lets players create with a friend. Crafting Mama hits the Nintendo DS handhelds this fall.

With Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver coming out on March 14th, Nintendo has announced that each game will come packed with a Pokewalker accessory. Using the Pokewalker, players will be able to wirelessly transfer a Pokémon over to the Pokewalker and walk them through virtual routes as the player walks around in real life.

When walking, Watts are earned. Watts can be used within the Pokéwalker to encounter and catch wild Pokémon or search for hidden items. The items can then be transferred into Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver versions to unlock new routes. Plus, special versions of a Pokémon species can only be found within routes on the Pokéwalker. If a Pokémon is in your Pokéwalker, it will gain experience points as the player walks. Wireless trading between other Pokewalkers can also be done.

So much for the basement-dwelling stereotype, eh?

The Harvest Moon franchise never fails to amaze me. There’s seemingly a new game on a different platform every few months,  I’ve met exactly one other person in real life that loves it besides me, and, well, it’s about farming. It’s not exactly the sexiest concept, but Natsume tapped the virtual farming niche well before Farmville became all the rage on the Facebooks.

Today, Harvest Moon wowed me once again with the release of Harvest Moon: My Little Shop on Nintendo WiiWare. This new spin on the Harvest Moon formula is available for 1200 Wii Points, and is rated E for Everyone so the whole family can it in on the ho action. Let’s get some words from Natsume’s big man:

“We are thrilled to be bringing Harvest Moon: My Little Shop to WiiWare,” said Hiro Maekawa, President and CEO at Natsume. “It’s a great addition to the WiiWare library for players of all ages. It combines the addictive farming fun of the Harvest Moon series with lively, imaginative minigames. You won’t find anything else quite like it!”

In Harvest Moon: My Little Shop, you’ve just taken over your grandma and grandpa’s farm and accompanying shop in sleepy lil’ Clover Town. Your mission? To please demanding customers by making wild fruit juices, tasty ice cream treats, and extravagantly decorated eggs using the items from your fram in a series of fun and fast-paced activities that utilize the Wii Remote.

You’ll chop veggies in midair, shake your Wii Remote to match your cow’s moves, roll eggs through tilting mazes, and other surprisingly fun farm activities. The money earned from your endeavors can be channeled back into the business to buy new crops and animals, and expand and decorate your shop, so, in a way, it’s also a lesson in economics. Right. Along the way, you’ll meet and befriend lots of new and interesting characters, as well as more than a few familiar faces from previous Harvest Moon games.

So, anyone giving this game a go?