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[Lewis]

First ever” product claims are often dubious, but it’s hard to argue the point with the makers of “Gardening Mama,” who are marketing it as the first video game about gardening. If it’s not, it’s surely one of the first — after all, planting isn’t an activity that delivers the action-packed punch of, say, “Grand Theft Auto.”

Designed for Nintendo DS and released last week, “Gardening Mama” allows players to nurture 37 pixelated varieties of fruits, flowers and vegetables.

Joe McHale, a producer at Majesco Entertainment, the game’s maker, explained that it’s a spinoff of “Cooking Mama,” a series of games aimed at young girls. “We were looking for ways to take Mama out of the kitchen,” Mr. McHale said, referring to the Japanimation-style character that guides players through the games. Some members of the Japan-based design team do garden, he said, but no one was “supercrazy passionate” about it. Instead, they relied on books for the basics and, in typical video game fashion, glossed over the boring stuff. “It takes all of the high points and uses those for entertainment,” he said. Available for about $30; information: gardeningmama.com.

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