Cooking
”Atari: Witchers, RPGs, Cooks, and ... Deer Hunters
3:55 PM, the LA Convention Center. Everyone is tired, and you can see the media room starting to slow down — people wander by with exhausted expressions on their faces, looking at their watches and lighting up when they realize there's not much left in the day. Even Crecente has passed the point of being totally with it, pausing in the middle of sentences to stare off into space. I shuffle off to check out Atari's E3 offerings, and am met with a surprisingly cheerful staff who point me in the direction of caffeine. I am not caffeinated enough to face a spiel on Deer Hunter Tournament, so I'm sat down to await a demonstration of The Witcher: Enhanced Edition. I hear something about transport options from the person enthusiastically imbibing what the Deer Hunter guy is saying — 'Oh cool, so you're planning on having like, ATVs and stuff?' — and am glad I'm parked in front of The Witcher instead of one screen over. More impressions and details after the jump: More »Another Year, Another Cooking Mama
A mantra that should cause the clucking of tongues and the rolling of eyes! But no. This isn't some skateboarding series. It's no annually-updated football franchise. It's Cooking Mama! So it's with delight that we learn Majesco will be releasing a new Cooking Mama title this year, and an all-new one to boot. Called Cooking Mama World Kitchen, it's for the Wii, and aside from an entirely appropriate (and welcome) graphical upgrade, we're promised new minigame opportunities ("if you flip a burger too high, you can control Mama as she rushes in to save the day by catching it in her apron") and better motion control implementation. It should be out this holidays. Presser and NSFW screen after the jump.
More »
Pierce Film, Cook Xbox On High For Five Minutes, Then Stir
Ingredients: Kids, a camera, an Xbox 360, a microwave, the timeless human desire to bust stuff up real good. Preparation: Remove white plastic shell from console. Cooking Directions: Insert Xbox 360 in microwave. Cook until in flames. Remove from microwave, inhale toxic fumes, high-five everybody in the room, take photographs. Serving Suggestion: Video of microwaved 360 is above, with a gallery of fried console components in the gallery linked below.
Xbox 360 [Microwave Science, via Giz]
game announce
Iron Chef Host Says "Kotaku", Announces Game
Cooking Mama: 1.6 Millions and Millions Served
Majesco has done pretty well in North America with the Cooking Mama franchise. Between their three titles on the market (2 for the DS, 1 for Wii), they've sold 1.6 million copies here. But the larger stats freaks among you will note that the original Cooking Mama DS sold over a million copies—or roughly 2/3 of the total sales from 3 games. So it doesn't feel like much of a stretch saying that the series' popularity may have peaked. More »
bonus
Cooking Mama 2 Brings Free Tupperware
What happens when companies make boatloads yachtloads of money off of relatively simple to program DS games? They make sequels, and sometimes, they pass out free 50's Tupperware, too. Japanese pre-orders of Cooking Mama 2 will include some sweet retro Tupperware (knock-off?) that's loaded with plastic fruits and veggies. But something about storing plastic food in plastic containers messes with my head, like grocery cannibalism or something.
50's Tupperware Invades Cooking Mama 2 Japanese Pre-Order Bonus [jnintendo]
quirky triumph
Cooking Mama Huge Success For Taito
Just how important is the quirky little DS and Wii game Cooking Mama to Japanese developer Taito? Speaking to Gamasutra, Taito's U.S. representative Keiji Fujita revealed that only one game in the company's stable has managed to surpass the success of the little cooking sim that could, that game being the Japanese-only title Densha De Go (Let's Go By Train). In an interview posted on the website today, Fujita discusses the wild success of the franchise, which has now sold over 2 million copies around the world, as well as the future of Mama and her friends - including the possibility of an arcade version of the game somewhere down the line.
"Taito has the skill and the quality of arcade machines, so they could develop an arcade version of Cooking Mama. A virtual knife and cooking board or something..."Check out the full interview below for more on Cooking Mama, Exit for the DS, and the 30th anniversary of Taito's classic, Space Invaders.
Revitalizing The Legacy: An Interview With Taito's Keiji Fujita [Gamasutra]
cooking mama
1,000,000 Europeans Do It Even Better Than Mama
505 Games has proudly announced that everyone's favorite bundle of cooking mini-games has reached the 1 million mark in sales across Europe since it's release in September of 2006. If you had told me two years ago that a video game that centered around a besting a tiny Japanese woman with starz in her eyes (why'd they wanna go and put those there?) at cooking while she praises your work in horribly broken English would sell a million copies, I would probably be brining that up right now and telling you how right you were."These fantastic results vindicate the hard work and dedication from everyone at 505 that has gone into making this our most successful franchise to date," commented Ian Howe, 505 Games' Managing Director. "We've set ourselves a lofty target, but now we're all keen to see how quickly we can get Cooking Mama 2 to one million!"Of course the main credit needs to go to Japanese developer Office Create, but success is success. Way to go marketing team! Someone's getting a pizza party! More »
More Cooking With Mama
The original Cooking Mama for the Nintendo DS had just the right amount of quirky charm to make it a great success for Majesco in North America. Now, over a year and a console version for the Wii later, Majesco has released Cooking Mama 2: Dinner with Friends for the DS, and while the charm is starting to wear on me, I'm still finding it every bit as addictive as I found the original.
More »
Shadow the Hedgehog Can Cook
Mark G. sent along a link to the Sega-themed episode of his show Geek Eats!. I laughed (it's been a long week), though I have to wonder if some people don't have too much time on their hands; still, it's a better way to spend a few minutes than watching 95% of the current offerings on Food Network. You can catch more episodes over at his Geek Eats website.
ds only
Taito's TGS Looks Something Like This
The TGS anticipation continues! Taito has released its list of games appearing at TGS. And amazingly (or not, depending on how you look at it) all titles are DS games. They include: More »
delicious
Korean Cooking Mama Gets The Mitts Out
Best. Item. Ever. Over in Korea, Cooking Mama comes with oven mitts. Yes, oven mitts! Because right after playing Cooking Mama, you just might feel like cooking. Hell, I already have Cooking Mama and can't read Korean, but I would so pick them up for those mitts alone.Cooking Mama in Korea [GameBrink via DS Fanboy]
mo' better than mama
Cooking Mama 2 In Early 2008
The original Cooking Mama for the DS taught me so much, and the Wii version taught me even more, only with a control scheme that made me want to play the DS version again instead. Both games sold better than mama's hot cakes, so it comes as no surprise whatsoever that Cooking Mama is heading our way...though its first stop could actually be Europe. 505 Games has entered into an agreement with Cooking Mama Ltd. to deliver Cooking Mama 2 for the DS and WIi across Europe in early 2008. The game will feature new recipes, double the mini-game goodness, and an all new multiplayer mode so we can finally settle those 'who can peel potatoes faster' arguments that tend to tear friendships apart."Following on from the phenomenal success of Cooking Mama, we're thrilled to be bringing Cooking Mama 2 to Europe," commented Ian Howe, Managing Director, 505 Games. "Cooking Mama delivered a truly original IP and Cooking Mama 2 promises to build on its success"Of course it does, and don't get me wrong - I am very happy for Europe and all - but when is it coming to the states? Quite partial to the states. It's where I keep all my stuff. More »
The Cooking Mama Hookers
Forget dirty movies. You know you've made it, when you get a prostitution business named after your game. And with Cooking Mama, developer Office Create has made it. Head over to Osaka's tricks-for-cash "Cooking Mama." Adult mini-games run ¥10,000 an hour (US $84), but probably are short. Much shorter. It specializes in not just in older motherly-types, but older motherly-types wearing nothing but aprons. Apparently, there is an audience for this! Oddly, there is a "Cooking Mama Corporation" behind this hooker outfit. It was established in 2006, which is the same year Cooking Mama hit the DS. Coincidence? Ha! Cooking Mama [NFSW!!!, Thanks Taku!]
game cakes
Martha's Wii Cake - The Recipe
Crecente was completely right about the Wired Martha Stewart Wii cake. My head did explode, and once I got around to shoveling the various bits back inside of my skull I immediately started searching for the recipe for this wonder of wonders. Then I got sidetracked by something shiny and forgot about it completely until Kotakuite Chilly directed me to the New York Post of all places, which has posted the recipe in its exhaustive entirety courtesy of Lesli Heffler of the Sono Baking Company and Café. The recipe isn't easy, and it certainly won't be cheap. The cake portion alone requires a recipe for two 8x2 inch cakes multiplied roughly 24 times. That's over 72 cups of flour, 48 cups of sugar, and 144 ounces of butter. The only thing more staggering than the list of ingredients is the sheer amount of effort needed for the massive undertaking, which is why you won't see me making one of these any time soon. Remember kids, glory doesn't come cheap.
Wii Bake [Post Game Report - Thanks Chilly!]
pachter watch
Mama is Cooking
Pachter's at it again, this time he's predicting a sunny $15 million in forecasted sales for Majesco's Cooking Mama series in their second quarter earnings. The weather should be so bright for a company that was struggling to stay in the stock market back in April. According to Pachter: More »
different gears

















