Cooking Mama Sells Four Million…Domestically

@Peter Pinto: I am going to hunt you down and murder you.

Cooking Mama is the shit.

RyderJ

I still believe that the Cooking Mama name is the IP with the most potential for development.

Why stop at cooking games, though?

She needs to be in the next SSB game.

Scotsdale

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@grantanamo: I'm not too sure if the actual cooking is considered the chore as opposed to washing the dishes you cooked in. Remember, cooking is even a profession that some take very seriously and really enjoy.

Not that I don't understand where your coming from; the game seems mostly aimed toward a much younger audience, so at the age of 24 I think my-as well as many of us here on kotaku-may have biased opinions. I look at it as what a six or seven year old may like about the game. Plus, who doesn't like their mama!?!?

@grantanamo: It's a game, not a cooking simulation, bub.

@Shidori: I tried not to laugh. I really did.

@Hey_Blinkon: A chore.... of AWESOME!! Okay, probably not. I haven't completely enjoyed a harvest moon game since N64. However, I am entertained by the Rune Factory Games, a little dungeon crawling sprinkled in really adds a nice kick to the series.

Strey

I don't know the availability in other regions, but Cooking Mama's popular enough that it's a cellphone game over here in Korea.

I doubt that it's the only region.

PerswAsian

@Xhacker02: Bah embedding doesn't work

@ichiban1081:

Cooking Mama and Cooking Mama 2 were very good, though I still don't know how to use any of the items my daughter and I won in Dinner with Friends.

Gardening Mama is garbage, though. I'm sorely disappointed with it. My daughter doesn't seem to mind. Then again, she is four years old.

PerswAsian

@terebi: Imma be the syrup she can be my waffle...motherlover!

@grantanamo: I like cooking. I just don't like doing the dishes. The game itself is pretty fun, in fact, its use of touch screen is what had gotten a few of my friends into buying a DS in the first place. That and Trauma Center. A game like this is not that different from the aforementioned harvest moon (FARMING?!?) or even the Sims (LIVING?!?). Give it a shot, you might like it.

I guess you could say it's been selling like hot cakes.

@grantanamo: Honestly try playing it. It is fun, I'm not going to deny that because it's a cooking sim. Plus the $20 price tag helps a lot too. Not to mention like half of all games are considered a chore. Ever play an MMO?

also NANOMACHINES!

bla19

@Falsoman: Damnit! let's try again....

i miss my preview button!

@Shidori: Her voice is in my head when I fap.

Endless Fighter

@Vecha:
[gerardodiaz.com]

@the7k: "War...war never changes."

hhbx

@grantanamo: Yeah, I'm not gonna lie, I still don't get it.

@supo: I don't quite understand how you related a chore to shooting people. I didn't say the game had to be a vacation.

@NeoStarr: I think you are right, for the most part. Your explanation reminded me of when I was a kid and we would make up games that simply revolved around who could do it the fastest/longest (ie running around the house or something). Paying 50 bucks so someone can time my cooking skills just seems... odd(?) I guess.

grantanamo

Wonderful! Better than Ma...errr

qhue

Curse your clever pun Fahey!

Seraphim84

@McDollar: that's giada at home for those of you frantically googling

>.> <.< i'll admit i don't watch that show for the food

ithyphallus

@lucasreis: Agreed. It's a guilty pleasure of mine, I quite enjoy it. The trolling retards above need to find something better to do.

interim is a username referencing an indefinite period of time

obviously you all are not the target demo for this game..... please go about your "hardcore" gaming .... I think it's your turn on Guitar Hero =P

Crash__Man

@grantanamo: While I haven't played this game, I have been addicted to Harvest moon since the SNES. Now that game is a chore.

Hey_Blinkon

@grantanamo: same reason why people like playing the sims and other games like animal crossing.

Befitzero

@Shidori:

She'd probably chop your carrot off too.

@NeoStarr:

You could waggle the controller as you hit that X button...to put more 'fun' into it!

/sarcasm

@Matt0505:

This is interesting w

ye0073

@BubbleF**kingBuddy: PMCs? "War... has changed..."

@grantanamo: I didn't care for these games myself, but I can see the appeal. They're basically a much slower paced version of Wario Ware, with a more grounded theme. (Of course, taking the speed and insanity out of Wario Ware is like taking out most of the fun of it, but that's just this little bear's opinion.)

Cooking Mama rules!

lucasreis

@grantanamo: Because it´s FUN. Simply as that.

Most games would be considered a chore if transposed to real life. Period...

lucasreis

@McDollar: Cheating Mama, the revenge of the Latin Gardener

Mactheridon

@Matt0505:

you forgot "get me a beer mama" and "what do you mean you're too tired? mama"

@BubbleF**kingBuddy: Commenting on Kotaku has changed!

So we've got Cooking Mama and Gardening Mama.

I guess we should expect the series to continue with Dusting Mama, Vacuuming Mama, and Laundry Mama.

Women should be so proud. *roll*

Matt0505

next up: cooking mama - giada

i am glued to the tv whenever i flip by the food network and see her boo... i mean... face.

that would sell 4 million by itself... many purchased by me...

@duckyofalarcon: Sounds like a blast.

@Daniel Pizarro Sánchez: I can't wait for Wii Love 2 Check for Lice and Wii Hem Pants.

@Peter Pinto: You're just mad because your last name is a type of bean. Mama cooks guys like you for breakfast!

@Peter Pinto: So, you played them? You are the problem. :D

@grantanamo: These games are fun if you give them a shot. My girlfriend and me used to play it all the time. And at parties we used to break out cooking mama every once in a while.

duckyofalarcon

@grantanamo: Because if you add a timer and a score to anything, it stops being a chore and becomes a challenge; you always want to do better.

@2001: A Space Odyssey:

You're thinking of the spin-off, Barefoot and Pregnant Mama

@MoeB: How exactly would you control this game with joysticks? I mean, I guess it would be possible, but that would likely take a lot of the fun out of it... basically be a series of quick time events. Tap X to chop onions! Move the control stick back and forth to grate cheese! I just don't see it having the same appeal.

@Peter Pinto: Are you implying that Hannah Montana is a bad game?

BubbleF**kingBuddy

@supo: Are you kidding? Shooting people is hella fun. Maybe my opinion is just slanted, though. I work for Blackwater. I am a high paid Mercenary in a PMC.

BubbleF**kingBuddy

Nintendo Wii: Making people enjoy simulations of things they hate to do in real life.

Daniel Pizarro Sánchez

@grantanamo: To put it into perspective, shooting people and getting shot wouldn't exactly be a vacation in real life, either.

supo

never played the wii version, but the ds version can get addicting.

che-che

i'd bang her...

@Sebnotic: *bold.
God, I'm really off today.. ;_;

Sebnotic

@Peter Pinto: That's a pretty bald statement right there.

Sebnotic

@grantanamo: Simple, its a training simulation for young girls to show them that their only proper place is in the kitchen.

this game is worse than Hannah Montana: The Movie game...

Peter Pinto

This game should find its way to other console as a downloadable game.

MoeB

I have no idea why anyone would enjoy this game. Why the fuck would you want to play a game that revolves around what most people consider a chore?

grantanamo

I love that crazy woman.

terebi

@Burzmali: There's no need to bring Katamari into this. We all know that game is epic :). I still think NeoStarr is the only one who has a valid point. Every other example you give, at least IMO, has more to it then the core gameplay (ie Katamari is a drug trip sans the drugs and MMO's are the internet version of pick-up basketball).

grantanamo

@grantanamo: You were saying its real-life counterpart is not enjoyable, so I'm just pointing out that neither is an FPS' real-life counterpart. Yet both are apparently hugely popular (albeit with completely different fanbases). And I don't mean vacation in a literal sense.. I mean it in a "something that's enjoyable" sense.

supo

@grantanamo: You can make any game sound stupid and boring by describing its basic gameplay. So many games have to be played to realize that they're fun. For instance, there's a game where you roll a ball around and pick stuff up. When it gets big enough, you go to the next level and repeat. Sounds boring as hell, but Katamari Damacy is one of the greatest games ever.

Better yet, you can boil down almost any MMO into kill stuff so you can get better stuff so you can kill more, bigger stuff. Again, sounds boring, but in practice it's actually a lot of fun.

Burzmali

@grantanamo: There is, in fact, proof of my theory...

[www.chorewars.com]

Believe it or not, this work surprisingly well when you live/work with gamers.

@everyone!!!: I don't doubt that some people think cooking is fun. My shock is more at the 4 million domestic number. It just boggles my mind. And besides, if cooking wasn't a chore then eating out wouldn't be such a big deal in America (and many other 1st world countries). And, I have played the game, which only adds to my confusion because, honestly, it does a decent job of simulating the general concepts of cooking (at least as much as an FPS simulates the concept of shooting someone...in the face!).

grantanamo

@lucasreis: Totally. I played it on my roommate's DS and had a blast. Incidentily, isn't there talk of bringing babies into the franchise? If so, will the game be called Babies Mama?

I'd hit it :|

I wonder if this is the Final Fantasy VII of cooking games. By that I mean is Cooking Mama the first cooking video game series to be a smash hit outside of Japan, or especially in North America? I know Japan has had cooking games for well over a decade, but I don't remember them making a splash in NA.

Zunnoab

@grantanamo: Cooking games are nothing new in Japan. They just didn't tend to bring the games out of Japan in the past. I'm sure there are probably many other cooking games that never leave Japan (well other than as exports of the original Japanese version).

Zunnoab

@grantanamo: Some people enjoy cooking as well as killing :) I found the game a funny diversion, and if people like it, and it sells what's wrong with that? I think your dilemna is the eternal one i.e. "You don't want that, you want this!" Not everyone has your viewpoint. I think practical games like this are a good thing to get kids into cooking which is a life-skill and shouldn't be a chore. Trauma centre 2 on Wii is a blast 2 player.

Why would I eat out when I can make infinitely better food at home? In the US it might be cheaper to go out, the same is not true everywhere, like the UK, unless you count 'fast-food' as eating out.

robinthakur