Cooking Mama Hates On Science Papa
It’s not unusual for game developers to stage pissing contests with one another, usually through drawling letters or blog posts that entertain no-one. We’re talking about a pastime that’s crawling with monsters and aliens and soldiers armed to the teeth. Why can’t more developers settle their differences through all-out Pokemon wars?
At least one company seems capable of remembering it’s all for fun: Majesco. When word got out yesterday about Activision’s slightly-derivative Science Papa mini-game collection for the Wii and DS, Kotaku wrote to Majesco and asked for the company’s opinion on the dubious tribute. Majesco responded through fire-eyed Mama, who shook a wooden spoon in Science Papa’s general direction. It seems the good doctor is in fact a cad.
How does Mama know this? They used to date, apparently. And, uh, “experiment” together.
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Tags: activision, cooking mama, Majesco, nadia oxford, science papa
The Blatant Sexism of Cooking Mama and Science Papa
When VGCats’ Scott Ramsoomir drew the above strip back in February 2008, I laughed. Imagining Shigeru Miyamoto as a violent misogynist is amusing, what can I say. When Cooking Mama Ltd. announced that they were developing Gardening Mama just half a year later, the strip got a bit less funny. Then when they announced Crafting Mama in March, it got troubling. On April 21st, when Majesco filed a trademark for Babysitting Mama, it all got downright offensive. Given the popularity and growing familiarity of the Mama franchise, why not develop casual minigame collections on the Wii and DS based around activities that aren’t so explicitly gendered?
Now, Activision’s compounding the problem with their announcement of Science Papa, a rip-off of Cooking Mama Ltd’s minigame formula so explicit that it flat out lifts the brand name.
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Tags: activision, babysitting mama, cooking mama, cooking mama ltd, crafting mama, gardening mama, john constantine, lara croft, Majesco, marcus fenix, nintendo, nintendo ds, science papa, taito, vgcats, wii
John Constantine, our superhero, was raised by birds and then attended Penn State University. He is currently working on a novel about a fictional city that exists only in his mind. John has an astonishingly extensive knowledge of Scientology. Ultimately he would like to learn how to effectively use his brain. He continues to keep Wu-Tang's secret to himself. 
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