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.
Comments: (3)
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
XBox 360’s Late Spring of Arcade
Last summer, Microsoft’s digital download marketplace brought us a handful of exciting games inspired by coin-op classics with their “Summer of Arcade.” But while titles like Geometry Wars 2, Galaga Legions, and Castle Crashers were sneaking onto XBox Live Arcade, the DS was throwing its own little celebration for gaming’s earliest hits. Both Space Invaders Extreme and Arkanoid DS were surprisingly fresh–and thankfully, budget-priced–takes on some of Taito’s most beloved games; in fact, these remakes were so good, most games journalist conversations about them usually began with just how surprised these people were by their quality.
If you somehow missed out on these franchise revivals last year, your patience has just been officially rewarded; today sees the release of both the Space Invaders and Arkanoid remakes on XBox Live Arcade for a mere 800 points each–half-off both games’ current asking price. Good things actually do come to those who wait.
Comments: (0)
Tags: arkanoid, arkanoid live, bob mackey, space invaders, space invaders extreme, taito, XBLA
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. 
Derrick Sanskrit is a self-professed geek in a variety of fields including typography, graphic design, comic books, music and cartoons. As a professional hipster graphic designer, his recent clients have included Nerve, Pitchfork and MoCCA, among others.
Amber Ahlborn - artist, writer, gamer and DigiPen survivor, she maintains a day job as a graphic artist. By night Amber moonlights as a professional Metroid Fanatic and keeps a metal suit in the closet just in case. Has lived in the state of Washington and insists that it really doesn't rain as much as everyone says it does.
Nadia Oxford is a housekeeping robot who was refurbished into a warrior when the world's need for justice was great. Now that the galaxy is at peace (give or take a conflict here or there), she works as a freelance writer for various sites and magazines.
Based in Toronto, Nadia prizes the certificate from the Ministry of Health declaring her tick and rabies-free.
Bob Mackey is a grad student, writer, and cyborg, who uses the powerful girl-repelling nanomachines mad science grafted onto his body to allocate time towards interests of the nerd persuasion. He believes that complaining about things on the Internet is akin to the fine art of wine tasting, but with more spitting into buckets.
Joe Keiser has a programming degree from Johns Hopkins University, a tiny apartment in Brooklyn, and a fake toy guitar built in the hollowed-out shell of a real guitar. He writes about games and technology for a variety of outlets. One day he will stop doing this. The day after that, police will find his body under a collapsed pile of (formerly neatly alphabetized) collector's edition tchotchkes.
