Cooking Mama

Cooking Mama is an educational Nintendo game created by Majesco. I read some posts at the Serious Games Initiative website about this much anticipated game and its mini cultural controversy. It is evident that the game has an international audience; however, there is skepticism surrounding how popular this game will become in the United States because the recipes are supposedly Japanese. It is interesting, somewhat obvious, and important to recognize how culture can affect the outcome of a game.

Without actually playing the game, it’s hard to know what recipes are really included in the game. The Majesco website indicates that players can “create 76 different, real world dishes from fried eggs to cabbage meat rolls.” While cabbage meat rolls may not be the most American dish, one would think that with the freedom to mix and match 76 different dishes, players would be able to create American meals. The game sounds very appealing especially because of its real world-like features, such as cooling the food down by blowing into the Nintendo microphone.

Here is the Serious Games Initiative website:
http://www.seriousgames.org/index2.html

Also, check out the Majesco website to read more about the unique features the game offers and watch a video of the game in action:
http://www.majescoentertainment.com/catalog/works/cookingmama_ds.php