Majesco’s New Game: Too Meaty?
Majesco Entertainment is finding itself the target of some unusual criticism about its newest cooking video game Cooking Mama World Kitchen: Animal rights activists say the company included too many meat recipes in the game.
Two days ago, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) launched a parody of the game. In the parody, players have to complete tasks like plucking the feathers off of an increasingly bloody turkey or reach inside it to take out its intestines.
Depending on the score, an angry girl appears and tells the player that he or she is meaner than Mama or too nice. A separate page invites people to email Majesco asking the company to add more vegetarian recipes or make a game with just vegetarian recipes.
If you take just a minute to think about what happens to the animals who are killed for Mama’s meals, a fun cooking game no longer seems quite so innocent, says PETA on its Web site. The organization says the parody has been played more than 160,000 times.
Majesco issued a press release Wednesday saying that nearly half of its recipes included in the game for Nintendo Co.s Wii console are vegetarian friendly. While Mama is not a vegetarian, she fully supports the humane treatment of animals, said the statement, written by a clearly amused writer.
Ironically, PETAs efforts might be doing more to help rather than hurt Majesco. Though early sales figures arent yet available, a spokesman said the protest has brought a lot of attention to the game, which was released Tuesday and is the most recent installment of a popular series that has sold 2.5 million copies cumulatively. The Edison, N.J., company says it has received about 900 to 1,000 protest e-mails so far.
-Yukari Iwatani Kane
Source: WSJ.com: Business Technology