Have You Seen My Mama? Cooking Mama Is Hard to Find

Ben Kuchera over at Opposable Thumbs has it right: for $20 and a chance to make virtual food, Cooking Mama is a great deal. But he can’t find it. His quest to get a copy:

• He went to a game store that had only two copies. They were sold out.
• The next one could hardly cover their pre-orders.
• The third one had a copy. But it was being tried out by an employee. So it wasn’t available yet.
• At EB (Gamestop), the game is back-ordered and none of the stores in Ben’s area were expecting any more copies.
• Best Buy is sold out.
• Circuit City hasn’t heard of the game.

He brought up an interesting point: he hasn’t seen a review. This game is “one of the quietest cult hits.”

What’s our take on this? It looks like game vendors underestimated the demand for this game. And why should they have expected people to look for it? It has no violence (except for boiling things, I suppose). There are no bombs, rockets, or huge explosions (the pot gently simmers most of the time). And Mama is fully clothed. Yet the gameplay and premise of the game has made it something to look for, and the use of the two screens is clever. In other words, if you liked WarioWare, you’ll like this game. If you can find it.

Buy (if you can find it!): [Cooking Mama]

Ben Kuchera over at Opposable Thumbs has it right: for $20 and a chance to make virtual food, Cooking Mama is a great deal. But he can’t find it. His quest to get a copy:

• He went to a game store that had only two copies. They were sold out.
• The next one could hardly cover their pre-orders.
• The third one had a copy. But it was being tried out by an employee. So it wasn’t available yet.
• At EB (Gamestop), the game is back-ordered and none of the stores in Ben’s area were expecting any more copies.
• Best Buy is sold out.
• Circuit City hasn’t heard of the game.

He brought up an interesting point: he hasn’t seen a review. This game is “one of the quietest cult hits.”

What’s our take on this? It looks like game vendors underestimated the demand for this game. And why should they have expected people to look for it? It has no violence (except for boiling things, I suppose). There are no bombs, rockets, or huge explosions (the pot gently simmers most of the time). And Mama is fully clothed. Yet the gameplay and premise of the game has made it something to look for, and the use of the two screens is clever. In other words, if you liked WarioWare, you’ll like this game. If you can find it.

Buy (if you can find it!): [Cooking Mama]