Iron Chef Game Listed, Then Pulled

Joystiq notes that a game based on the excellent Iron Chef television show on the Food Network is apparently in the works. Apparently, because the game was listed and then pulled within the last few weeks. "The game appears to be on the brink of an announcement, with a listing appearing and disappearing on Gamestop's website for DS and Wii versions of the game, and Siliconera's Spencer Yip indicating that an IC game was being created at Destineer. (Yes, that Destineer). We're already sharpening our knives in anticipation, but we have to ask: [how do we get] Alton Brown in the game?" Their post includes a great animated spot for the show.

Comments

I turn down the title of Iron Chef

[techpawn]

And instead take the lesser title of Zinc Saucee... With comes with double prize money

Re:I turn down the title of Iron Chef

[Anonymous Coward]

That's saucier (i.e. the guy who makes sauces and sautes things in a fancy pants kitchen).

Re:I turn down the title of Iron Chef

[maclizard]

And instead take the lesser title of Zinc Saucee... With comes with double prize money he actually turned down the title of Iron Cook for the lesser. he being Bender.

Re:I turn down the title of Iron Chef

[zonker]

Aww man. I was looking forward to an Iron Chef game. The fun you could have zesting a lemon using a DS stylus or Wii remote. Excitement guaranteed.

Nah but if it was decent though I'd take a look at it. Cooking Mama was an interesting surprise for example.

Re:I turn down the title of Iron Chef

[Hoi Polloi]

In World of Cookcraft I'm a Titanium Chef with a Spatula of Pancake Flipping +5. So there.

so no "allez play"?

[ed.han]

i'm trying to understand how one would structure an iron chef game, exactly. i mean, i can sorta see an iron chef RPG. but a console/computer game...how would that even work?

ed

Re:so no "allez play"?

[Divide By Zero]

Like Cooking Mama maybe, but instead of medals, you play for the people's ovation and fame forever.

Re:so no "allez play"?

[ILuvRamen]

I'm thinking you use the wiimote to like flip pans and take stuff off the stove with a spatula and if you leave it on too long your food burns and you get a worse rating at the end.
btw I LOVE ALTON BROWN! He's the only reason to watch the food network!

Re:so no "allez play"?

[jandrese]

That's my guess, that it's a Cooking Mama clone. It seems pretty hard to do a real Iron Chef style game (where you would have to come up with unique dishes) since computers don't have a good idea of what tastes good.

I love Alton too, but I wish his recipes didn't include "put this in your fridge for 4 hours" quite so often. I've always suspected that he was trained as a restaurant chef (where 4 hour wait times are a virtue since it allows you to do some of the work before the lunch/dinner rush) and that's why a lot of his recipes are less than ideal for a home setting. 4 hour waits are the worst since you can't do them the night before or in the morning before going to work, but if you wait until you get home you won't be eating until midnight. I do love how he explains what exactly is happening with his cooking techniques, it allows the show to be useful well beyond whatever he happens to be making that day.

Re:so no "allez play"?

[the unbeliever]

most of the time it's "at least four hours" -- so if you prep it in the morning before leaving for work and shove it in the fridge, then you'll be golden by the time you get home.

and he doesn't have formal restaurant training, just a film degree and a stint at culinary school.

Re:so no "allez play"?

[skuzzlebutt]

Same way pushing buttons equates to playing guitar, methinks?

Re:so no "allez play"?

[Cecil]

I love Alton too, but I wish his recipes didn't include "put this in your fridge for 4 hours" quite so often.

Unfortunately that's what cooking is all about. There are exceptions, but generally speaking, good food takes time. There's a reason that "fast food" (as found in a diner, as opposed to McD's which I don't think even qualifies as food) is a negative term.

If you want "full meals in 10 minutes" there are plenty of cookbooks and shows that cater to that form of cooking. But if they seem lackluster (which they do) it's not due to lack of skill, it's just that there's only so much that can be done in that amount of time. Complex foods need time to let themself cook through, for temperatures to stabilize, for water to evaporate, for flavours to be absorbed, for chemical reactions to take place.

It sucks, I know.

Re:so no "allez play"?

[mr_mischief]

I've found that most people who aren't either professional or dedicated hobbyist cooks or serious gourmands don't really know intuitively what's going to taste good. They know they like "chicken primavera", "buffalo wings", "pizza", or "eggplant parmesan" and might look up a recipe or two to see how to make it at home (or just buy the sauce in a bottle for wings or pizza). When you get inventive with a dish, it's always best to let people try it before telling them what's in it.

I have a few examples. We have a restaurant near here that has a pizza with sourdough crust. I've heard several people groan at the thought who liked it when they tried it. My uncle hates sour cream. He won't eat it or even smell it. My mom makes a dessert with sour cream in it, but the rest of the dessert is so sweet you never taste any sour taste and whipped cream would be way too sweet for it. My uncle loves the stuff, and they joke about how his portion is made with whipped cream or Cool Whip.

One of my personal favorites is hot sauces. I love making my own and I have a cabinet of different small-batch commercial sauces. Lots of people who think they love hot, spicy foods are very surprised by hot sauces made with anything other than just ground dried peppers, white vinegar, and salt. Lots of very good hot sauces use a pepper mash in addition to or instead of ground dried peppers. Vinegars from red wine, white wine, apple cider, or other types might be used. Many have vegetables or fruits in them, like carrots, apples, mango, peach, pineapple, or blackberry. A few use food gums or oils to thicken them, while a few use water to thin them or as part of the traditional vinegar portion to cut down on the taste of vinegar. Many have herbs and spices.

One of my most prized bottles is simply a mix of pepper puree, vinegar, and salt. It's a single-crop, single-barrel reserve sauce made from hand-selected red savina peppers from a particular hot sauce producer's private farm stock. Since a hot pepper's heat, flavor, texture, and more can be affected by everything from soil nutrients to hours of sun exposure and rain levels to pruning, there are very complex differences in single-crop hot sauces from year to year. This one's called The Legend and it's from CaJohn's Fiery Foods. My current one is a 2002 vintage. It is a hotter year, but still flavorful. It needs to be used in moderation or you'll really piss off your non-chilehead friends. Still, it's peppers and not just habanero oil or capsaicin extract so if you like your stuff hot it's not going to actually literally burn your tongue. The real curiosity about sauces like this one for most people is, "they make vintages of hot sauces"? They sure do. Several companies have reserved vintage hot sauces, but few have a single-crop one sold in a wooden box. Dave's INSANITY LIMITED EDITION PRIVATE RESERVE is another vintage reserve in a wooden box, and it's good, too. It's not the same type as The Legend, but it is a good vintage reserve of another type. I'm planning on picking up some of the 2008 as I'm out my previous one.

Re:so no "allez play"?

[porcupine8]

Very interesting on the hot sauce stuff. I like spiciness, but not "hot sauce" because it's always too vinegary. Maybe I should try some of those fancier ones, it never occurred to me that they might use less vinegar or different types of vinegar that aren't as "OMG VINEGAR" tasting. (I usually just wind up adding cut up fresh peppers or cayenne to everything.)

Re:so no "allez play"?

[jandrese]

Heh, I actually like Daves regular Insanity Sauce, because it isn't all vinegar tasting like most hot sauce and it adds noticeable flavor with just a drop (not to mention a lot of heat). It's also fairly inexpensive and goes a long way.

Re:so no "allez play"?

[jandrese]

Unfortunately, most of Alton's stuff is "up to four hours", which might well be a case of "the FDA is very very anal about this even though the odds of actually getting sick in this window are vanishingly small", but it rules out the make it in the morning option. I'm not even talking about 10 minute meals here, but if it takes longer than 90 minutes it just isn't practical for me.

Re:so no "allez play"?

[Nursie]

"I've found that most people who aren't either professional or dedicated hobbyist cooks or serious gourmands don't really know intuitively what's going to taste good. They know they like "chicken primavera", "buffalo wings", "pizza", or "eggplant parmesan" and might look up a recipe or two"

There is a middle ground of folks who aren't *dedicated* hobbyists but who have enough experience to throw things together well and experiment reasonably frequently.

You don't have to be dedicated to come up with your own recipes that taste good, just experimental and not afraid to throw the odd thing straight in the bin (using red wine instead of white in Gothnet's pesto, pancetta, garlic, tomato, rocket and wine sauce was a BAD plan). You get there after a while though. Maybe most people don't make the effort though, as you say.

I hear you on the pepper sauce. I wouldn't go as far as buying vintages or single crops, but there is more to hot sauce than either vinegar, sat and chili powder, or the other extreme of habanero oil. Personally I like a piri-piri style hot sauce with lime (and stuff).

BTW - habaneros aren't the hottest chili any more, check out the Dorset Naga.

(and yes, that's right, the world's hottest chili comes not from Mexico or the far east, but from one of England's sleepier shires...)

Re:so no "allez play"?

[Some_Llama]

"Same way pushing buttons equates to playing guitar, methinks?"

No! Guitar hero very realistically equates to real quitar playing!!! YOU SHUT YOUR MOUTH DAMMIT!!! *sobs*

Re:so no "allez play"?

[mr_mischief]

I thought for sure when your sentence started "BTW - habaneros aren't the hottest..." that it'd be another mention of jolokia, which is also hotter than the Red Savina habanero (and which is derived from the habanero family itself).

The Dorset Naga is definitely noticeably hotter than the Red Savina with that kind of Scoville rating. However, it looks like the record Jolokia is hotter still at slightly over 1 million Scoville units.

Wikipedia says they're probably comparable and that the Dorset pepper is derived from the Bhut Jolokia.

I'd never heard of the specific Dorset version of the pepper. I'll have to see if I can get my hands on some.

For readers curious, the Scoville scale is based on how many parts of plain sauce can be mixed with the rated item without masking its hot, spicy taste. It was originally left to a panel of taste testers, but now it's measured as a proportion of the capsaicin in the item rated.

A warning for the foolhardy, too... Extracts are the fastest way to extra pungency, but pure capsaicin needs to be handled with real care. It's available on the open market, but it can cause damage to the skin or eyes and can trigger asthma attacks or even kill a person.

Re:so no "allez play"?

[Anonymous Coward]

why did you waste your time writing all that?

Re:so no "allez play"?

[mr_mischief]

I did it so I could award $100 to the first person who asked me why I wrote so much. However, since you're an anonymous troll, your winnings can't be verified. Sorry.

Re:so no "allez play"?

[Cervantes]

This is possibly the most informative and completely off-topic post I have read in recent memory.

Maybe it's just me...

[pwnies]

...but cooking just doesn't seem all that riveting as a game. Something tells me we aren't going to be seeing Cook Cook Revolution anywhere. Cook Hero just doesn't have the right ring to it either. So to me it's not all that surprising that the game got pulled.

Re:Maybe it's just me...

[hiruhl]

ever heard of Cooking Mama? there is a version for Wii and two for DS (Cooking Mama 2: Dinner with Friends just came out in November). each of these games have received pretty good reviews.

while the concept, admittedly, does not sound very exciting, it can, apparently, be successful.

Forget Alton Brown

[roadkill_cr]

...He's nothing compared to Bender and a little bit of his "confidence".

Re:Forget Alton Brown

[techpawn]

And what about Marc Dacascos of the double dragons movie and other "great" late night movies?

Re:Forget Alton Brown

[Boronx]

Alton Brown knows his food chemistry and physics, but he's always making an ass of himself whenever he's live, periodically throwing out some off color remark or other. The Iron Chef heritage demands a little more class than Alton Brown can bring to it.

Misleading headline and summary

[InverseParadox]

It is not in fact an Iron Chef game, but an Iron Chef America game. I would be rather interested in the former, much as I am interested in the original Japanese show; I would not be at all interested in the latter, just as I am actively uninterested in the Americanized edition of the show.

Re:Misleading headline and summary

[anotherone]

Why? I've seen both, and not a huge amount has changed in bringing it across the ocean (if we ignore the William Shatner episodes).

Re:Misleading headline and summary

[Anonymous Coward]

For god's sake, don't deny the man his smugness!! It's all he's got!

Re:Misleading headline and summary

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm sure a lot of people thought that they were making a game about the Japanese show that's been off the air for 10 years, rather than the still-airing, wildly popular American show of the same name.

Re:Misleading headline and summary

[Craig Maloney]

Well, there was the Iron Chef: Virtual Kitchen Stadium game for the Sega Saturn, but it's more a museum tour than a game.

That said, I too would love the original Japanese show to come out with more material in the US. Sadly, I can't see Fuji TV allowing that.

Re:Misleading headline and summary

[Altus]

the big difference is the judging and the commentary. I think Alton Brown would benefit from having a decent "play by play" guy to work with him... leaving him to just do the commentary on the dishes rather than a constant stream of talking. It tends to flow better, thats why sports broadcasts do it.

Also, I think the whole guests talking and commenting the whole time is superior to what we see in the America show, but a lot of that has to do with Japanese TV and how they tend to do things.

Re:Misleading headline and summary

[badasscat]

Why? I've seen both, and not a huge amount has changed in bringing it across the ocean (if we ignore the William Shatner episodes).

Are you kidding?

The entire *point* of the Japanese show has been lost on Iron Chef America. It was always intended as a cheesy drama with serious cooking. The idea was basically to combine haute cuisine with professional wrestling.

Iron Chef America has kept the cooking but removed the cheesy drama, which is what made it so unique in the first place. There are dozens of competition cooking shows on these days (including the whole "Cooking Competition" series on Food Network itself); why would you watch Iron Chef America over any of the others?

At the same time, the show doesn't take itself seriously *enough*. In Japan, Fuji TV treated it as a huge honor to be named an Iron Chef. It meant nothing in the real culinary world, but the Iron Chefs were never referred to as anything *but* "Iron Chef", and the show created "rivals" for them to spar with; they took the show beyond the show, with the point being to use that both for humor and to increase the perceived drama on the show. Food Network doesn't do that; it's just a bunch of random chefs competing against each other for no real reason. Even Morimoto, who's an Iron Chef in both versions, says the US version is a lot more casual.

The original Iron Chef straddled that line perfectly between complete absurdity and real cooking chops. It was unique, and maybe uniquely Japanese. You could watch it and laugh, but at the same time you knew you were really watching some amazing skills. Iron Chef America doesn't even attempt to do that; it's like they realized they'd never get it right (the "Iron Chef USA" specials tried that tack and it didn't work), so they just watered the whole thing down to a generic competition show.

Somehow it is really hard for Americans to get the "absurd but serious" thing down. Japan does it, Europe does it, we just can't get it.

Re:Misleading headline and summary

[Kozar_The_Malignant]

>I think Alton Brown would benefit from having a decent "play by play" guy to work with him... leaving him to just do the commentary on the dishes rather than a constant stream of talking.

Right you are Altus-san. The challenger is removing the gonads from the pike eel and is mincing them with a bit of daikon. Back to you.

Re:Misleading headline and summary

[Anonymous Coward]

> Why? I've seen both, and not a huge amount has changed in bringing it across the ocean (if we ignore the William Shatner episodes).

Ugh, no. The American version was completely lame. Unwatchable. They had something unique, quirky and interesting. They turned it into yet another boring cooking show. Maybe I can't put it into words very well, but the Americanized version was like a fat-free, sugar-free, 100% artificial knock-off of the original made with the cheapest ingredients money can buy.

They should've stuck with the original. I couldn't even make it through a whole episode of the American version; I stopped watching it then and there.

Re:Misleading headline and summary

[Otter]

The entire *point* of the Japanese show has been lost on Iron Chef America. It was always intended as a cheesy drama with serious cooking...It was unique, and maybe uniquely Japanese.

I don't know if you saw the William Shatner-era Iron Chef -- they did try to do a recreation of the original and it was disastrous because, as you say, the original was uniquely Japanese. Despite that, a knockoff might have been made to fly if the Japanese show hadn't been so familiar and beloved.

The Alton Brown version doesn't attempt to replace the original show; it's a deliberately low-key and straightforward tribute to it.

Incidentally, as with Monty Python (who failed disastrously trying to Americanize their own material before learning better), Iron Chef's appeal in translation went beyond the original show. The translator they used for the requisite actress judge, the chef who had been forced into a life of shame because his restaurant had burned down, the weirdness of a lot of the seafood -- the show's creators didn't anticipate the comedy of that.

Re:Misleading headline and summary

[brkello]

I don't know...I think Americans have mastered "absurd but serious"...just it is seen more in the political realm. I mean, how else do you explain who we stuck in office for the past 2 terms?

Re:Misleading headline and summary

[Anonymous Coward]

Doesn't the fact that you didn't watch an entire episode and you can't even really explain what you didn't like about it after all make you think that maybe you made your mind up ahead of time?

Re:Misleading headline and summary

[isaac]

Iron Chef America has kept the cooking but removed the cheesy drama, which is what made it so unique in the first place. There are dozens of competition cooking shows on these days (including the whole "Cooking Competition" series on Food Network itself); why would you watch Iron Chef America over any of the others?

Because the quality of the competition (that is, the chefs competing in each battle) on Iron Chef America is far better than any other program?

Also most of those other shows are spurious junk like Las Vegas sugar sculpture competitions or no-name chili cookoffs.

-Isaac

Re:Misleading headline and summary

[triffid_98]

oh let us count the ways,

no wacky Takeshi Kaga voice overs
no wacky Takeshi Kaga outfits
no funny judge commentaries
no Chen Kenichi
no eel battle
no octopus battle
no cod row battle
no <insert creepy japanese delicacy here> battle
no honor based 'team' rematches

Why? I've seen both, and not a huge amount has changed in bringing it across the ocean

Re:Misleading headline and summary

[JDAustin]

The entire *point* of the Japanese show has been lost on Iron Chef America. It was always intended as a cheesy drama with serious cooking. The idea was basically to combine haute cuisine with professional wrestling.

What american's like about the Japanese version is what was lost and found in the translation. Nothing can replace the voiceover of Dr Hattori for example.

One thing that has happened in the American version is more spotlight has been given on the Sous-chefs. This is actually an improvement over the original.

Re:Misleading headline and summary

[smcn]

I think most adult swim shows fit the "absurd but serious" bill. Xavier: Renegade Angel comes to mind.

Re:Misleading headline and summary

[Hotawa Hawk-eye]

The challenger is removing the gonads from the pike eel and is mincing them with a bit of daikon. Back to you.

I don't know, that still may be better than Sakai's trout ice cream.

Re:Misleading headline and summary

[BooRolla]

Somehow it is really hard for Americans to get the "absurd but serious" thing down. Japan does it, Europe does it, we just can't get it.

Are you sure? Have you never heard of "American Idol?"

Re:Misleading headline and summary

[AdmiralWeirdbeard]

Though I understand your complaints, just consider how fucking retarded iron chef america would be if they started upping the drama and instigating rivalries and shit like that.
Drumroll... some sweaty italian dude is sharpening knives in slo-mo, grimacing and looking at a picture of mario batalli... The chairman's voiceover starts... "If memory serves, Iron Chef Batalli has only one true rival..." followed by 5 minutes of completely fucking useless b-roll giving sweaty italian dude's back-story, and the origins of this non-existent rivalry, all leading up to the challenger triumphantly entering kitchen stadium and throwing the gauntlet at batalli, who, instead of being his regular goofy, sarcastic, chill yet bitterly competitive self will have to be somber and treat the entire affair as an affront to his honor.
Alton Brown will have to stop knowing anything about food, and will instead serve as an affable but douchey host constantly asking the real food expert/partial sponsor of the show, Doc Hattori (who was only on the fucking show because his culinary school provided the sous chefs) Kevin Brauch will have to stop being able to complete coherent sentences, like Otah, and a strict All Oral-Sex Double-Entendre ruled will have to be placed on on the judging commentary (If Lower-House member what's his face ever encountered a food that didnt feel good sliding down his throat, he never mentioned it) Then, once the judgment has been handed down, and the victor declared, instead of being able rest easy that his or her best efforts were put forth but the victor was better, the loser must hang his or her head in defeat, ashamed of the dishonor suffered, and apologize to his/her fans and family.
In short, it would all seem kinda dumb in the american cultural context. Yes, the drama and cheese and the overblown rivalries were great in the original, but only insofar as they were quintessentially japanese. The american remake is its own thing and working w/in a different cultural context and does a pretty good job of it. Good chefs get together and make some really good looking food, its judged, fun is generally had by all. That's the point, not "LOL, japanese culture is hilarious to my western sensibilities."

As a side-note, I am prejudiced, justifiably in my opinion, against the 'the drama and whatnot is the whole point of the show' proposition after almost coming to blows with a friend who took it all so seriously that he cursed me out as being 'naive and closed-minded' for pointing out that not only was there no such thing as the Gourmet Academy, but that Chairman Kaga was in fact an actor, not an eccentric foodie putting on a show for his own amusement. If you want absurdist drama, watch daytime television. If you want to watch a show where chefs compete, watch iron chef.

Re:Misleading headline and summary

[smidget2k4]

Oh my god, I want to watch that show so bad now. That is exactly how Iron Chef America should be!

Re:Misleading headline and summary

[Anonymous Coward]

Americans can do absurd but serious, but that particular kind of Japanese zaniness combined with absolute sincerity is way outside our mainstream. You generally only see it in low-risk (i.e. cheap) media.

Re:Misleading headline and summary

[Anonymous Coward]

Are you sure? Have you never heard of "American Idol?" Sadly this comment completely shows how much Americans DON'T get it.

Re:Misleading headline and summary

[AuMatar]

So- Iron Chef meets prowrestling? Hell, I'd pay good money to see that. Put it on pay per view, I'll buy.

Re:Misleading headline and summary

[pragma_x]

That's a shame. The original series had such a lovable, over-the-top, quirkyness that is lacking in it's american counterpart. Not to mention that the "secret ingredient" was, more often than not, some random and unappetizing thing that a fisherman found in his net that morning.

To bring ICA up to that level we need "battle road-kill" or somesuch, with the chairman ruminating in his study about the role roast possum had in the formation of our great country.

Re:Misleading headline and summary

[pragma_x]

no Chen Kenichi

That man was something to behold. Don't forget that he sweat like crazy, all over the food he was preparing, and had a nearly perfect record. Coincidence?

no <insert creepy japanese delicacy here> battle

This was the reason to watch. Battle Natto comes to mind. Battle monkfish, was another one - looks like something you'd throw back even if you were starving.

Re:Misleading headline and summary

[Craig Maloney]

Actually, they spent some serous yen on those ingredients. According to Wikipedia's Iron Chef article:

One of the most expensive battles was Battle Swallow's Nest, which ran over $40,000 solely for that ingredient, not counting large quantities of shark's fin; for the battle, the producers were permitted to return any unused portions to Hattori Nutrition College. They also give a figure of a little over $7million for the whole run of the show. That's one expensive show. :)

Re:Misleading headline and summary

[Anonymous Coward]

So mainly the reason you liked the Japanese version is because you're a raging racist and you like to laugh at other cultures? ok

Re:Misleading headline and summary

[Taulin]

"Iron Chef" in Japan was originally a 'post-midnight' show. In Japan, much like America, channels only show adult centric shows after midnight, or shows they think will flop. It is also kind of well known that they pulled the show because it had reached high ratings originally.

You are totally correct about it being an honor. Just to go Yokohama station, in that China town area, and you will see some huge pictures of the winning chef at a particular restaurant.

Last tidbit, the chairman, who bites the bell pepper, is actually a pretty well known actor in Japan who mostly plays cops, and dramas. You can see him in the live action "Death-note" movies too, where he plays his typical character.

Alton Brown Approved!

[Axis of Weasel]

Alton Brown approves b/c the DS is not a unitasker.

yeah yeah. off topic.

i'd have been a sceptic regarding this game, but considering the success of the wacky surgery and lawyer games I'd probably be wrong.

oh well.

easy game

[INeededALogin]

just use Matsutake Mushrooms and Saffron in every dish. Cooking is easy when nobody needs to taste it.

Already Been Done

[phobos13013]

This game is getting old... how many times are they going to bring it back?

That Destineer?

[Chris Pimlott]

Never heard of Destineer before, am I supposed to be excited?

Destineer is a computer game developer and publisher based in Minnesota, United States. It was founded in 2000 by former Bungie Studios vice-president, Peter Tamte. It releases titles under a number of brands, including MacSoft, Bold Games and Atomic Games.

Published titles have included such games as Age of Empires III, Halo for the Mac, Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45, and Starship Troopers. Destineer acquired Atomic Games on May 6, 2005. So they've done some big franchise sequels and ports... hardly the stuff of legend.

Re:That Destineer?

[Rog7]

Plus some shovelware for the Wii.

Nah, the only people that get excited by Destineer are Macheads who think that anyone who actually makes/ports for the Mac must automatically be worthy.

For the rest of us, if you've heard of Destineer at all, it's generally not from glowing endorsements.

Warning: link in parent post is unsafe

[sethstorm]

Parent is yet another redirect to some "shock site" of sorts.

Re:Warning: link in parent post is unsafe

[Anonymous Coward]

I can't wait until the technology that allows a computer to realize someone's being ass and subsequently castrate them is developed. Gonna be a lot of AC trolls with surprised looks on their face.

Re:Warning: link in parent post is unsafe

[mr_mischief]

I'm not sure a Rick Astley video is very shocking, but thanks for the heads up about it being a silly redirect.

This could be good...

[maclizard]

Considering the amount of science and math involved in cooking, this game has the potential to be an accurate representation of cooking.

Yes!

[morari]

I always thought that an Iron Chef game would be great. Of course, I would want to see it with a Mortal Kombat presentation. Not the blood and gore, but an over-the-top seriousness that the Japanese series had and Iron Chef America lacks.

Chairman: "Let Kitchen Kombat begin!" "Your cuisine is mine... forever!"

I could see it having a fun, Mortal Kombat character select screen as well. Of course, this would work better with the original Iron Chefs, as they all much more distinctive styles. The sad truth is, the game will probably be a poor imitation of Cooking Momma, which already fell woefully short of its potential. Combine that with the presence of annoying, arrogant ass clowns like Bobby Flay and Michael Symon and you have a disaster in the making.

Re:Yes!

[Chris Mattern]

Wonderful! Better than Iron!

Chris Mattern

Re:Yes!

[Jesterboy]

There's a game similar to this, like halfway in between your idea and Cooking Mama. It's a Japanese game called "Ore no Ryouri" (My Cooking / My Recipes) for the PS1. In it, you play as chef of a restaurant, preparing dishes as customers come in and order them. The gameplay consisted of combinations of analog stick motions to simulate cooking motions. For example, chopping a vegetable would require you to press down on right analog stick to do the chop, then right on the left analog stick to move the vegetable over, then repeat for the whole vegetable. You are then graded on how finely you chopped, contributing to overall food quality. Multiple actions such as this are required to prepare a dish for a customer. Unlike Cooking Mama, there are multiple customers coming in ordering things, and you have to serve them in a timely manner or they get mad and leave. What makes it interesting is a lot of actions can be done for multiple dishes at once. For example, if several customers order a hamburger at once, you can chop the beef for each one separately and then cook them all at the same time. In addition to serving customers, random mini games pop up that you have to take care of, such as having to wash dishes, make change, stamp out cockroaches, or chase down an eat-and-run customer. If you fail to take care of any of these random events before their time limit is up, it will entirely clear out your restaurant, which usually amounts to failing the level. Beating the level is based on "customer satisfaction", and it's a bit of a mystery exactly how this is determined. It's a combination of food quality and speed at which you prepare, which can lead to different winning strategies. Cooking decent food quickly or cooking better tasting food slowly both seem to be viable ways to win a level.

Once you gain high enough customer satisfaction, you beat the level and have a showdown with a competing chef of this particular culinary style. Performing food combinations leads to "attacks" in the form of the random elements mentioned above. Winning is determined by customer satisfaction again, but it is compared against the customer satisfaction of the competing chef. Once you beat the boss chef of a particular style, you move on to a different restaurant with different menu items, which require more and different steps to prepare.

The constant pressure of time is somewhat similar to Iron Chef, and this leads to a much more hectic and intense game style than Cooking Mama. The analog stick controls are much more accurate and less frustrating than the stylus / Wiimote ones of Cooking Mama, IMHO. Considering the different culinary styles, showdown with chefs, and time limit, it practically is an Iron Chef game. It does lack the sometimes hilarious seriousness of Iron Chef, but it's more lighthearted, cartoony style fits it well. As a game, it's a blast to play, assuming you don't mind performing the analog stick actions. It has multiple difficulty levels, two player showdown mode, and approximately 10 different restaurant styles, some of which you will only see on the higher difficulty levels. If you have a way to play Japanese PS1 games, I highly recommend it. If nothing else, it's a unique, fun diversion.

At first I thought, "Huh?"

[Gybrwe666]

Then I thought, "Wii!".

I'd imagine that putting this on the Wii has some damned interesting possibilities for motion sensing and cooking, including multi-player head to head competition.

Bill

Any game with Alton Brown is a winner!

[Alzheimers]

Any game with Alton Brown in it is bound to be a success.

Though I think it would be more interesting if they did a "Feasting on Asphalt" game first. The name even rocks!

Re:Any game with Alton Brown is a winner!

[pragma_x]

As long as it has a "don't break your arm" bonus driving stage, I'm in!

Sounds like...

[stewbee]

Sounds like this game would be similar to 'Cooking Mama' for the Wii. If that is the case, then this game would still not be very good. Cooking Mama was only funny because they had very bad english translations; 'Betta dan momma' and 'wondofo' will always stick in my head now that I have played that game. Otherwise, the game play was pretty boring. That's not to say the developers couldn't make it better. It just seems limiting.

Re:Sounds like...

[Anonymous Coward]

Cooking Mama is on the Wii as well and it rocks.

Purists say...

[charlesbakerharris]

Alton Brown???

Screw you and your "Iron Chef America" weaksauce. Give me Chairman Kaga, Ota, Fukui, and the real show over that cheap retarded ripoff.

Alton Brown Gets 3-year Contract Extension

[1sockchuck]

Fans of Alton Brown, the host of Iron Chef America, will be pelased to know that he has just signed a three-year contract extension with the Food Network. More Alton!

Re:Alton Brown Gets 3-year Contract Extension

[Hoi Polloi]

I liked the host of the original Japanese show. That guy was super creepy. His exaggerated facial expressions made you think he was getting ready to cook you.

Which chef lineup?

[zerocool^]

I mean, Batali is in the video, but he's only quasi-associated with Iron Chef now-a-days.

Swedish Chef

[mackil]

I think a Swedish Chef game would be more interesting. Certainly more action packed.

Re:Swedish Chef

[The Evil Couch]

I'm pretty sure he'd just bork it up.

Until then, there's Cooking Mama

[Weasel Boy]

http://www.cookingmamacookoff.com/

Our house (ages 1 to 39) loves this game.

You'd be surprised what people play

[Moraelin]

I mean, by that line of reasoning, working around a virtual farm doesn't sound that exciting either, but Harvest Moon did just that. Let you run around the farm, shear the sheep and brush your horse. I'd guess it must have sold enough copies to make it worth porting to most consoles that ever existed.

An even more bizarre, and I would dare say _disturbing_, concept is Boong-Ga Boong-Ga. The Japanese arcade game where you get to shove a giant plastic finger in what looks like the plastic arse of someone bent over. And watch their face as they scream in pain. And then get your virility and sexual behaviour judged by how brutal an anal probing you gave the poor bugger(ed).

I'm not sure how that would translate even to the Wii, because thrusting the wiimote at thin air must be, at a wild guess, not quite the same as shoving it into someone.

The Japanese also seem to have these interesting game concepts, like driving a big truck... while staying under the legal limit, obeying all the traffic rules, and avoiding causing any damage to your truck or someone else's property. Break too many rules and you're fired. Does that sound exciting? Well, they too didn't think us gaijin would find it exciting, because in the USA version they turned it on its head. Cause enough mayhem and you get a bonus.

So, well, don't be too quick to dismiss the concept. I'm sure some people will find it hilarious to flip pancakes with the wiimote, and stir in a pot with it.

I don't understand them, but, hey, they probably wouldn't understand why I'm posting on Slashdot from home at 1 AM either.

Re:You'd be surprised what people play

[secretwhistle]

I'm not sure how that would translate even to the Wii, because thrusting the wiimote at thin air must be, at a wild guess, not quite the same as shoving it into someone. Perhaps it would be a two player game...

Re:You'd be surprised what people play

[Dynedain]

So, well, don't be too quick to dismiss the concept. I'm sure some people will find it hilarious to flip pancakes with the wiimote, and stir in a pot with it.

They already did... it's called Cooking Mamma

Burger Time?

[WK2]

Maybe it is kind of like Burger Time.

Re:Burger Time?

[skuzzlebutt]

Wow...flashback...wasn't that a game where you had buns, lettuce, patties, etc coming off of a conveyer belt and had to stack them to order? I remember playing that game for hours...that was one of those potato chip games: stick your hand in that bag, and it's all over.

Perhaps.

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe I did. It's true that I absolutely abhor crappy Americanizations of anything foreign, just like I abhor live action versions of cartoons. Somehow, those suck all the fun out of the originals and make them incredibly lame.

Oh well, I still won't be watching it.

Absurd?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'd say it's more like tasteless but serious.

I've all but given up on Cartoon Network, except perhaps for Death Note.

Re:For those that don't get the joke....

[Moonpie Madness]

What's really crazy here is not that this is the same AC who posted the gross link above, but that he really means what he says.

Make sure you teach your kids the value of self esteem.

The more you know ---*

Allez! cuisine!

[iTowelie]

Who wouldn't want to take on Iron Chef Sakai in a SPAM battle! I can even see the Wii-mote getting fitted with knife, pot/pan, whisk, $kitchen_utensil attachments sold as a set sorta like the sports and Zelda sword/shield packages that they sell.

Re:Allez! cuisine!

[Mr. Roadkill]

I can even see the Wii-mote getting fitted with knife, pot/pan, whisk, $kitchen_utensil attachments sold as a set sorta like the sports and Zelda sword/shield packages that they sell.

What, something like http://www.gameasylum.us/wiicomacooff1.html ? Even with the accessories, I can't see it becoming sufficiently free-form to be any more fun than the existing cooking games. Unless you can create a Fois Gras, Sea Urchin Roe, Caviar and Truffle Ice Cream, I'm not interested.

It's simple really ... it'll be like cooking mama!

[Kaffien]

My girlfriend loved cooking mama. She'd love it if it were similar for iron chef. In the end of the match off they'll have a bunch of dopes telling them how crappy their cooking is and one of the characters will cry. or it might be like burger time.

Only one way this could work

[SteeldrivingJon]

would be if it were a South Park game 'hosted' by Chef.

Too bad he was killed off because Isaac Hayes' body thetans didn't approve of the mockery of Scientology.