Now...

If PETA protested Cooking Mama because of her meat based dishes, will they protest Science Papa for experimenting with animals?

HAH HAH HAH I MADE A FUNNY WITH SOCIAL COMMENTARY! DUH I IS SMART! :D

I think we'll see more feminists complain that they saw fit to replace Mama with Papa because the game is about science instead of housework.

I sincerely hope not.  Cooking and gardening are creative outlets.  Now, if it were "Sweeping Mama," they'd have a point.

Honestly, I'm starting to side with that camp these days.  That we have a Babysitting Mama coming out followed by a Science Papa just seems to make the sexism all the more glaring.

The Mama games are from Majesco though, not Activision. Besides, people are always complaining about the lack of games starring women.

Kairon works for Majesco, maybe he can tell us what they were thinking.

Oh come on, you're not going to argue that having games staring women performing stereotypical "women" roles (cooking, cleaning, taking care of the kids) is the better option.  It reinforces a bad stereotype, one that Activision is only reinforcing on the other side of the spectrum (it's not coincidence that this new game uses a similar name...they know what they're doing).

What's wrong with women learning to do their job?

Obligatory VGCats

*facepalm*

Whether you agree with it or not, most people in the gardening and cooking professions ARE women. I can't believe anybody is even complaining. There is nothing stereotypical here or any of these games.

Well excuse the hell out of me for growing up in a family of strong women, having the audacity to believe in something aproximating gender equality where neither sex has to be pigeonholed into a specific role.

Oh har de har har.

I think it's pretty obvious, given the "Mama" "Papa" parallel that this is as close a reflection of the original success without mucking up the formula.

If they wanted to show that the game was not gender-biased, they'd do what Taito did with Cooking Mama 2 on the Wii: give Science Papa a daughter who he's teaching all this to, like Mama was teaching a young boy in the Wii sequel.

Ironically, the Gardening Mama TV spot has young men playing the game and proudly showing their green thumbs.

I think both games are playing off of playful cartoon "stereotypes". Science has their cooky, funny, silly scientists (like Ludwig Von Drake, Doc Brown etc.) while cooking and home making have their warm, slightly silly mothers (June Cleaver Carol Brady etc.).

Agreed.  That would eliminate the obvious sexism and allow us to just focus on the rampant plagiarism in the concept.  I didn't mind the Mama series till they stepped over that invisible line with the babysitting entry.

AFAIK, no Babysitting Mama game has been announced, only a trademark filed. Companies file trademark applications all the time, they don't always end up using them (remember Square Enix registering "Chrono Break" long ago?). You can't judge a game that doesn't even exist.

Maybe its just me, but what is exactly wrong with a babysitting game? Yes, it might reek of sexism in some ways, but not only is "playing house" a favorite among girls there's the need for people to teach girls the responsibilities of raising a baby before they decide to get knocked up at 16. Many schools are giving both girls and boys a baby to raise as assignments.

I think there's such a huge stink over gender roles that more damage is being done that good. Yes, boys are capable of doing girl thinks and girls can do whatever boys do. But if a girl likes playing Barbie and a boy likes to watch Wrestling and play videogames why should we stop them?

Parents should allow kids to choose what they like as long as they teach them the important things. Many girls who collected Barbies like crazy grow up to be the best teachers. Boys who liked mud grow up to become master surgeons. The key here is that we allow kids to choose what they like and what they want to be while teaching them the important lessons.

See, I think we essentially agree on this.  My problem with the Mama series is just seeing this continuing trend.  I wouldn't mind a Babysitting game; I wouldn't mind a Cooking game; and I wouldn't mind a Gardening game.  But you put all these games starring women performing stereotypical roles, and a pattern emerges that's kind of troubling, especially when you have a competiting company putting out a copycat that plays to the opposite spectrum.  So long as choice is always emphasized, I don't have a problem with this.

Unless you have a babysitting game with DLC of code for new "baby variants" such as always crying regardless what you do, then the game will have no point to me. You won't learn anything.

You guys are so crazy, I can't wait for the competitive sequels:
Pregnant Stay At Home Mama vs Gotta Bring Home Tha Chedda Papa

which is not to be confused with:
Workaholic Single Mama vs Deadbeat Non-Existant Papa

it goes both ways.

I'm curious what GP has to say about this. KNOW YOUR ROLE.

LOL. That was funny but really sad. I felt sorry for Mama.

It does seem strange to attach the word "Papa" to this. Isn't there any non-gender-specific title they could have come up with? Although I suppose anything with the word "science" in it is going to sound boring...

They could always go the WiiWare route and mash together 2 or 3 words that have nothing to do with each other, like "Science Party Smash!"

At least "party" and "smash" make a game sound fun. Can you name any fun games with "science" or "papa" in the title?

Science Person.

"Death, Jr.: The Science Fair of Doom" wasn't that bad of a game.

That totally defeats the purpose.  The game is obviously designed to appeal to the crowd of people who purchase the Mama games (there was a news story last week that proclaimed the series has already sold 4 million copies in the USA).  Since Activision can't come up with a Mama game without getting sued, they did the next best thing.  Everyone who likes the Mama games will immediately be drawn to this game (in theory) because it's practically the same thing.

Dr. Wily Crap Clone is nowhere near as adorable as Mama.

Well that sounds pretty stupid, so it must be true.

Sadly, this seems true.

Mama-san has appeal.

FACT: Females are inherently more adorable than males.

but is science adorable?

Admirable maybe.

http://gonintendo.com/?p=83122

I said wow.

Cooking Papa gets to have Cooking Mama for dinner.