"video games" news and stories

I must have video games on the brain. First it was gamer food porn, and now I'm intrigued by London-based food blog Jam Faced's current fascination with Cooking Mama, which we mentioned here on Slashfood last year when the game was coming out.

What is it about Jam Faced's post I love? It's the fact that Jam Faced isn't afraid to admit that 1) "when I'm not cooking or eating, I'm probably to be found playing a game," but more charmingly, 2) his game of choice is not some all-night binge on World of Warcraft, but cute little cartoon-like Cooking Mama. Yes! Cooking Mama, which allows you to roll gyoza under the watchful eye of the pink-bonneted Mama. But perhaps best of all is that Jam Faced has "even found myself pondering a few of the recipes for future real life cookery."

Awesome.

...and then there's gamer food porn.

Gamecakes is a blog that is wholly dedicated to one thing, and one thing only: cakes that have to do with video games. The idea comes from Michael Fahey, a writer for mega gaming blog, Kotaku. While it's obvious to have an entire blog dedicated to the industry of video games, who knew there were enough gaming geeks who liked to bake cakes, and decorate them quite impressively, as well?

(And no, I have no idea what gamer porn would be.)

You really never know just quite what you'll find on eBay these days. Take this Super Mario nutcracker that's being auctioned on the Canadian eBay site. I'm not sure if Canadians are any more obsessed with video games than Americans, but it's pretty safe to say that this is the only Super Mario Nutcracker out there.

Standing just over a foot high, the hand-painted plumber sports a snazzy red and blue uniform and, of course, his signature moustache. The Mario Nutcracker's creator is selling it for $20, plus $15 shipping. He claims that it's the first in a series of pop culture nutcrackers. The next one might be Chuck Norris, he adds.

What, no Donkey Kong!?

[via: Kotaku]

These video-game inspired cakes from Glitter Pissing seemed to fit right in with the other strange (some have said "geeky") series of cakes we've featured recently on Slashfood. There were the Stargate cupcakes, the sysadmin cupcakes and then the meat cake. According to blogger r4kk4, these cakes, which include the Nintendo you see here, arcade versions of Centipede and Ms. Pacman and a Gameboy with Tetris pieces, were created for a cakewalk to benefit the nonprofit youth literacy group 826 Seattle. From the looks of the dozens of comments, there could definitely be a market for cakes like these.

With the growing popularity of social networking websites, such as MySpace, it is not very surprising to hear that people are looking to extend the concept into other spaces. Unfortunately, "other spaces" all tend to be in the real world, as opposed to the digital one, where people are likely to be interacting and networking already. One new restaurant in Los Angeles thinks that they have come up with a good balance of real and digital interactions - whether it will be a success remains to be seen.

At uWink Bistro, the customers will have computer touch screens at their tables, from which they can order food without the need for a waiter/waitress. Once their order has been placed, they can play games on the screen or challenge other tables to tournaments. Diners will be sitting in the restaurant, physically with other people, but will virtually interact with the others around them.

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