"MLE: The Game"
(Credit: MLE: The Game)Who says huge global companies don't have a sense of humor? In the same week that Nintendo releases the highly anticipated Wii Fit, they tip the scales in the other direction with the promotion of Major League Eating: The Game. As an officially licensed title by the top league (hopefully the only league) in speed eating, well-recognized stars such as Joey Chestnut or Takeru Kobayashi will be playable characters. The WiiWare title is touted as a fighting game that "requires players to master a smorgasbord of offensive and defensive weapons including bites, burps, belches, mustard gas, and jalapeno flames while cramming and chewing food at a world-class pace." How convenient that the Wii Fit looks like a scale, because you're going to need it.
However, Nintendo is not stopping at the physical activity of the Wii Fit or the digital gluttony of MLE: The Game to help shape our health and eating habits.
Nintendo just announced that they will be releasing Cooking Guide: Can't Decide What to Eat? throughout Europe in June. The coming title for the Nintendo DS promises to "literally talk budding chefs step-by-step through all the processes involved in cooking a tasty dish." Featuring interaction through the DS's microphone, aspiring chefs will be able to talk with the Cooking Guide chef to work their way through any of the 250 included recipes. And then actually eat them in the real world.
With at least two of these new releases, Nintendo has moved well beyond the so-called casual gamer market. (It's anyone's guess who the eating game is for.) With the instant popularity of the Wii Fit and the coming foray into the kitchen, it is apparent that Nintendo is well positioned to break away from any gamer market and integrate their products into our daily lives.
Earlier today, competitive eater Tim Janus (aka "Eater X") made a guest appearance at the Nintendo Media summit in downtown San Francisco to show off his prowess eating Sushi rolls. Nintendo's public relations had put together a "guess how many jelly beans are in the jar" situation by making attendees estimate the number of sushi rolls Janus would be consuming within a six minute time frame to promote Mastif-Games' new title Major League Eating: The Game of which Janus appears as a playable character.
To everyone's surprise, Janus managed to wolf down 14 plates of sushi, totaling 141 pieces, each about the size of a roll of film. The winning guesstimater received $250 in cash while Janus casually sipped some lemonade and played a few rounds of the game with onlookers, including myself who barely managed to take him out in a meatball battle (an event Janus has never won in real life).
The event was timed and sanctioned by Major League Eating to count as an official record for Janus. Janus is the record holder for ramen noodles, tamales, and tiramisu, of which he's eaten four pounds within six minutes back in mid-2005.
We grabbed the contest on video in case you're interested in watching someone consume this much food in one sitting. There's also a set of photos of Janus and the finished plates here.
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