Cooking Mama Goes Rogue
Turns out Cooking Mama: Cookstar could really be Crypto Mama: Minestar
Cooking Mama: Cookstar has suddenly vanished from the Nintendo eShop, and despite – or maybe thanks to – the lack of an official explanation, there are suspicions as to why.
The juiciest rumour claims that Cookstar was using customers’ Switch consoles to mine cryptocurrency, but reverse-engineering efforts seems to disprove the allegations. But there’s a twist: It looks like the game might at some point have contained cryptocurrency mining code.
Official response: “As the developers we can say with certainty there is no cryptocurrency or data collection or blockchain or anything else shady in the code. The Nintendo Switch is a very safe platform, with none of the data and privacy issues associated with some mobile and PC games,” stated developer 1st Playable Productions according to Nintendo Everything.
Battery life issue: Other reports suggest that the game could have been removed because remnants of the crypto-mining code caused the game to drain the Switch battery at an unacceptable rate. If this is true, the game has probably been pulled while the developers clean up their code.
Time For A Quick Daily Quiz?
Which of the following is a real Cooking Mama spinoff?
- Birthday Mama
- Camping Mama
- Sushi Mama
- Cultist Mama
The answer will be revealed at the bottom of today’s issue. Join up with our community on Twitter and Facebook to discuss what the answer could be.
Daily Fact
Sega had no choice but to dial down the pride in Streets of Rage 3
Cultural sensibilities can be tricky to navigate, and Streets of Rage 3 would probably have caused a fair bit of outrage if Sega had not cut out some of the game’s more controversial visuals.
Scantily-clad women were dressed up a bit to avoid offending us puritanical Westerners, while a minor boss character named Ash was simply too gay for prime time. Even if his purple vest, green tights and leather leotard could be explained away, his body language and effeminate laughter doomed him to censorship.
To make matters worse (or better, depending on your taste in men), you could also play as Ash if you held down the B button while defeating him. His strong and fast attacks broke game balance a bit, but let’s be fair: it’s not his fault he’s so fabulous.
Join up with our community on Twitter and Facebook to discuss today’s fact.
Pokemon News and Events
Let’s hope you can enjoy the Pokémon Go Spring Event outside your home
Spring is nearly here, and that means celebratory events in Pokémon Go! Floral Hat Pikachu, anyone? Let’s hope we can enjoy the event outdoors.
Meanwhile, a legendary event has just started in Pokémon Masters and the Korean Pokémon Championship Series has been cancelled. The Japanese event could still proceed as planned.
Pokémon GO
- Spring 2020 event
- Starts April 9th @ 08:00 local time
- Ends April 16th @ 22:00 local time
- Floral hats for Pikachu, Pichu, Buneary and Togepi
- Togepi-themed outfits for Trainers
- Shiny Exeggcute
- All gift Eggs are 2km eggs, Lucky Eggs last an hour
- Earn Alolan Exeggutor, Azumarill and Audino from Field Research tasks
- ‘Spotlight Hour’ every Tuesday between 18:00 to 19:00 local time
- April 7th: Purrloin: 2x Catch XP
- April 14th: Magnemite: 2x Catch Candy
- April 21st: Wobbuffet: 2x Transfer Candy
- April 28th: Pidgey: 2x Evolution XP
Pokémon Masters
- Legendary event: The Beast That Devours The Sun
- Lasts until April 24th @ 06:00 UTC
- Boosts Sync Pair of Main Character & Solgaleo as well as power ups
- Bug-type Training boosts Bug-type Sync Pairs
Pokémon Championship Series
The Pokémon Company has cancelled the official Korean League, but the Japan Champships are still going ahead. The Japanese events are scheduled for June 27th and 28th, but this could still change. The final decisions should be made by the middle of May.
