And I do mean blatantly!
Today, Activision unveiled its new Wii and DS mini-game game titled Science Papa. Yeah, Science Papa! Doesn’t that have a familiar ring to it? It should, because it’s an obvious attempt to rip off and cash in on the success of Majesco’s Cooking Mama franchise.
“With Science Papa, we’re taking real-world elements of science and giving players the chance to interact with them in safe and creative ways,” said David Oxford, Activision Publishing. “While the focus here is clearly family fun, the game can stimulate interest and discussion about science.”
Science Papa, which is a collection of 30+ different laboratory experiments presented in mini-game form utilizing the DS touch screen and Wii motion controls, may very well turn out to be a fun game, but it’s poor form on Activision’s part to essentially play off of the branding of another publisher’s successful franchise. From a business perspective it’s probably a smart move. I can guarantee that many unsuspecting customers will see Science Papa on store shelves and buy it thinking it has some relation to Majesco’s Mama games. But it doesn’t, and to me that just seems like the wrong way to get customers to buy your product.
We’ll find out how much of a rip off Science Papa is (or isn’t) when it ships for DS and Wii in July.
Matt Litten is the full-time editor and owner of VGBlogger.com. He is responsible for maintaining the day to day operation of the site, editing all staff content before it is published, and contributing regular news, reviews, previews and other articles.
Matt landed his first gig in the video game review business writing for the now-defunct website BonusStage.com. After the sad and untimely close of BonusStage, the former staff went on to found VGBlogger.com. After a short stint as US Site Manager for AceGamez, Matt assumed full ownership over VGBlogger, and to this day he is dedicated to making it one of the top video game blogs in all the blogosphere.
Matt is a fair-minded reviewer and lover of games of all platforms and types, big or small, hyped or niche, big-budget or indie. But that doesn't mean he will let poor games slide without a good thrashing when necessary! 
We need a fight game – Cooking Mama vs. Science Papa … 😀
Now now, don’t go inciting domestic violence between Mama and Papa. Just look at Papa’s hair. His mugshot would probably look a lot like Nick Nolte’s. Not pretty. 😉