The New Beef Bowl Games Journalism

There's been great deal of online chatter about the "the new games journalism" as of late (many sites linked to a piece recently in the Guardian (I'm no fan of the Guardian however) and I'm not sure what to make of it. I think that Jane at GameGirlAdvanced sums up the underlying question (What's so bad about "old games journalism"?) pretty well (and she even wrote one of the examples of New Journalism in the Guardian's piece).

Anyway, I bring this up because of this review I recently came across for a Japanese PS2 Game base on the Yoshinoya restaurant chain. The author is also listed in the Guardian piece for a long review on Metal Gear Solid 2:Sons of Liberty, which is just slightly less convoluted than the game itself (but I think the review is pretty good...not many reviews l've read compare the reviewed game to Haruki Murakami's writings). Yoshinoya is somewhat McDonalds-like in the the sense of it's ubiquity in Japanese society (although McDonalds are also ubiquitous in Japan). Yoshinoya sells relatively simple food fast and cheaply and it is known for its Gyudon, or beef bowl (shredded beef over rice). Interestingly enough, they’ve been having problems with providing their signature dish because of the J ban on US beef imports due to Mad Cow concerns. On the one year anniversary of pulling the gyudon off the menu (due to the US beef ban) they had a one day sale of it in Feb with people lining up around the block to eat it.

ANYWAY BACK TO THE MATTER AT HAND

The game sims working at/serving food in a Yoshinoya outlet. You have to deal with rushes and variable orders…if you fail to serve quickly and correctly, apparently the customers heads explode.

Here’s a few screen shots. The first has the place being stormed by hungry OLs (Office Ladies)..the second show a swelling head about to explode
Oddly enough, you’ll never see this game in the US. But do read the review if you have the time. It is quite good…