The new Cooking Mama game is apparently using your Switch for crypto currency mining

[Belthazar90]

Several reports popped up on Twitter about it and the developers themselves claimed to have implemented "blockchain DRM" when marketing the game. I guess the mistery as to why it was delisted from eShop so early was finally figured out.

JIMBO (Dizzy and Jack-O Player) on Twitter

“PSA FOR COOKING MAMA COOKSTAR”

twitter.com

DoesItPlay on Twitter

“@Wario64 The game has its own crypto currency and basically uses players to mine for it. It will be used to measure and pay out to shareholders. Basically this game is about as corporate and shitty as it comes ... bow to your corporate overlord”

twitter.com

The fact that the IP creators didn't even know about the game was a black flag for sure, here's the publishers talking about implementing blockchain DRM into the game (all the original marketing material was removed from the internet, so there's only the coverage by gaming sites available as a source):

Cooking Mama is Connecting to the Blockchain

The Cooking Mama franchise is being rebooted and the next game of the series is coming to Nintendo Switch with integrated blockchain technology.

gamerant.com

 

[Necro Felipe]

This is fake.

SimonTime on Twitter

“I keep seeing rumours about there being a cryptominer in Cooking Mama: Cookstar, and due to its inclusion, it was pulled from the eShop. After some RE work, I can safely say there is no cryptominer/blockchain stuff anywhere within Cooking Mama: Cookstar's code.”

twitter.com

 

[DiipuSurotu]

This is fake.

SimonTime on Twitter

“I keep seeing rumours about there being a cryptominer in Cooking Mama: Cookstar, and due to its inclusion, it was pulled from the eShop. After some RE work, I can safely say there is no cryptominer/blockchain stuff anywhere within Cooking Mama: Cookstar's code.”

twitter.com

Click to shrink...

Who's this

 

[ILikeFeet]

that first twitter link has some inaccuracies. the American Koch Bros has nothing to do with Koch Media which is German

 

[Calverz]

If anything i congratulate the people who thought of this. Thats a genius business decision.

 

[Belthazar90]

This is fake.

SimonTime on Twitter

“I keep seeing rumours about there being a cryptominer in Cooking Mama: Cookstar, and due to its inclusion, it was pulled from the eShop. After some RE work, I can safely say there is no cryptominer/blockchain stuff anywhere within Cooking Mama: Cookstar's code.”

twitter.com

Click to shrink...

Who's this? The whole marketing push for the game prior to release focused on blockchain technology being implemented to the game

 

[PickledCucumber]

I thought you needed a really powerful device to do that?

Not shitting on the Switch. I assumed a very powerful PC was needed.

 

[Necro Felipe]

Who's this

Click to shrink...

Dataminer and someone who do reverse engineering for most Switch Games.

 

[Belthazar90]

I thought you needed a really powerful device to do that?

Not shitting on the Switch. I assumed a very powerful PC was needed.

Click to shrink...

For efficient mining? Yes... but there's plenty of malicious software that'll do it on any machine it can get a hold of.

 

[fiendcode]

Wait, Office Create didn't even know about Cookstar?!? Is this like a Ms. Pac-Man situation?

 

[L.O.R.D]

I thought you needed a really powerful device to do that?

Not shitting on the Switch. I assumed a very powerful PC was needed.

Click to shrink...

you can run mining tools on nvidia shield or even 3DS if you want.

 

[Zips]

This is fake.

SimonTime on Twitter

“I keep seeing rumours about there being a cryptominer in Cooking Mama: Cookstar, and due to its inclusion, it was pulled from the eShop. After some RE work, I can safely say there is no cryptominer/blockchain stuff anywhere within Cooking Mama: Cookstar's code.”

twitter.com

Click to shrink...

Well that was fast.

At least this person has some credibility to back up their claims.

 

[Dongs Macabre]

Blockchain doesn't mean crypto mining. Seems like a baseless leap even if everything around the game is sus af

 

[DiipuSurotu]

This whole thing is wild

 

[salromano]

What's the basis for the whole "Office Create doesn't know about Cooking Mama: Cookstar" thing?

Edit: The game opens with the Cooking Mama Limited Logo, followed by Office Create, followed by Planet Entertainment, followed by 1st Playable Productions.

 

[EVA UNIT 01]

Cooking Mama is in cahoots with Yoshi

 

[Zed]

If they game didn't get taken down for cryptomining what could the reason be? IP ownership issues? The game has the possibility of bricking The Switch?

 

[PickledCucumber]

For efficient mining? Yes... but there's plenty of malicious software that'll do it on any machine it can get a hold of.

Click to shrink...

you can run mining tools on nvidia shield or even 3DS if you want.

Click to shrink...

Oh, the more you know *shooting star*

 

[Mobu]

AMAZING sources all over this thread

 

[ILikeFeet]

What's the basis for the whole "Office Create doesn't know about Cooking Mama: Cookstar" thing?

Click to shrink...

that whole twitter post seems like they're trying to rile people up

 

[cw_sasuke]

If anything i congratulate the people who thought of this. Thats a genius business decision.

Click to shrink...

No, not at all.

 

[Weltall Zero]

Oh, the more you know *shooting star*

Click to shrink...

More importantly, a large number of less powerful machines will almost always be able to compute things faster than a single powerful one. The costs associated with cryptomining are hardware and power, and if both of them are supplied by other people...

(this is probably not what is actually happening in this instance, and it may not be possible or efficient specifically for cryptomining; I know very little about it and whether e.g. it's hard to paralelize, or if synchronicity is very important for its calculations).

 

[Redcrayon]

Duplicate thread. Please continue discussion here:

IGN - Gaming’s greatest mystery right now is... Cooking Mama (UPDATE: follow-up article, cryptocurrency rumors debunked)

https://www.ign.com/articles/the-cooking-mama-game-for-switch-that-came-out-and-then-disappeared tl;dr: depending on where you look, Cooking Mama: Cookstar is either out now, coming soon, or completely MIA. the trailer and the game’s website point to a Nintendo eShop version of the game, but...

www.resetera.com