Not sure what PETA's obsession is with video games lately. First, they went after SEGA for their advertising monkeyshines, then slandered Cooking Mama, to which Mama herself responded, and in a classy fashion at that.

Now, the ball is back on PETA's side of the net, and so they've written an open letter which declares how much they "love" (they left out "to slander") the Cooking Mama games, and continue their petition for a meat-free version of the game in the future, which they even offer to promote... should it ever come to fruition.

Dearest Mama,

On behalf of everyone who worked on Cooking Mama: Mama Kills Animals, The Unauthorized PETA Edition, I wholeheartedly want to thank you for the hours of enjoyment you have provided us through your various Cooking Mama games. We played and studied them as we prepared our lighthearted parody of your successful series.

Talk about a back-handed compliment...

Based on your and Majesco's good-natured responses to PETA's game, I think you understand that although we made you into a demonic, knife-wielding maniac in Cooking Mama: Mama Kills Animals, we still love you. While we had a good time roasting you, the real purpose of our game, of course, was to bring to light some of the horrific practices of the turkey industry. And we mean the animals who are actually mistreated—not the virtual ones you cook up in your digital kitchen. I'm sure you'll be happy to know that, as a result of our game, tens of thousands of people have watched undercover footage from turkey factory farms, and hundreds of thousands have been exposed to the idea that how we treat animals matters.

It's great to hear that you want to "make the world a happier place," because that's pretty much what we want to do too (though it seems that we might have different tactics …). I do hope that you seriously consider making a vegetarian diet a part of your strategy for world happiness. By adopting a vegetarian diet, you can save more than 100 animals per year. Plus, vegetarians live longer and have a considerably lower carbon footprint. I know that—as you are a digital being—these benefits don't exactly apply to you, but I still urge you to take the pledge to be veg for 30 days.

Even if you don't take the plunge into the wonderful world of vegetarianism yourself, I still hope that you will consider making a vegetarian-only Cooking Mama game. There is such a variety of international cuisine, including Indian, Thai, Japanese, and Middle Eastern cuisine, with an abundance of vegetarian and vegan options for you and your followers to explore.

If you do decide to move forward with Cooking Mama: Vegetarian Kitchen please contact us so that we can help promote your game to our over 2 million members and supporters. I already look forward to playing it!

Best,

Joel Bartlett
Assistant Director of Marketing
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals

P.S. Please give Max a big hug from everyone at PETA! -- PETA, via Kotaku

Of course, Cooking Mama Limited being a Japanese company, it's hard to say how much of this is actually reaching the developers, or if they would even do anything about it. As put in a post on 61 Frames Per Second:

PETA's mission is seemingly twofold: Let's Hate Thanksgiving and Hey Kids, Bug Majesco To Make a Vegetarian Cooking Mama. The latter mission is hilarious, since I've heard from a number of sources that declaring yourself vegan in Japan will draw the same confused look that your dog gives you when you speak his name in a really high pitch.

"Shrimp is vegan, right?" -- 61 Frames Per Second

And of course, there's the question of whether or not there's enough market to support such a venture... though, I suppose the same could have been said of Cooking Mama itself at first.