Ubisoft Announces Hell’s Kitchen: The Video Game

Publisher Ubisoft has announced Hell’s Kitchen: The Video Game, an adaptation of FOX’s cookery-based reality show starring chef Gordon Ramsay, for PC, Mac, Wii, and Nintendo DS. Montreal-based studio Ludia, whose portfolio includes licensed games based on television shows American Idol and The Price Is Right, is handling development. Due for a worldwide release in September 2008, the game mimics the show’s high-pressure kitchen and dining room challenges, even featuring a 3D version of Ramsay that watches and judges players, praising them or shutting down the kitchen if their skills don’t meet his expectations. In Hell’s Kitchen’s Career Mode, players complete orders in three phases - preparation, cooking, and service - to earn stars and promote their single-star restaurant to a five-star eatery. As players progress, they will be rewarded with more intricate and varied recipes from Ramsay’s own repertoire. In the game’s Arcade Mode, players will have to attend to a stream of customer orders, keeping up with demand until time runs out or until Ramsay loses patience and closes the kitchen. Said Ubisoft North America’s senior vice president of sales and marketing Tony Key: “Hell’s Kitchen’s has everything a great video game needs: pressure, excitement and intense competition. We are very excited to be bringing the intensity of celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay and the Hell’s Kitchen’s experience to the virtual world this fall.”