August 2nd, 2008

Kodiak Bear Facts

Did you ever meet a bear? Although I am not living in a region where bears are running free, I had two close encounters with bears, and they both had a happy ending. Since I am here to write this, that should be obvious, anyway. I won't get deeper into those encounters, but all I can say is that I regret I had to deal with brown bears twice, and since it all happened in Europe, I had no chance of encountering the Kodiak Bear. Anyway, Alaska is one of the destinations I have to check in my list with places to visit, but until I get there, I think it's easier to grab a Wii and enjoy Mastiff's Major League Eating: The Game...

Major League Eating is now available via WiiWare, but I think the real thing is even more interesting, so here it is - the records belonging to Takeru Kobayashi, Joey Chestnut, Sonya Thomas and Patrick Bertoletti are now history: 66 Nathan's Famous hot dogs and buns in 12 minutes; 97 Krystal hamburgers in eight minutes; 65 hard boiled eggs in six minutes and 47 seconds; eight-plus pounds of rib meat in 12 minutes!

Now, to the Kodiak Bear facts in the game - if you manage to unlock each character in the game along the way, you'll get the ultimate unlockable in the end, The Alaskan Crusher. Here's what the official press release says...

"Hailing from Alaska's Kodiak Archipelago, The Alaskan Crusher is considered one of the world's largest terrestrial omnivores. He prefers the brain, flesh and eggs of the salmon, and the internal organs of deer, elk and cattle. He is also extremely fond of berries, grass and other plants.

In order to face The Alaskan Crusher, players must unlock each of the hidden characters in Major League Eating: The Game. Once each hidden character is available, The Alaskan Crusher will be unlocked. Hidden characters are unlocked by winning a match with a specific character as follows:

Win a game with "Crazy Legs" Conti to unlock Tim "Eater X" Janus
Win a game with Erik "the Red" Denmark to unlock Sonya "The Black Widow" Thomas
Win a game with "El Toro" Jimenez to unlock Richard "The Locust" LeFevre
Win a game with Juliet "The Lovely" Lee to unlock Patrick "Deep Dish" Bertoletti
Win a game with Patrick "Deep Dish" Bertoletti to unlock Joey "Jaws" Chestnut

Only one eater, competitive eating legend Takeru Kobayashi, has ever dared face a Kodiak bear in head-to-head gurgitory competition, and Kobayashi suffered a crushing defeat on that day five years ago. Will Kobayashi find his revenge? Only time will tell."

Pretty funny, don't you think? I am sure that one of the real Kodiak Bear facts is that such a monster won't ever compeat with a human in any contest, but...who can tell for sure?