Gamer Grub: Performance Snack Food?
If Keith Mullin has his way, we might soon see a sixth food group in the USDA’s Food Pyramid: Cognitive Performance Snacks. Mullin calls his invention "Gamer Grub" and maintains that it is “formulated to boost your brain and speed reaction times.”
Gamer Grub will be available in four flavors considered to be popular with gamers ("Strategy Chocolate," "Action Pizza," "Racing Wasabi," and "Sports PB&J" (that’s peanut butter and jelly to the uninitiated), but two features will set this snack apart from the chips, pizza, popcorn, and similar snack foods on which gamers are known to subsist: a proprietary mix of vitamins and other supplements, and a unique “delivery system” that will enable one to consume the product in the midst of gaming without leaving one’s fingers, keyboard, and mouse slick with grease.
The delivery system comes in the form of flip-top lid on top of an ergonomically shaped plastic container that is easily gripped with one hand. The supplements range from Vitamin A (for improved eyesight) to Magnesium (for the maintenance of muscle and nerve functions) to Choline (for muscle reactions). While the Gamer Grub website seems to make these claims in a tongue-cheek-fashion, it also provides citations to scholarly research to back its nutritional claims.
Mullin, a sometime gamer himself, originally developed the Gamer Grub concept for a General Mills’ snack inventors’ contest. The cereal-maker declared Mullin’s entry a winner, but ultimately decided against manufacturing the product; so Mullin decided to develop it himself. This is not his first invention.
“I work in product development,” Mullin told us when we contacted him this morning. “I’ve invented and licensed several toy products, and I invented a pet toy called the Bark-N-Bat. This is the first time I’ve done a food product, and it’s definitely exciting.”
Mullin describes Gamer Grub as a “functional food,” a concept he says he did not invent (here’s Wikipedia’s definition). “Functional food is basically a food product that enhances a lifestyle or a health condition,” Mullin said. “It’s a very large food category.” Mullin also advised us not to confuse his product with the category of food supplements. “The difference between a supplement and a natural food,” he said, “is that the FDA generally recognizes the ingredients in a natural food to be safe.”
Gamers attending the “E for All” videogame event in Los Angeles later this week will be able to sample Gamer Grub, and Mullin promised to ship some product directly to us, as well. We’ll let you know what we think of it. Everyone else will have to wait until the product reaches retailers’ shelves some time in 2009. Mullin has not yet settled on a retail price for the product.
Note: This story was updated October 1 with a link to the Gamer Grub website and pricing information.
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Sounds simple and dumb enough that it may be actually be worth a damn in the end.
wow....
you want a performance boost drink red bull...
you want to be normal... and not have any weird side affects... don't do anything...
this is so dumb... the funny part is people will buy it... and then when the first game they play they get 2 more kills... they'll be like... omfg... this stuff really works
LOL @ thogrom's comment
very funny! i couldn't agree more with you. apparently people never heard of eating healthy such as fruits/vegetables/grains and things like that. if you ate all those things, you wouldn't need to buy this stuff, if you actually do.
i guess it's better than potato chips and your 2 liter of pepsi you're drinking when you're gaming but it's not really something major.
That´s the nerdiest thing I´ve ever seen in Tom´s
It just shows how dumb people are. If you want to be "good" in games you need to exercise and eat well. Your mental health has to be in good shape meaning No smoking green tabacco while playing on lanparties is not good. And yes I done that and I actually suck more, when it comes to any kinds of drinks it distracts me and makes me want to go pee pee instead of aiming. Food? Makes your fingers messy and keyboard sticky so no I don't eat while I'm playing.
Personally, I don't know many gamers who would opt for a bag of carrots and celery, or better yet an orange to snack on while gaming. To me, this sounds a lot healthier than most foods that gamers eat...
What a pile of crap. And there will be people actually buying this shite...
I wonder how much it will cost. I think I'll just have a nice cup of brewed coffee instead.
Lmao this isn't dumb. Its freaking smart well if it tastes good, and a reasonable price anyways lol. Its really simple. Thats why it would work. Ya eat an orange while playing a game hahahaha. Don't get me wrong personally I love fruit but their not really practicle to eat while playing a game. Although some vegies are *celery, carrots, and yes I like both of them to*. This is just another healthy alternative to eating potatoe chips..etc What so stupid about that lol.
Sounds fine by me, i tend to stick to Monster energy drinks, chips, pizza, carl's jr., maybe some 7 eleven hot dogs with everything on it. But this idea sounds pretty cool, if its priced at a good price like cheaper then a monster can i might consider it a option or i just might buy both hahaha. I agree with noobe1981, its a smart move. No one has yet to call something Gamer Grub, it will definitely sell. BUt saying that it must TASTE good, if not then it won't sell. If it tastes like monster hell i'd buy it hahaha.
Well... will I buy it? No.
Will it sell? Probably.
I think it might be a smart idea because it will make someone a good a mount of cash, but not because it's something the world really needs.
Like cocoa puffs, it sells,but do we really need to feed kids something that makes them any more hyperactive than they already are?
who games and eats foods... people who game and eat food... = stereotypical "fat" nerd
I mean really... who eats while watching games... a day shouldn't consist of 7 meals... it should consist of 3 major meals and MAYBE 2 snakcs... tops... anything more and your WAY over your 2500 cal limit... some people who are active won't have any issues... but chances are your not as active as you should be and won't be able to burn those cals
I looked at their website. And their whole "(AKA Cell spam)" and calling our brains "Wetware CPUs" Gives me the feeling that this company has no idea what their target audience is like.
thogrom you are a moron. I always grab some snacks when I know I am going to be gaming for a couple of hours... Specifically if I am going to be LANing with some friends. But I am also not a stereotypical "fat nerd". I work out at least 4 times a weak and enjoy hiking and biking on the weekends. So while there are probably many overweight individuals who should spend less time eating and gaming in general, making a blanket statement that all people who eat food while gaming are "fat nerds" makes you appear as an ignorant fool.
The point of the food isn't to be "healthy", it's to be a snack that you can eat without dirtying your hands. It pours from a spout into your mouth. The nutrients in there are the same as any other "healthy" snack.
Remind me, what's the name of this site? Tom's something-or-other?
Memo to new owners: kill the puff pieces and get back to publishing real hardware reviews.
Pshaw!
I can use that word, right? No-one has copyrighted it yet?
Performance food? It is a crock. Yuo get hungry, get your arse up and get something to eat! As for bringing snacks, sometimes just a plate of cheese and crackers is enough. Cheese-its? Fine. So long as you do what others have said (eat right) you do not need suppliments WHIEL GAMING to improve your performance.
Hell, I find a good beer works well.
Its the 3rd-5th that kill ya!
It's snack mix that has been sprayed with vitamin water. You can do the same thing by buying some snack mix, dumping it into a cup, and throwing some daily vitamins into the mix. Look! I just made my own Gamer Grub!
Epic Phail for Gamer Grub. The Developers are definite n00bs.
For more information why we hate you: http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/10/3/
This is asinine and I am less of a person for reading this.
When I first tried their Action Pizza it was an a outstanding product for all gamers out there. You literally have pizza in the palm of your hand. It's a great idea that should be taken into consideration. Also, with just the flip of the lid gamers don't have to get their hands greasy or wipe their hands to get the grease off.
What does the food LOOK like? For a site that shows copious pictures in most articles, just showing the outside of the "delivery system" (er, PACKAGE) falls short. I think it's also telling that the company site doesn't show the food either. Heck a lot of the words used to describe the package is just vapid marketing. I think of this as another step in the direction of Idiocracy.
5 bucks that Skeletor is working for the company.
Strategy Chocolate, yeah booooooooy!
I can see it now- massive panic from Paranoid Schizophrenics everywhere over "Strategy Chocolate"---Rising suspicious about the strategic evil nesting securely in the womb of mother plotter Godiva and her sinister lover, Hershey.
I think "gamer grub" really does lump us all together doesn't it? There is no one-size container fits all gaming--let alone that somehow flavors can be attributed to a genre. The idea that it has to have nutrients sprayed on it doesn't instill hopes in the virtues of the snack. Also, it seems to imply that gamers everywhere don't know how to seek out a healthy snack.
I propose we create "Business Bites"- snack foods engineered with corporate shills in mind. With exciting flavors like "Marketing Lemon", "Accounting Pickle", and "Human Resources Fudge". Eat snack is sprayed with the the essentials ruthless tycoons are lacking such as environmentalism, compassion, and freedom from materialism (such nutrients would naturally be derived of ground hippies and girl scouts).
Wtf
Why do people that play games get separate food from other people, I DONT WANT YOUR GAY-MER GRUB, I WANT TO EAT TOAST!!!!
Less expensive, better for you and i have loads of it :-)
Who cares about greasy fingers, just get a towel of some napkins or actualy CLEAN your keyboard after its not that hard to do
Mr Mullin i would recommend that you should just stick with making your toys
Live long and prosper jackass
I find it insulting that these people think gamers need a special food. It's like bachelor chow for gamers, as if I were unable to find a napkin to wipe my hands after eating messy food, or as if I was too stupid not to get crumbs in my keyboard. It takes a whole two minutes to eat a sammitch (less if you eat fast) made from stuff in the fridge, and they want us to pay them a ton of cash for a specialty snack that will help us with our own general inability to consume food? Oh but it's nutritious? So are multivitamins, and they come in a convenient, easy to swallow once-per-day PILL format, for those gamers who are terminally allergic to sunlight and plants.
dude, this isn't such a bad idea. i would love a snack i could eat while sitting in front of my computer without getting my hands all greasy. i lost a mouse one time because of a greasy snack. and most gamers won't want to take the time to get up and get something to eat. you guys are just haters because it sounds stupid, but in reality this could be a great thing
and most gamers won't want to take the time to get up and get something to eat.
What are they, moles? Can't come out of the dark?
I think I'll just stick with the feed-bag I keep strapped to my maw. Means I don't actually have to move at all, I just tilt my head back slightly to keep my body from starving whilst plugged into the cyberTron.
i lost a mouse one time because of a greasy snack.
Just wipe it off with a napkin or a shirt sleeve or something. Unless you were stupid and just left it there.