22 April 2013

Beer Pong Too Strong For Wii

By Adam Redsell on July 7, 2008 at 10:41 AM

Beer Pong fans will have to settle for the real thing, thanks to outraged parent and university groups. Beer Pong was to be released on Wii Ware last month as part of JV Games' Frat Party Games line, but those plans came to a grinding halt when the cries of hot mothers and stuffy deans reached the ears of Connecticut attorney-general Richard Blumenthal.

Blumenthal determined that the ESRB had made a grievous error in clearing the game for young teens, expressing concerns that future games in the Frat Party Games series will be approved for that age group. In what appeared to be a panic-propelled backflip, JV Games VP Jag Jaeger [hello, deed poll!] announced that the game will be renamed "Pong Toss" and all references to alcohol removed. Thing is, the game contained no alcoholic references to begin with, according to the ESRB president Patricia Vance:
"Despite being premised on a drinking game, the game's content involves essentially nothing more than tossing pingpong balls into plastic cups. We are thus unsure of the basis for the statement in your letter suggesting that this content 'glorifies alcohol abuse and binge drinking."
Touche. Blumenthal [blue menthol?] responded by pointing out that "beer" was explicitly referred to in the title, accompanied by a depiction of said beverage. He added that kegs and beer mugs were clearly visible at some of the beer pong tables, and that there was even a full bar in the background. Clearly Richard has spent a lot of time with the game.

So "Beer Pong" is now "Pong Toss" and the oldies are satisfied. Where this leaves the follow-up title, "Bong Toss", remains to be seen.

'Beer Pong' Video Game Has Controversy Brewing [Fox News]