Quote:For Nintendo, 'Beer' is Too Strong for Wii Owners

July 7, 2008 at 18:08 PDT – Source: Las Vegas Sun

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Contrasting previous statements about not screening WiiWare content, Nintendo elicited changes in JV Games' upcoming title, including a name change from Frat Party Games – Beer Pong to Frat Party Game

According to the co-founders of JV Games, Nintendo asked them to change the name and some of the content of their upcoming WiiWare title because of one word: "beer." Their game, originally titled Frat Party Games – Beer Pong, was renamed to the more family friendly Frat Party Games – Pong Toss.

This conflicts with some of Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime's statements last year about how "Nintendo will not do any screening of ideas" on WiiWare. JV Games co-founder Vince Valenti recalls how they "had a little discussion with Nintendo and there were some angry parties." The two founders were shocked by Nintendo's reaction. As Valenti puts it, his company's use of the word "beer" was "just like you would hear in any movie or on TV." Co-founder Jag Jaeger said they "wanted to focus on the sport of beer pong, not the alcohol that’s associated with it."

The sport in question is a college drinking game staple and consists of a table with pyramids of cups laid out on each end. These cups are filled with beer and the goal of the game is to throw a ping pong ball into your opponent's cups until they are all gone. Whenever a cup is hit, the opponent has to drink the beer in the cup.

Frat Party Games – Pong Toss still includes almost everything that was in the original build of the game, including using the Wii Remote's motion sensing capabilities to throw the balls, and a crowd that "still says authentic college-ish things like 'Loser,' 'What was that?' and 'I’ve got the munchies.'" The only changes are in the name, the now-empty red plastic cups, and in the new throw power meter, now transformed into a bullet that merely resembles the glass of beer it's replaced.

JV Games hopes to have Frat Party Games – Pong Toss out for WiiWare sometime in July.

Neal Ronaghan, Staff News Writer

Quote:The only changes are in the name, the now-empty red plastic cups, and in the new throw power meter, now transformed into a bullet that merely resembles the glass of beer it's replaced.

Quote:I think I know why they did this though. They may not want parents complaining about having the game visible, as in, something that a kid can see exists. Parental controls, as of yet, do not apply to the online store in a way that blocks things above the rating from appearing in the store.

They should have just patched it so it DOES block them from appearing. XBox Live's online store is tied to the parental controls in just that way.