Beer isn’t for Everyone: Beer Pong starts controversy over title

Under pressure from Connecticut‘s attorney general, the WiiWare game Beer Pong was rechristened as Pong Toss. The change was due to the word “Beer” in the title, and the title-change worked to change its “T for Teens” rating from the ESRB to an “E for Everyone” rating. Beer just isn’t for everyone. Story in the full article.

It’s not exactly the Manhunt 2 controversy, but it’s still an example of the politics that go behind the development and release of video games. This controversy revolved around the WiiWare game, Beer Pong from Frat Party Games.

As the title suggests, the game is based on the real-life beer game. Despite its theme, the ESRB gave it a rating of T, legally making it a suitable game for minors as young as 13 years old. This drew the attention of Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal.

Blumenthal said that the ESRB made a mistake with handing off a low age rating for the game, describing it as “absolutely inappropriate.” The game, which already missed its June launch, was soon rechristened as Pong Toss.

The name-change not only worked to smooth things out with Blumenthal, but it also got to change its T rating to “E for everyone.” Note though, they didn’t actually change the theme of the game. Now Everyone, even minors, has legit access to the beer-themed game.

I find this more than ironic (the Alanis definition). What’s in a name? That which we call beer by any other name would give you the same hangover. Anyway, Frat Party Games gave the following reasons for the name change:

After concerns were raised about the game promoting drinking and since we never had any drinking in the game, we elected to change the name from Beer Pong to Pong Toss to better reflect it’s true contents and cater to a larger audience.

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Via Courant