'Beer Pong' Video Game Rated OK for Kids
Yes, that's right. A Las Vegas-based video game maker has created a new title for the Wii gaming system based on the popular bar and frat house basement game beer pong. Yes, a perfect game for the adult set but the Entertainment Software Rating Board for some reason saw fit to give it a rating stating it is a suitable game for kids as young as 13-years-old. This has the Connecticut attorney general questioning the rating board's judgment and criteria.
The odd response from the rating board president? The rating was appropriate because she says beer actually plays a very small role in the game and there are no scenes of drinking. We'd like to point out that the word "beer" appeared in the game title.
To quell criticism the game maker, JV Games, has renamed the game 'Pong Toss' and all references to alcohol have been removed. The game box artwork reflects this change but oddly enough the image file name for the artwork still reads "BP_largebox." Um, what could BP stand for, we wonder? [Source: USA Today]
Gallery: [Beer] Pong Toss
Filed under: Video Games
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
D @ Jul 8th 2008 9:16PM
This is why in sensible countries the drinking age is 16.
mike @ Jul 9th 2008 12:20AM
So kids can simulate playing beer pong?
nana @ Jul 9th 2008 4:15AM
this would be Beirut, not beer pong. im amazed people still cant get it right >.>
Seanross @ Jul 9th 2008 4:25AM
More shovelware
I bet too
Nick @ Jul 9th 2008 6:19AM
This is why there are parents in the world to make sure CONTENT is suitable for their children and not to blindly go well the ESRB gave it a teen rating so it must be ok. Its called being aware of what youre children are buying now they have ruined what would have been a great game for the wii and turned into childrens fodder which they cant even market because it is a waste of time Thanks middle-class idiots. Maybe in those fancies colleges everyone raves about they should teach some F'N common sense and the sad reality that we are becoming stupider everyday might not come true
Chug @ Jul 9th 2008 6:40AM
Who cares, we have bigger fish to fry. The economy is sinking into the pits of hell. If you don't want the game don't buy the dayum thing.
brettbutler08 @ Jul 9th 2008 6:49AM
ugh this is so stupid. its a video game designed to have fun, parents need to teach their child whats right and wrong, not a video game. And if the child has something wrong with them, just dont give them any games. parents should make the choice wether its suitablef for their kids. im a 17 year old avid video game player (grand theft auto, need for speed, etc etc.) and i dont go shoot up places and drive fast and reckless. and my mom is 53 and she plays video game (zelda and mario party and things of that nature) so parents need to step in and up, but not against video games, but with them and their children.
keyan2004 @ Jul 9th 2008 8:21AM
we played this game for fun actually,,on a real table in az. and if Jeff W. is ready to play another round bring the table,,,however we were of legal drinking age as EVERY-ONE should be !!! I'm not sure if this game either promotes or encourages drinking and should NOT be played by a teen-agern
surfsunsand4me @ Jul 9th 2008 8:34AM
Here is an idea for a game they get to go to work, drive a car, and spend twice as much as the make in one day to put gas in the car to actually get to work. No never mind that is way to realistic and it might make kids do something stupid.
serbdancer218 @ Jul 9th 2008 8:37AM
well thats ridiculous who cares if it was called beer pong??
Rachel G @ Jul 9th 2008 8:55AM
im only ten and i already know every swear word in the book and every sex phrase and everything there is to know about sex. i even use swear words sometimes. if a ten year old is doing this stuff then what makes beer pong bad for 13 year olds? heck i even watch my dad play gto sometimes. (grand theft outto)
pigeon @ Jul 9th 2008 9:12AM
clearly your dad hasnt taught you to spell.... its AUTO.. grand theft AUTO
Erin @ Jul 9th 2008 8:57AM
They arent pourig ice cold beer into solo cups and handing them out to 7 year olds.
when i was little we had duck hunt for nintendo. it came complete with the orange and grey gun with real trigger action for shooting ducks.
Was it ok for me to simulate playing with a gun? its not ok for litle suzy to pretend to toss a ping pong ball into a cup and pretend tod rink out of one? even if the beverage inside said fictional cup represents beer, they arent drinking any beer.
sheesh.
Janet @ Jul 9th 2008 9:01AM
What this boils down to is if you allow your child to buy this game is your business. If you feel this is not for your child then don' buy it for them, but i can tell you that all you people out there that are againt this game i can bet your child has Grand Theft Auto and that game is the worst, thats my oppinion, that game is meant for adults and i know alot of kids that parents bought it for them, so fess up and you as the parent decide whats right and whats wrong.
K3yblademast3r @ Jul 9th 2008 9:06AM
OK people need to leave video games alone and grow up!!! Whoever said that this game was made for kids, and a T rating is perfect for this game. It's just beer pong!! A lot of kids see their parents drink beer and other alcoholic drinks everyday!!! And the developers said that there are no scenes showing the consumtion of beer. Look, whoever wrote this article and whoever is getting mad at ratings board for during their job, GROW THE F**K UP!!!!! Its just a game!! There are worse things out there that you need to be worrying about than a beer pong game. You, the parents, are the influence on your children. Not a videogame!!! And there are worse things in movies, on the radio, on the internet, and even on TV that you need to make sure your child is not experiencing. So quit worrying about why a beer pong game didn't get higher than a T rating, so you can grow up and get a life!!!
mike hall @ Jul 9th 2008 10:45AM
This is exactly why i wont be bringing a kid into this screwed up world we call, ours. we have taken everything in life to the very edge of the cliff, we stretch fun and excitement to the very limits. it wont surpirse me when 8 year olds are having sex on a regular basis. we evolved from apes and took this trip forward in time so that we could once again act like animals. sadly we have made no progress other than doing a full 360,back to caveman days.
jen @ Jul 9th 2008 11:06AM
lol wow sounds fun but they're right not for kids!!!!=D
Emily @ Jul 9th 2008 11:32AM
Who cares? Like kids don't know what beer is. And like playing this game is really going to make them go out and play real beer pong while they are like, ten?
Sully @ Jul 9th 2008 12:36PM
Perfectly acceptable, Beer is a fact of life, its drank internationally with dinner as a normal beverage, get off your religious freak out, and let it be.
Alcohol abuse is rampant in this country due to the illegality of drinking under 21, if it was a socially accepted norm from birth, it would not create the problem we have today.
Less then 100 years ago, Alcoholic Apple Cider was safer then most of the drinking water in this country.
Lighten up People
John @ Jul 9th 2008 12:43PM
Honestly, in my opinion there shoul;dn't be any except kid friendly game. I mean like Grand Theft Auto, but its ok for like Revenge of the Sith or MEdal of Honor, etc. I agree with Mike Hall: 'Catch the Marshmellow before it burns!', As i say. We evolved, prospered, and now our world is going into a supernova of war, violence, drugs, and, er, other things. Hooray for Mankind! Somebody get me a gun so I can shoot meself!!!!!