If there's one thing people in the government hate it's being offended, but luckily there's a tried and true way to alleviate the problem: Subtract offensive, add insulting. Take, for instance, Connecticut attorney general Richard Blumenthal who was peeved that the sure-to-be-awful WiiWare game Frat Party Games: Beer Pong was rated "T." ... You know, for teens.
That was understandably problematic for Blumenthal seeing as the game is so very beer-centric. So, what's the solution, the quick fix from JV Games Vice President Jag Jaeger that makes everyone happy? Why, remove every reference to alcohol and call the game Pong Toss, of course! You know, because you're an idiot.
See I like to play video games so I can do things I otherwise cant do in real life, Like play a proffesional soccer game, Shoot terrorists as a goverment spy, or kill aliens with badass weaponry.
Why the fuck would I waste my time playing this, when I can just do it in real life, instead of virtually on the wii?
You read my mind. I was just about to post a comment about how their target demographic (clearly people of drinking age given the original name of the game) would probably rather play beer pong in real life as it would lead to drunken fun.
The ESRB has done all kinds of stupid, indefensible things, but I think I will side with them on this one.
It seems pretty clear that this was intended to be played as a drinking game, so it makes sense to restrict the game to age 17+, unless you have parental approval.
The fact that JV games just nerfed it down to a generic pong shows that they wanted to distribute it to teenagers from the beginning, which is kind of poor judgement for a frat-themed drinking game.
It's not like calling the game "beer pong" is going to make you experience inebriation while playing. So they rename it so people who aren't interested in beer won't just auto pass on it, and the people who actually are interested in beer pong can just drink their own damn beer while playing this.
Hey, ratings are for what happens IN the game, not what happens out. Since the American morals code is less offended by drinking refferences than by flying entrails, the drinking thing can't make the game rated M. That is all.
