Wii Caught Up in Beer Pong Brouhaha

Parents' outcry forces video game to change name, sub in water
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 1, 2008 8:40 AM CDT
Wii Caught Up in Beer Pong Brouhaha
Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal shows a portion of JV Games Inc.'s "Beer Pong" game during a news conference in his office in Hartford, Conn., Monday, July 7, 2008.    (AP Photo/Bob Child)

The video game version of frat-boy favorite beer pong is getting watered down, Time reports. An outcry from parents concerned about youthful binge-drinking has forced JV Games to change the name of its new Wii release to Pong Toss—and to swap the virtual beer in the game's cups to virtual water.

Colleges nationwide have been cracking down on the game, in which opponents try to get each other to chug a beer by scoring a direct hit in their cup. "We never anticipated such a severe reaction to the word beer," said a JV Games exec, who suspects cleaning up the game isn't going to quash college students' fondness for brews. (More video games stories.)

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