| Pong Toss! Frat Party Games Beer Pong! Frat Party Games |
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Cover art for Pong Toss! Frat Party Games. |
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| Developer(s) | JV Games |
| Publisher(s) | JV Games |
| Engine | Entity engine |
| Platform(s) | Wii (WiiWare) |
| Release date(s) | |
| Genre(s) | Sports party game |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, Multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | |
| Media/distribution | Digital download |
Pong Toss! Frat Party Games, known in Europe as Beer Pong! Frat Party Games, is a sports/party video game developed by JV Games for the Wii's WiiWare digital distribution service, and was first released in North America in 2008, and in Europe the following year. The gameplay is based on the party game beer pong, which requires players to toss ping pong balls into plastic cups. Each mode has its own top five score list, with up to four players able to participate at one time. It was originally announced on May 21, 2008, and was the first in a proposed series of Frat Party Games. While they considered using traditional controls for the game, the developers felt that it should be made for the Wii so that it could be more fun. They conducted a test on 15 people to see how they played beer pong.
Pong Toss has had a substantially negative reaction from critics, was called a complete mess by 1UP.com's Andrew Hayward, and "ridiculously shallow" by IGN's Matt Casamassina, and holds an aggregate score of 18/100 and 18.75% at Metacritic and GameRankings respectively. It experienced controversy from parents and activist groups before its release due to its then-controversial premise and content rating – it was originally titled Frat Party Games: Beer Pong and rated with a Teen rating for ages 13 and up, but its developer JV Games and the Entertainment Software Ratings Board came under fire from several people and organizations, including the Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, for what was described as promoting alcohol abuse and binge drinking. The title was changed and it received a new ESRB rating. A sequel was released titled Pong Toss Pro: Frat Party Games.
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The objective of Pong Toss is to use the Wii Remote to throw a ping pong ball across a table, with the intent of landing the ball in one of several cups on the other end, and each successful throw removes a cup from the table. The game features two game modes: the first is called Pong Toss, which allows players to play in a traditional tournament style; the second is called Speed Pong, which encourages players to use power-ups to negatively affect their opponents to sink their ping pong balls first.[1] This mode was created by JV Games especially for the game.[2]
Pong Toss! Frat Party Games was originally announced on May 21, 2008, and was then intended to be based on the drinking game beer pong and be titled Frat Party Games: Beer Pong. It was developed by JV Games and directed by its Vice President, Jag Jaeger, and was released for the Wii's WiiWare download service on July 28, 2008 in North America and February 27, 2009 in Europe.[3][4] The game was put on WiiWare due to the lessened development time, risk, and cost,[2] and was the first video game created in a proposed series called Frat Party Games due to the drinking game's popularity. The purpose of the game was to allow people to play beer pong without having to invest hours into it. Additional advantages, according to Jaeger, included a lack of disease and not having to set up or clean up the game, which used an engine called the Entity Engine. While discussing college party games, the designers realized that these games fit in well with their business model.[2]
The developers followed a common set of rules from beer pong while designing the gameplay. While the designers considered mapping the controls to a traditional game controller, they felt that it would be no fun if not developed with the Wii Remote in mind. One of the challenges encountered was that everyone had a different throwing style, and that they had to find a "happy medium" to ensure that they did not have to add another level of complexity, so they conducted a study analyzing the throwing habits of more than 15 people to fix this problem. The designers made sure that players were not required to push any buttons to play. The WiiWare size limitations did not present problems for the developers due to the majority of the company's games being under "extreme file limitations".[2]
Due to controversy over its release and purportedly lax Entertainment Software Ratings Board rating in North America, all references to alcohol were removed and it was retitled to Pong Toss.[3] Community groups in Virginia complained about its Teen rating for ages 13 and up; arguing that a game based on the use of alcohol should not be sold to people under the legal drinking age;[5] parents sent letters to JV Games, its developer, and Nintendo, the producer of the Wii console about the issue.[6] Jag Jaeger dismissed concerns and called the situation "kind of funny",[5] adding that he had no idea the word "beer" would cause such a strong reaction.[6] In response to these concerns as well as to a letter sent by the Attorney General of Connecticut Richard Blumenthal, which called for any game which depicted alcohol to be given an Adults Only rating, Jaeger argued that other entertainment products have references to things that are illegal for the age group that they are selling to; he used gambling in role-playing games and the depiction of alcoholic characters in TV shows such as The Simpsons and Family Guy as examples, and also used the Grand Theft Auto series as an example of video games that are given a Mature rating for ages 17 and up yet feature alcohol. He added that Nintendo does not allow Adults Only games on its consoles.[3][2][3]
Blumenthal criticized the ESRB in a letter for giving it a Teen rating,[3] which was a simple change for the development team, as actual consumption of alcohol was not a part of the game.[5] ESRB spokesperson Eliot Mizrachi stated that while they respect the Blumenthal's right to disagree with their decision, the role of the ESRB is not to censor but to impartially rate games, and added that the game was simply tossing ping pong balls into cups and that it therefore did not warrant an Adults Only rating.[7] Later, Patricia Vance, President of the ESRB, wrote a letter to Blumenthal which defended its rating of the game as it did not depict the consumption of alcohol or promote binge drinking, and added that the rating was determined by three specially-trained adult raters not connected to the industry.[3] Blumenthal sent a second letter to the ESRB, which requested that other games containing alcoholic references should be given an Adult Only rating for people 18 and over. He criticized them for saying that the alcoholic references were minimal, and maintained that the name Beer Pong directly refers to a drinking game, that alcohol is depicted in the game's graphics, and that the whole premise of the game is based on heavy alcohol consumption – which meant that the game was not appropriate for teenagers and should have received more consideration from the Board.[3] Jaeger reiterated that the game was not about alcohol consumption, merely about the sport of beer pong.[3] Nevertheless, Jaeger informed Blumenthal that the title would be changed to Pong Toss! Frat Party Games, and all references to alcohol would be removed.[3] Blumenthal called this a victory, but only a small one if it was not to be followed by others, adding that Pong Toss glorified alcohol abuse and binge drinking.[3] In a Time article, editor Meaghan Haire felt that JV Games should have anticipated the reaction, considering that both alcohol and video games were a source for complaint from parents, and added that many critics felt that the company went too far with the game.[6] The final version was rated for 'everyone six and older'.[8] In Europe, the game was released as Beer Pong: Frat Party Games despite the controversy.[3]
Pong Toss! Frat Party Games received substantially negative reception; it holds an aggregate score of 18/100 and 18.75% from Metacritic and GameRankings, respectively.[10][11] 1UP.com's Andrew Hayward called the game a "complete mess" with poorly designed controls and graphics from "a decade-old PS1 game",[12] and IGN's Matt Casamassina called the game "ridiculously shallow" and bordering on "pointless".[13] Casamassina found it ironic that they would change the name, since the entire premise surrounds the consumption of alcohol anyway.[13] GamesMaster's Matthew Castle joked that there was a "special corner of hell for frat boys", which would contain a copy of Pong Toss, finding the game "unnecessary" considering the simplicity of the concept, and opined that it had very unpleasant controls and visuals which "would make an N64 heave"[14] 1UP.com's Kyle Stallock found the notion of an Adults Only rating for Pong Toss! to be inappropriate when it was borne in mind that games such as Grand Theft Auto IV, Condemned 2, and World of Warcraft hold more lenient ratings, despite not only allowing players to see the alcohol, but also to consume it.[15] An editor for 1UP.com called it "distressingly flat" as a result of the removal of alcoholic references.[12] Jag Jaeger was not bothered by the negative reception from critics and gamers, saying that the people who make such statements without actually playing the game are hardcore gamers and very prejudiced as to what they like and dislike. Jaeger stressed that it is intended for casual gamers, the same group of people who enjoyed Wii Sports.[2]
JV Games announced a sequel entitled Pong Toss Pro - Frat Party Games which has similar gameplay mechanics to Pong Toss! though designed to address the concerns of Pong Toss such as graphics and accuracy; this was released in North America on June 28, 2010,[16] and was priced at 600 versus Pong Toss' 800 points due to the state of the market.[17] A trailer was released, which mocked Blumenthal's criticism of Pong Toss by showing several news clips of controversy surrounding lies told by Blumenthal about his service in Vietnam, mixed in with gameplay and footage of players.[18] The Pro version received more mixed reception; Nintendo World Report's Matthew Blundon called it a "decent sequel"; Gamertell's Jessica Moen enjoyed the motion controls and said that it was good for people looking for a "fun party game"; and IGN's Lucas M. Thomas wrote that while it was a better game than its predecessor, it was not good enough to be worth buying.[19][9][20]