Major League Eating takes one more step toward being a reputable sports business.

MLE, the governing body of all those (hot dog, sushi, hamburger, etc.) eating contests, is now releasing its very own video game for the Nintendo Wii.

Created by Mastiff Games, Major League Eating: The Game allows you to play as all your favorite stars of the shoving-food-down-your-throat-leagues, such as Joey Chestnut, Takeru Kobayashi, Patrick Bertoletti, Tim "Eater X" Janus, "Crazy Legs" Conti, Sonya Thomas and Juliet Lee.

Puking, although beautifully graphic and vibrantly colored, signals your premature departure from the game. This Wii game also contains offensive and defensive strategy through the use of belches and 'mustard gas' to slow down your opponent.

It looks a lot like an old school Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat game, I guess the only difference is instead of trying to kill your opponent, you're trying to kill yourself through unhealthy eating habits and an increased likelihood of obesity.

It's cool though, for all of you who have seen the famous Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest featured on ESPN alongside real sports, this should all be familiar to you. It's just another way to increase exposure to a fast growing brand.

Ironically none of the characters featured in the game appear to be overweight. And although, many of the top 'athletes' in the sport are young, thin anomalies to the science of metabolism, most of them are overweight guys trying their luck at something they look like they were built for.

Don't worry Moms and Dads, there is also a character in the game named 'Dan the Paramedic' who is on standby in case anyone goes into cardiac arrest or worse. 'Safety is always priority in competitive eating.' The game even features 'Bunnettes', which are there to monitor the progress of the players by counting the number of items they have consumed.

According to a post by Darren Rovell of CNBC, Tim 'Eater X' Janus reviewed the game and said:

"The game is good," said Janus, who while not eating is actually a trader. "You can chose how you want to flip the food into your mouth, but you have to monitor how you chew, how many pieces you can fit in your mouth and how full your stomach is."

Janus is a trader? I bet he's all about those 'pork belly futures'. High five, nice one!

MLEgame.com

CNBC Sports Biz: Major League Eating: The Game Now on Wii, May 12, 2008

Rockstar Games' biggest franchise, Grand Theft Auto IV, breaks all the rules with an April release and more death, destruction, and hookers than ever before.

The highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto IV is expected to sell 6 million copies within the first week, and 9 million by year's end. Unsurprisingly pre-order sales have been the driving force behind these estimates. Sites like play.com stopped issuing pre-order vouchers earlier this month because due to the sheer volume of orders they could no longer guarantee fulfilling them.

The interesting tactic behind GTA IV is its release 4 months after the peak of video game season. This is usually defined as the months leading up to the Winter holidays, where Mom and Dad are more likely to crack open their purses for a $60 game or $300 system. This new marketing technique will be taking video games out of the cool Christmas present novelty and into the everyday purchase realm.

The cool bundle packaging of the game with a duffel bag, artbook, lockbox and soundtrack makes the special edition an even sweeter deal at $90.

This seems like a reasonable technique because the holidays are becoming an increasingly cramped time to release a game while all the other new releases are coming out. Games released during this period constantly have to vie for advertising space in the gaming magazines and put up with expensive tv ad slots.

Many comparisons are being made to the movie business, where the main season attraction is the summer blockbuster that captivates the time (and wallets) of students on spring break. If content is strong enough to drive sales during thoff-peak months, then the brand will continue to be successful. As with Grand Theft Auto IV, a well known and much anticipated game is making its debut during an off-peak time period and relishing the breathing room from competition.

The game was originally scheduled to be released in October of 2007, but suffered some major setbacks. A few bugs and technical errors arose that needed fixing.

According to the article in Portfolio.com, Take-Two Interactive, the owner of Rockstar Games has also encountered some non-technical problems:

In the past 12 months Take-Two lost key staff, weathered a S.E.C. investigation of stock-option issuing, and has been fighting a hostile takeover by behemoth Electronic Arts.

You may know Electronic Arts (EA) as the makers of such popular games as Madden and the upcoming Monopoly game. And conventional wisdom said when they wanted something, the got it. That hasn't been the case and Take-Two has defended well.

Another interesting item from the Portfolio article is this:

However, the loosing of the holiday ties also lies with the consumer. According to the 2007 Electronic Software Association report, the average videogamer is a 33-year-old male. It seems the teenagers who grew up with old Nintendo systems are still playing—and don’t need to beg their parents to put a $60 videogame under the Christmas tree. “We don’t need freaking Santa Claus to deliver it,” Hickey says. “There are adults playing this thing now.”

I find this slightly surprising, but it makes sense. Due to the graphic nature (NSFW) of these games, the content continues to push edgier and older. Good thing they have the buyers who can support the brand in spite of all the backlash from parent and moral values groups.

Portfolio: Spring Gaming, April 29, 2008

The 'Z' button will probably control how much money you steal from the bank when Mom isn't looking.

Electronic Arts, the makers of Madden and all the other decent sports video games, are now branching out to board games with their Casual Entertainment Label of Electronic Arts. It's good to see that this company is distinguishing between the intense devotion and non-casual fandom of games like Halo and Madden, and the type of fan who would anticipate a videogame version of a board game.

The next game in the series will be a new version of Monopoly for the PS2, Nintendo Wii, and Xbox 360 gaming systems.

The videogame version is inspired by the latest board game, Monopoly Here & Now: The World Game Edition. The goal of this new video game platform is to bring new life to the franchise by cutting down wait time in between turns. Mini-games that allow players to attempt to break out of jail are also included in the new edition.

No news yet on when the game will be released, but it will also be available for play on mobile phones and online at Pogo.com.

All I have to say is there better be a button on there that flips the board over, ruining the game. Everyone knows that's the only way games of monopoly end .

Grandpa would sooner die than get sick of playing that same level on Wii Sports.

And so it appears Nintendo's big push to go after non-traditional gamers may have severely bruised game sales.

Months ago, the Nintendo Wii, the company's newest gaming system which uses motion-based controllers, was sitting at the top of the $18-billion-a-year video game industry. They had done the impossible and got moms, dads, grannies, trannies, grandpas and children of all ages to buy a video game system.

The disappointing part has started to trickle-in this month. An article in the New York Times today looked at the cold hard facts behind geriatric wii-ing:

The average Wii owner buys only 3.7 games a year, compared with 4.7 for Xbox 360 owners and 4.6 for PlayStation 3 owners, said a Wedbush Morgan analyst, Michael Pachter. “It reflects the broadening of the demographic,” he said. “Nintendo’s market doesn’t feel the same sense of urgency to buy every game that’s coming out.”

Those are the facts, and it's coming as a pretty big shock to Nintendo. They had all assumed that these Grannies and Grandpas would be lining up at 6am for the newest Super Smash Brothers release.

That game sold great in the first couple of weeks, but analysts attribute that to anticipation from hardcore Smash Bros fans. The rest of the Wii owners sat at home and played Wii Tennis again.

Before the Nintendo crowd lose all their market edge completely, they are rolling out some new games paired with marketing strategies that they're hoping will get older crowds into the closest GameStop ASAP. The first of which will be Wii Fit, an exercise game that will get the biggest budget for marketing in Nintendo's history. Pachter, the analyst from the NYTimes article, added:

The money will not be spent wooing young men. “Wii Fit is just not aimed at hard-core gamers,” Mr. Pachter said. “It’s definitely aimed at the Oprah crowd. I bet they sell a million units a week for every pound that Oprah says she lost on it.”

Wow, so you're saying this game has the potential to sell 500 million units?! I wonder how many teenage kids are going to have to fight off their mom for the controller. And could Oprah potentially start a game-of-the-month club?

New York Times: New Wii Games Find a Big (but Stingy) Audience, April 21, 2008
BusinessWeek: Gaming Trends: The Big Players of 2008, March 24, 2008