Fringe sports get their own video games

Football has "Madden NFL." Basketball has "NBA Live." Sports fans like to indulge their passions by playing video games featuring their favorite teams and players.
Now even fringe sports are getting their own video games. Fringe sports are sports that haven’t found a mainstream audience. They have niche fan bases and are working to expand the popularity of their sports.
Two of the wackiest fringe sports – beer pong and competitive eating – now have their own video games.
Publisher X, a global publisher of digitally downloadable games and interactive software, is now selling “Beer Pong – BPong 2009 Edition” for download to Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch.
The publisher partnered with BPong.com, the official governing body of the annual World Series of Beer Pong, on the video version of the drinking game.
“Beer Pong – BPong 2009 Edition is the closest you can get to Beer Pong without getting splashed in the face with beer,” Doug Kennedy, co-founder of Publisher X, said in an April 8 press release.
Last summer, video game publisher Mastiff launched the first video game based on the sport of competitive eating for Nintendo’s Wii console.
“Major League Eating: The Game” features “the world’s greatest gurgitory athletes competing across a variety of foods and venues,” a July 11, 2008, press release announced. The game is available for download as WiiWare. The game uses the motion-sensing Wii Remote to simulate a variety of eating techniques including the cram, toss, and “typewriter.” Gamers guide their on-screen characters as they eat hot dogs, hamburgers, pizza and other dishes.