OnlineGamer.jp reports that a game called “Battle Eating Sushi Gal” will debut. Natsuko “Gal” Sone’s name is not mentioned in the article, so she probably does not endorse the game. The game will be free, but might be for cell phones only. No link is provided for online play.

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Erik Denmark has posted a review of the Major League Eating video game to his blog. He is satisfied with his character’s appearance in the game:

My character has a fun look. My hair is super spiked; the bandana is obviously a signature of mine that I am glad they captured well. I like that my character is recognizable as me, in that the features do somehow look like mine (so I have been told) but also, some features are exaggerated, such as my elongated chin in the pre-match screen. I would obviously like my character to have more muscle mass and more capacity but okay reality gets in the way again.

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• Video of the end of the Apple Ugly eating contest (the trophy was a mounted toilet seat)
• Ian Hickman beats Elizabeth Canady in overtime at Bowie burger contest
• Detailed review of MLE game by Platform Nation
• Skinnyboy eats 8/9 of Big Texan 72 ounce steak
• Gallery of 2008 Philadelphia Nathan’s qualifier
• Picture of Samantha Brown at Italian sausage contest
• MissBusyLady describes her start in competitive eating fandom
• Juris Shibayama sends a letter to the editor about last week’s column (from Crawfish comment)
• Boston hot wing eating contest Thursday
• Donut eating contest in Pittsburgh Friday
• Full results for the Singapore qualifiers on MLE.asia
• Vietnamese sub eating contest in Ho Chi Minh City

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• Hall Hunt article in U of Florida student paper. Hall had a bad knee while he ran a marathon last Saturday. An article about Erin Andrews appears in the same issue.
• Crazy Legs Conti and Tim Janus appear in music video by Low Water (myspace)
• Wing Tut previews the contests he will MC this weekend. Samatha Brown of the Travel Channel might compete in the Italian sausage contest.
• MissBusyLady contemplates a Burritozilla attempt
• News items after May 8 removed from IFOCE home page
• Article about Randy Harrison, participant in the US Open of Competitive Eating
• WLOCE registration is open (from Crawfish comment)
• MTV’s video game blog has footage of the first two minutes of the MLE game
• Blog entry about Pauliesaurus challenge. The current prize is $250.

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WiiWare World has the first detailed post-release review of the Major League Eating video game which concludes:

Many people no doubt will get a kick out of MLE’s light-hearted and vaguely adolescent approach to competitive gameplay. It offers a unique blend of concepts wrapped around a somewhat distasteful premise and vulgar humour. But, most importantly, the core design works. It is surprisingly fun challenging your friends to virtual eating contests and the additional strategy offered by the power-ups keeps things interesting when they aren’t driving you crazy. The ability to turn off specific power-ups in order to recreate a standard eating contest would have been a nice option to have, but this was not to be. As it stands, the developers decided it was best to leave everything on the plate and invite gamers to accept a meal with perhaps one too many flavours.

6/10

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• NY Time City Room blog has a picture of Pat Bertoletti, Sonya Thomas and Bob Shoudt superimposed with faces from the Spook-A-Rama ride
• Epicurious’ list of food-based video games
• Topeka jalapeno contest report
• Nathan’s gallery by MissCharo
• George Hadary wins Dallas La Contena jalapeno eating contest
• Yelp reviews of Nathan’s finals

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I will place reviews and other information about the Wii Major League Eating game in this post as they become available. The release time is scheduled at noon eastern.

Please place your gamer tags in the comments if you are interested in playing over the internet.

update Serious Eats has challenged other food blogs to online play.

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A press release reports that the Major League Eating Wiiware game will be relased on July 14 as previously mentioned in a Ken Hoffman column.

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There will be a new competitive eating video game released in time for the Nathan’s finals. Page 2 on ESPN.com has a flash based game which involves clicking and dragging hot dogs moving at variable speed into an eater’s mouth.

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Wiiware-World.com reports that this week’s new download for the Wii will be the marble game, Magnetica Twist, making July 7 the earliest possible release date for the Major League Eating video game.

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• July 12 Fort Wayne, IN hot dog eating contest, $850 purse ($500 first place), 3 qualifiers, $10 entrance fee
• 15 second podcast about the Dover, DE BBQ sandwich contest
• Video of Crazy Legs Conti and Tim Janus playing the MLE video game
• Video from 2001 Nathan’s finals
• Video of Stevens Point, WI pizza challenge, $500 prize for finishing

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Kotaku reports that this week’s new downloadable games for the Wii are My Pokemon Ranch, a port of the 1980s arcade game Dig Dug and Bio Miracle Bokutte Upa, a less famous game from two decades ago. There are three more possible Monday release dates for the Major League Eating WiiWare game before the Nathan’s finals.

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• Short preview of New Orleans qualifier: Juris “Dr. Bigtime” Shibayama, Chris MacVicar and Steve Ulness are expected
• Final batch of bios for MLE game characters – also includes profile of bunnette and paramedic. Juliet Lee’s nickname is listed as “The Lovely”
• End of school year White Castle eating contest for Kentucky teachers. Joey Chestnut is listed as the White Castle record holder
• Pancake contest for Cincinnati area high school students – contest video
• Eating contest from Hey Arnold cartoon (Kobayashi has called Hey Arnold his favorite American TV show
• Tomoko Miyake videos on yahoo: at the department store buffet promo, wearing bikinis with friends, eating big burgers with friends

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The next press release for the Major League Eating video game is now available and contains mini-biographies of four of the game characters. El Toro’s career has the following synopsis:

El Toro has a big mouth, although it doesn’t seem to serve him well in competition. Fond of extravagant claims, personal attacks on other eaters and all sorts of theatrics, he is usually at the bottom of the pack at the end of any given contest. Other eaters see him as abrasive, offensive, and void of talent. He does, however, contribute to the sport by setting an example of what not do

A video from the watermelon contest promoting the MLE game containing an interview with Badlands Booker was also released today.

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WiiWare World has uploaded a new trailer of the Major League Eating video game to youtube.

Filefront has a video of people playtesting the game at Tuesday’s promotional event at Rockefeller Center. The blog entry says the game will be released in early June.

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(from an email) Crazy Legs Conti and Tim Janus appeared on this morning’s edition of “The Today Show” and competed in a one minute watermelon eating contest and then demoed the Major League Eating video game. The video can be viewed online.

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The blog for the Village Voice has an entry about this afternoon’s watermelon eating contest at Rockefeller Center between Tim Janus and Crazy Legs Conti. Conti won the six minute contest by one bite. After the first contest completed, Conti and Janus had a virtual watermelon eating contest by playing the Major League Eating video game. The blog entry closes with an announcement that an article about Tim Janus and Crazy Legs Conti will appear in the Village Voice this summer.

IFOCE.com also has a report about the event.

update AppScout has a blog entry about the event with pictures and videos, including a recording of the performances of Beautiful Brian and Badlands Booker.

update #2 Serious Eats has a gallery and MTV has a blog entry.

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Nintendo has put out a press release about the WiiWare games that will be released today. The Major League Eating game is not included in that document.

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Erik Denmark has a blog entry about his appearance on the Groz & Gas radio show today, which is available online. Erik talks about the Major League Eating video game and his compensation for it. Like Pat Bertoletti, he is not clear about the terms of the royalty agreement. He will attempt to qualify for Nathan’s in Kansas City, but makes no mention of tomorrow’s gyro contest in Houston.

There is also a press release for the MLE video game with descriptions of four of the game’s characters.

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Pat Bertoletti appeared on the Steve Dahl show today. One of the subjects was the upcoming Major League Eating video game and the compensation received:

6:23 Sometime during this week there’s going to be a Nintendo Wii competitive eating game. There’s new software for he Wii where you can download games, including the competitive eating game. It’ll feature Patrick, Joey Chestnut, The Black Widow, Kobayashi and 6 or 7 other eaters.
6:24 Patrick’s character looks freaky because they went with his mohawk and mustache look. All of the eaters got some money and were told there’d be royalties depending on games sold.
6:25 It sounds like it’s about time for Patrick to get representation. He doesn’t like the way he looks in the game and now he’s probably not getting as much money as he should be getting. He should have gotten money up front against the royalties.
6:26 Every eater got $500 up front but there were no specifics about the royalties. It sounds like he got ripped off.
6:27 Patrick signed a contract with the IFOCE and they own his image. That contract is up next year. We might have to go in and Urlacher it.

The press release for the Houston gyro contest lists Joey Chestnut, Pat Bertoletti, Bob Shoudt and Erik Denmark as expected entrants.

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Next-Gen.biz has a joint interview with developers of WiiWare games in which Bill Swartz, head of the company that developed the Major League Eating game, participates. He says that while future MLE games might appear on different platforms, they will not be ports of the upcoming game:

Swartz: Well, this game is for WiiWare, that is what it was developed for. In the future would I be open to doing other games using the characters and the settings and the universe? Yeah, of course. I really, really believe in Major League Eating and the franchise, but would I take this particular game and just move it over? No. This game is for WiiWare.

Swartz also says that the development team began work in September and that twelve employees formed its core.

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Contrary to Darren Rovell’s blog entry, the Major League Eating video game was not among the inaugural batch of six WiiWare games released yesterday.

Wired.com’s video game blog reports that it is apparently Nintendo’s policy to not announce a release schedule for WiiWare games.

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Darren Rovell reports in his CNBC blog that the Major League Eating video game is now available.

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A press release on gonintendo.com announces that a watermelon eating contest between Tim Janus and Crazy Legs Conti will take place at the Nintendo World Store at Rockefeller Center in New York City on May 20.

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• NY Magazine’s blog has an entry about the MLE video game reporting that eaters were paid for use of their electronic likenesses
• 1000 pound onion burger created in Oklahoma
• May 31 Jamaican boxing card to have eating contest
• “The View” discuss the G4 Network’s “Hurl”
• Variety columnist thinks “Hurl” will be televised on the Game Show Network
• Washington Redskin Randy Thomas ate 8 pounds of food in an hour at a barbecue in Maryland
• Jill Stoler ends her blogging hiatus and hopes to end her competitive eating hiatus at the Carnegie Deli pickle contest

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