Famitsu.com reports that the Japanese version of the Major League Eating video game for the Nintendo Wii will be released on March 24 and the price will be 900 yen. Nobuyuki “the Giant” Shirota and Hatsuyo “the Witch” Sugawara are the new characters, apparently replacing Rich LeFevre and Juliet Lee. The game was first announced in August and the original release date was October 14, 2008.

PermalinkComments (2)

VGF.com has a guide on how characters in the Major League Eating video game become available.

PermalinkComments (4)

The video clip of the roundtable meeting of E:60 reporters and producers on ESPN.com is considerably longer (8:37) than the segment that was televised. The meeting consists mainly of a discussion on whether competitive eating is a sport. Jeremey Schaap cites competitive eating on the Versus network (which has never televised eating contests, as far as I am aware) as evidence of its popularity. He also says he has never seen such passion as he saw at last month’s cannoli contest and was genuinely moved by Brad Sciullo’s crying at the end of that competition.

PermalinkComments (1)

According to the comments in an R Suzuki blog entry, the Japanese version of the Major League Eating Wiiware game was not released on the announced date of October 14 and no official new release date has been made public. The game does not appear in the list of Japanese WiiWare titles on Wikipedia.

PermalinkComments

• Ex-“Monster Garage” star Jesse James (Sanda Bullock’s husband) won a pie-eating contest at the Tennessee Valley Fair. The contest might be seen on James’ Spike TV show
• More on the Japanese version of the MLE video game
• Phillip Jones, who cancelled the University of Iowa 2007 corn eating contest, is fired
• The Bottle Inn, host of the nettle eating championship, will close but its contest might outlast it
• Minnesota State cheese stick eating contest
• $50/hour available for a woman willing to vomit on camera during an eating contest
• Hot dogs at the Philadelphia Phillies ballpark are responsible for a bomb scare The packages of hot dogs were detonated.

PermalinkComments (10)

A press release announces the Japanese launch of the Major League Eating Wiiware video game which will be available on October 14. Nobuyuki “the Giant” Shirota and Hatsuyo “the Witch” Sugawara have been added to the game, apparently replacing Rich LeFevre and Juliet Lee.

update TokyoMango has an English blog entry about the release

PermalinkComments (1)

• Roger Robinson finishes Sasquatch burger challenge 3 times in less than 2 months
• NYC falafel eating contest returns August 31
• Louisville, KY cheesesteak eating contest August 31
• MLE video game ranked at #14 in top WiiWare games
• Guinness World Record attempt hot dog eating contest in Reno today

PermalinkComments (17)

• Another review of the MLE video game
• Article mentioning Samantha Brown’s participation in the Italian sausage eating contest
• Ravioli contest in Providence Saturday
• A Taste of Hamburg (PA) eating contest August 30
• A possible European contest for “Furious” Pete: Pourcailhade La Fête du Cochon (PigFest) in Trie-sur-Baïse, France will have a boudin sausage eating contest on August 10

PermalinkComments

A possible spoiler about the identity of the final “boss” character in the Major League Eating video game is available after the jump:
Read the rest of this entry »

PermalinkComments (2)

• Myspace page for Billy “the Fridge”, winner of Saturday’s donut contest in Seattle
• Forest City, PA pierogi eating contest Saturday
• A more positive review of the MLE video game
• Long blog entry about the Singapore contest
• Bodybuilder / competitive eater Isabelle Turell wins a bodybuilding contest and gets engaged
  

PermalinkComments (3)

• Blog entry with a lot of pictures from the Singapore showdown
• IGN pans MLE video game
• Elgin, Iowa corn contest August 2, $100 first prize
• Cincinnati jalapeno cheese coney contest Wednesday, registration closes at midnight
• Skinnyboy reports that Anthony Bourdain’s appearance at the Big Texan will be televised on the Travel Channel on August 4
• Medina, Ohio hot dog contest Saturday
  
• List of all Queens dumpling winners
• Syracuse offensive lineman Ryan Durand challenges Big East clambake lobster record

PermalinkComments (2)

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.

PermalinkComments

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.

PermalinkComments

• 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

PermalinkComments (18)

• 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.

PermalinkComments (10)

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

PermalinkComments (1)

• 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

PermalinkComments

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.

PermalinkComments (5)

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.

PermalinkComments (15)

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.

PermalinkComments (1)

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.

PermalinkComments (2)

• 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

PermalinkComments (3)

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.

PermalinkComments (4)

• 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

PermalinkComments (3)

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.

PermalinkComments (3)