Professional eating is one of those activities that baffle us, in part because we enjoy savoring our food, but also because the thought of stuffing 30 hotdogs into our mouths in less than five minutes makes us want to hurl. It was also not the sort of thing we ever expected to see as a video game, but we're happy to report that Mastiff's upcoming WiiWare game, Major League Eating, is fun times, especially against another player. If you enjoy burping in people's faces, this is pretty much your must buy game of 2008.

Major League Eating challenges you to cram as much food into your belly as possible before your opponent, all without puking. The game has 12 famous eaters, including Sonya Thomas and El Toro. Each character has a specialty food (shrimp, hamburgers, ribs, chicken wings, jalapenos and corn, among others) as well as a signature ability (chewing quickly, for example). So you and your opponent select an eater and then your food of choice. From there, you're taken to the battle arena, which basically amounts to the both of you standing on opposite side of the tray. A timer counts down, and from there, you shove the food into your mouth.

Mastiff grouped the food into three categories: cram food, typewriter food and toss food, each of which requires you to position and move the Wii remote a different way. Corn on the cob is a typewriter food, so in order to consume it, you need to hold the remote horizontally (as you would a piece of corn) and quickly move it back and forth. Conversely, shrimp is a toss food, so you'll point the remote at the TV screen and quickly flip it up.

Getting the food into your mouth is the first step. Once full, you'll have to chew it using the B button, paying close attention to the cursor moving back and forth across your mouth, which is displayed on the top corner of whatever side you're on. Pressing B while the cursor is over a piece of food chews it. Pressing B when the cursor passes over nothing causes you to bite your tongue, which keeps you from eating for about a second or two.

In addition to the basic mechanics, you also have a barf-o-meter. Displayed at the bottom of the screen, it shows how much food (or perhaps stomach acid) builds up, displaying green liquid that starts in the stomach and slowly rises up the esophagus. If it reaches the top you vomit and lose, so to keep it down, you must shake the remote.

Then there are the items, all designed to terrorize your competitor. Hitting your opponent with mustard gas causes their barf-o-meter to rise. A jalapeno combined with mustard gas sets it on fire, burning the other player. Furthermore, there are random battles. Hot Potato has you tossing a smoldering potato back and forth until it explodes in the unlucky player's hands, while the Burp Off! challenges you to out burp the opposition.

We're not sure how much replay value the game has, but from our limited demo, Major League Eating is a hell of a lot better than we expected and appears to be one of the most entertaining WiiWare games. Mastiff hasn't announced a release date, but look for it close to the WiiWare launch May 12.

Related Links

Major League Eating Game Guide