US retailers are shunning a new computer game which they believe is too filthy to sell.

BMX XXX, released by Acclaim Entertainment with the tagline 'Keep it Dirty', is the first mainstream release to feature prostitutes and pimps as major characters.

The game mixes racing bike stunts with, among other things, images of copulating pink poodles, and has been rejected by Wal-Mart, ToysRUs and KB Toys.

A Wal-Mart spokesman told Reuters that the company does not sell any software that includes vulgarity or nudity.

But an Acclaim spokesman suggested that the critics are missing the point of the game, which he said is intended as a spoof along the lines of movie comedies such as Austin Powers and Airplane.

This kind of controversy has proved an excellent way of selling games in the past. Take-Two's Grand Theft Auto 3, which featured controversial scenes of violence, went on to become the top-selling computer game of 2001.