Friday, 4 January 2013

How Racing Video Games Can Utilize a City Bike Lineup

By Rob Sutter


I feel as though kart racing video games are all the rage right now. "Mario Kart" is undoubtedly popular with audiences and with Sony's "ModNation Racers" and Sonic the Hedgehog trying to claim a piece of the pie as well, it doesn't seem like this genre is going to die out. I wish we'd see more bikes in these games because the potential versatility would be something to witness. Maybe - just maybe - we will get to see a city bike line being incorporated into this field.

When you're looking at the many kart racing titles, you may see a theme of common characters being utilized. Whether they're ones from Mario's games or Sonic's, I think it goes without saying that many of us are attracted to these titles because of the familiarity that these characters possess. However, to totally shun quality in favor of brand recognition is unacceptable. While keeping quality, if I were developing such a game, I would like to incorporate the many big names from old arcade classics.

One such name that people can recognize off of the bat is Pac-Man. In his arcade games, he's seen as a featureless yellow dot with a mouth but his look has evolved since that point once he started to make the leap into console gaming. He's simply a rotund yellow ball with arms, legs, and a big goofy face to give him a harmless identity that would draw in younger audiences in particular. Seeing him pedal alongside many others would be fun to see but who would be such combatants?

What about other characters who could cruise alongside Pac-Man on his or her own city bike? In order to make it to the goal, bikes have to be present and companies such as Linus Bike can supply such rides. One character that I can see going against Pac-Man would have to be Dig Dug, who comes from his own game of the same name, and I believe he could break away from exterminating monsters to take part. What about an unlockable such as the ship from "Galaga?" Creativity could go a long way with these developers, I am certain.

This doesn't even encompass all of the other possible games that could be incorporated here as well. What about "Tower of Druaga" or "Xevious" making their own appearances within this racing game of sorts? Like I said before, such possibilities are endless and when it comes to gaming, I don't think there should be a limit. It's an image that someone has brought into mind and the zanier that it is in terms of racing games where many people participate, the better that it will be in the long run.




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