Global Sports: How Racing Video Games Can Utilize a City Bike Lineup

Friday, January 11, 2013

How Racing Video Games Can Utilize a City Bike Lineup

By Rob Sutter


As look at the current lineup, I see that kart racing games are pretty popular these days. "Mario Kart" is always going to have a spot in the world, though with Sony's "ModNation Racers" and even Sonic the Hedgehog making his rounds, it seems like others are trying to cash in on the craze. What I'd like to see is something different; perhaps bikes could be used in lieu of karts. If the powers that be allow it, I would most certainly like to see a city bike line being utilized here.

When you look at kart games, you will most likely see familiar casts of characters that we all know and love. Whether it's Mario or Sonic, I feel like we're going to gravitate towards these games based on name recognition alone, not so much overall quality. It's not the best way to judge a game but it certainly works for the creators. If I were creating a quality game and had a lineup of characters to choose from, I feel like an all-star arcade cast would be fun to see.

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?

There are a few different arcade characters who could give Pac-Man a run for his money on a city bike. These bikes, promoted by such authorities as Linus Bike, would be able to facilitate such a frantic face. One such opposing figure for Pac-Man would have to be Dig Dug, the main character from the game of the same name. What about the spaceship from "Galaga" as an unlockable racer? It seems like this idea contains limitless possibilities in the minds of creative developers.

I don't think this even comes close to the encompassment of all of the other arcade classics that could have been included. "Tower and Druaga" and "Xevious" are two others that I am sure could have been seen here. However, possibilities, as said before, are not very limited and it'd be interesting to see the actual process that these developers take. I have to believe that it is an eccentric mindset that is responsible and if that's the case, then the game in question should be all the more enjoyable.




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