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The Video "Game"

muteKi

muteKi

Geno Cidecity
1. This videogame namedrops Sid Meier
2. The namedrop does not occur in the title
3. It's not in a genre you'd probably associate with him either
4. That said, the company he worked for made several games in that genre
5. That said, games in this sub-genre tend to play a lot differently
6. This game has diegetic product placement. Most of the ads match the theme/genre, except for the ones from Intel.
7. This game had an FMV intro. Kinda. (That video was also the entirety of the game preview on a Microsoft sampler disc.)
8. There's licensed music in that FMV intro, and it's a bit ironic
9. "Twisted Metal" is a half-decent guess, as this is a game about driving
10. This game doesn't have any particular license, but it is about a real-world type of driving; it's more of a sim
11. The namedrop for Sid Meier isn't a one-off; he's one of a few people referenced in-game due to being part of the development staff.
12. It's not an F1 game (I would consider that a specific license) but probably borrows some rendering code from one
13. Going back to #5, this is a subgenre that's usually a lighthearded spinoff of other series, but here it's played about as seriously as possible
 
muteKi

muteKi

Geno Cidecity
No, that was worded correctly. It is a sim game about a kind of real-world racing that does not have a license (F1 is a specific league, you can't just call your racing game "Formula One [something]" without the license). I guess the punctuation is a bit weirder, in retrospect "it is about a real world type of driving (it's more of a sim)" clarifies how the second statement related to the first a bit better.

1. This videogame namedrops Sid Meier
2. The namedrop does not occur in the title
3. It's not in a genre you'd probably associate with him either
4. That said, the company he worked for made several games in that genre
5. That said, games in this sub-genre tend to play a lot differently
6. This game has diegetic product placement. Most of the ads match the theme/genre, except for the ones from Intel.
7. This game had an FMV intro. Kinda. (That video was also the entirety of the game preview on a Microsoft sampler disc.)
8. There's licensed music in that FMV intro, and it's a bit ironic
9. "Twisted Metal" is a half-decent guess, as this is a game about driving
10. This game doesn't have any particular license, but it is about a real-world type of driving; it's more of a sim
11. The namedrop for Sid Meier isn't a one-off; he's one of a few people referenced in-game due to being part of the development staff.
12. It's not an F1 game (I would consider that a specific license) but probably borrows some rendering code from one
13. Going back to #5, this is a subgenre that's usually a lighthearded spinoff of other series, but here it's played about as seriously as possible
14. That lack of any real licensing is part of why #1/#11 happens, they had to name some of this stuff after somebody
 
muteKi

muteKi

Geno Cidecity
1. This videogame namedrops Sid Meier
2. The namedrop does not occur in the title
3. It's not in a genre you'd probably associate with him either
4. That said, the company he worked for made several games in that genre
5. That said, games in this sub-genre tend to play a lot differently
6. This game has diegetic product placement. Most of the ads match the theme/genre, except for the ones from Intel.
7. This game had an FMV intro. Kinda. (That video was also the entirety of the game preview on a Microsoft sampler disc.)
8. There's licensed music in that FMV intro, and it's a bit ironic
9. "Twisted Metal" is a half-decent guess, as this is a game about driving
10. This game doesn't have any particular license, but it is about a real-world type of driving; it's more of a sim
11. The namedrop for Sid Meier isn't a one-off; he's one of a few people referenced in-game due to being part of the development staff.
12. It's not an F1 game (I would consider that a specific license) but probably borrows some rendering code from one
13. Going back to #5, this is a subgenre that's usually a lighthearded spinoff of other series, but here it's played about as seriously as possible
14. That lack of any real licensing is part of why #1/#11 happens, they had to name some of this stuff after somebody
15. I say this is a sim game but it's also a kind of game that's very arcade-adjacent, in a particularly literal sense; also mini-golf adjacent in the exact same sense.
 
muteKi

muteKi

Geno Cidecity
Falselogic said:
Virtual Karts
Click to expand...

This is the one. I guess we're one of the few households that had it; go figure, it's not a particularly compelling game. It's on the internet archive (though the in-browser playable version doesn't seem to work), and has pretty atrocious default mouse controls.

Courses in the game are named for producer Scott Spanburg, assistant producer Michael J McDonald, art director Brian Martel, and of course Sid Meier. The rest are all named based on geography (New Orleans, Maryland, Baltimore, New York, Elkhart).

Mario Kart had arguably set forth the notion of kart racing as the spinoff for less grounded video game series looking for a change of pace, and of course helping to define a tradition of power-ups and combat items around courses. Wacky Wheels this isn't -- this is a pretty straight simulation of kart racing, and at the default engine size you go, as you might expect, around 55 miles per hour. And, yes, even in 1995 this was established enough that they mention this as an example of what the game isn't in an interview. (Those menus aren't reflective of the GUI, and they seem to mention the game is made for Windows, when it's not; I'm only aware of a DOS version.)

Which is a bit ironic in the context of the intro sequence, featuring a certain Sammy Hagar tune:


The footage above was apparently taken from a Microsoft software preview disc. And you thought trailers that didn't show any of the gameplay were a newfangled, modern thing! But, having played it...I can't really blame them.

The only other thing to require explanation is, perhaps, that there are licensed billboard-like ads throughout the racecourses and most of them are at least themed to be automotive companies. Dunlop, Crane Cams, Briggs & Straton. There are a few computer-related ones like Intel and Thrustmaster (a name that, if you were playing with the default mouse controls, you'd probably want to have known).

Anyway this game probably uses a pretty similar engine to their second Grand Prix (Formula 1) game. That one was a pretty well-celebrated game in the genre:

And here's Virtual Karts, specifically footage of Meier International Raceway:


*smarmy announcer voice* Anyway we're Aunty Donna and this has been the most upsetting guessing game in the world!
 
Last edited:
Olli

Olli

(he/him)
Man, why would you make a game like that. It looks like Mario Kart without the fun, AND a racing sim without the speed and the supercars.
 
Falselogic

Falselogic

Lapsed Threadcromancer
(they/them)
1. Based on a retelling of a world famous piece of literature
2. You've seen the protagonists in other forms of media
 
Falselogic

Falselogic

Lapsed Threadcromancer
(they/them)
1. Based on a retelling of a world famous piece of literature
2. You've seen the protagonists in other forms of media
3. Not what the developer was known for
 
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