For a sport where things propelled by man move really fast, there aren't many games about the humble bicycle. Um, why not?
I don't mean a game where you ride your bike to the shops for a pint of milk. Or about 8 year-olds getting to and from school. I mean something where bikes are exciting enough to base an exciting video game around them.
The possibility exists! Yet while previous games like the Dave Mirra series and, ahem, BMX XXX have at least seen fit to use a bike as a centrepiece, they were more Tony Hawk clones than games built specifically around the concept of the mechanics (and perils) of riding a bike.
The Grand Theft Auto series has also given bikes a shot in recent years, with the inclusion of the BMX. They're actually pretty great, and handle as precariously as a bike should, but they're little more than a novel sideshow in a game built around the car. Indeed, the only truly classic game that uses a bike primarily for transport is Paperboy. And that's about as fast-paced as watching grass grow.
What got me thinking about this is the clip above, showing a mountain bike race from a first-person perspective. What looks tough on TV looks insane from the rider's point of view, and as with anything captured in the first-person, gives us a clear idea of what a game based on the sport (at least this version of it) could look like.
It's so fast! And bumpy! Like the "front of car" view in a racing game after 17 cups of coffee! But also exciting, because if you screw up, you're not just rolling an imaginary car. You're propelling a virtual human off a fragile little bicycle at a million miles an hour, with all the cuts, grazes and broken bones that goes along with it.
Fancy an "in car" view? Try this.
You could even get bonus points/achievements for hitting the dog, unlike this guy, who only just missed out.
[clip via TDW]