Pyongyang Racer

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Pyongyang Racer
Pyongyang Racer logo.png
Developer(s) Nosotek
Publisher(s) Koryo Tours
Engine Adobe Flash
Platform(s) Browser
Release19 December 2012
Genre(s) Racing
Mode(s) Single-player

Koryo Tours Pyongyang Racer or Pyongyang Racer is a 2012 racing game developed by Nosotek and published by Koryo Tours. The player drives a Hwiparam II car around Pyongyang and visits several of its sights while collecting fuel and avoiding other vehicles. The game was created as an advergame for Koryo Tours, a travel agency organising tours to North Korea, by the outsourcing company Nosotek in collaboration with students from the Kim Chaek University of Technology. As one of North Korea's few video games, Pyongyang Racer was released by Koryo Tours through its website in December 2012. Reviewers criticised the game's gameplay, graphics, controls, and music.

Contents

Gameplay

A traffic policewoman reminds the player to follow the intended route. Pyongyang Racer screenshot.png
A traffic policewoman reminds the player to follow the intended route.

Pyongyang Racer is set in Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea. [1] The player controls a Hwiparam II car (from the North Korean manufacturer Pyeonghwa Motors), [2] using the arrow keys to accelerate, reverse and steer, as well as the space bar to sound the horn. [3] They are tasked with driving along a pre-determined route around the city, starting and ending at Kim Il-sung Square, and visiting several of its sights, including the Ryugyong Hotel, Arch of Triumph, Chollima Statue, and Potong Gate. [2] [4] Passing a sight grants the player a stamp of the location and displays information about the object. [3] [5]

During their drive, the player has to repeatedly collect fuel tanks to counter an automatically depleting gauge. [3] [6] Colliding with stationary vehicles three times causes the game to reset. [4] [7] There are no pedestrians in the game. [7] Steering onto the wrong side of the road sees the player reprimanded by traffic police, while driving off the street places them back onto it. [3] [5] The game records the time the player takes to complete the tour. [2] Koryo Tours maintained a leaderboard of players' times and updated it when a player sent in a screenshot of their results via an email. [8]

Development and release

Pyongyang Racer is one of few games developed in North Korea. [9] It was reported as the first aimed at an international audience. [8] [10] The game was developed by Nosotek, a German–North Korean information technology company founded in 2007 and based in Pyongyang. One of the company's major operations was the development of mobile and Adobe Flash-based games on an outsourcing basis, several of which were released by the Berlin company Exozet in Germany. [9] [11] Games previously developed by Nosotek include The Big Lebowski Bowling, Men in Black: Alien Assault, and Bobby's Blocks. [11] [12]

Pyongyang Racer was commissioned as an advergame by and for Koryo Tours, a British-run, Beijing-based travel agency that primarily organises tours to North Korea. [1] [8] The idea emerged when Nick Bonner, the manager of Koryo Tours, asked Nosotek's Volker Eloesser for a "fun, nonviolent and nonpolitical" game designed alongside North Korean youths. With support from the government of North Korea, the developer worked with students from the Kim Chaek University of Technology to create Pyongyang Racer in Adobe Flash. [1] [3] According to the game's website, it was "not intended to be a high-end technological wonder hit game of the 21st century, but more a fun race game (arcade style)". [1] [8]

Koryo Tours released Pyongyang Racer via its website on 19 December 2012 at no cost and accessible worldwide. [3] [13] The game became popular among people interested in North Korea for its oddities, and the website had several outages in the days following the release. [14]

Reception

Pyongyang Racer was met with negative reviews: C. Custer of Tech in Asia criticised the "pretty awful" graphics as being "full of glitches and artefacts", also noting a repetitive scenery and low frame rate. [15] Vice 's Nadja Sayej similarly lamented over the sparsely populated landscape, which she stated had "the visual dazzle of Saskatchewan or rural Ontario". Also citing the simple gameplay, summarised as "drive in a straight line for a long time", she called the game "profoundly uninteresting". [1] Sayej concurred with Jason Torchinsky of Jalopnik , who perceived the game as "slow, wildly boring, empty, incredibly restricted, and at least a decade behind technologically". [1] [5] Custer described the gameplay as "terrible" for its lack of a challenge, slow speed, and poor vehicle handling. [15] He further regarded the music as "hard not to laugh at", while Torchinsky called it "stunningly annoying and constant". Both stated that the game unintentionally felt like a parody or a sarcastic commentary on real-life Pyongyang. [5] [15]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pyongyang</span> Capital and largest city of North Korea

Pyongyang is the capital and largest city of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), commonly known as North Korea, where it is sometimes labeled as the "Capital of the Revolution". Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about 109 km (68 mi) upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. According to the 2008 population census, it has a population of 3,255,288. Pyongyang is a directly administered city with a status equal to that of the North Korean provinces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ryugyong Hotel</span> Unfinished skyscraper in Pyongyang, North Korea

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pyeonghwa Motors</span> North Korean car manufacturer

Pyeonghwa Motors, also spelled Pyonghwa, is one of the two car manufacturers and dealers in the North Korean automotive industry, alongside Sungri Motor Plant. Until 2013, it was a joint venture in Nampo between Pyonghwa Motors of Seoul, a company owned by Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church, and the North Korean Ryonbong General Corp. The joint venture produced small cars under licence from Fiat and Brilliance China Auto, a pickup truck and an SUV using complete knock down kits from Chinese manufacturer Dandong Shuguang, and a luxury car of SsangYong design. From 2013, the company has been fully owned by the North Korean state.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Air Koryo</span> Flag carrier of North Korea

Air Koryo is North Korea’s flag carrier and only commercial airline. It is state-owned and controlled by the North Korean air force. Headquartered in Sunan-guyŏk, Pyongyang, it operates domestic and international routes – on a regular schedule only to Beijing, Shenyang, and Vladivostok – from its hub at Pyongyang’s Sunan International Airport. It also operates flights on behalf of the North Korean government, with one of its aircraft serving as North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong Un's personal plane. Its fleet consists of Ilyushin and Tupolev aircraft from the Soviet Union and Russia, and Antonovs from Ukraine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nampo</span> Special city in North Korea

Nampo, also spelled Namp'o, is a city in North Korea which is the country's fourth-largest by population. The city is an important seaport in the country as it lies on the northern shore of the Taedong River, 15 km east of the river's mouth. Formerly known as Chinnamp'o, it was a provincial-level "Directly Governed City" ("Chikhalsi") from 1980 to 2004, and was designated a "Special City" in 2010. Nampo is approximately 50 km southwest of Pyongyang, at the mouth of the Taedong River. Since North Korean independence, the city has developed a wide range of industry and has seen significant recent redevelopment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pyongyang International Airport</span> Main airport serving Pyongyang, North Korea

Pyongyang International Airport, also known as Pyongyang Sunan International Airport, is the main international airport serving Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea. It is in the city's Sunan District. The airport was closed to international travel in 2020, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and reopened in 2023, with the resumption of Air Koryo flights to Beijing and Vladivostok.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pyongyang Metro</span> Rapid transit system in North Korea

The Pyongyang Metro is the rapid transit system in Pyongyang, the capital and largest city of North Korea. It consists of two lines: the Chollima Line, which runs north from Puhŭng Station on the banks of the Taedong River to Pulgŭnbyŏl Station, and the Hyŏksin Line, which runs from Kwangbok Station in the southwest to Ragwŏn Station in the northeast. The two lines intersect at Chŏnu Station.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kim Il Sung University</span> Public university in North Korea

Kim Il Sung University (Korean: 김일성종합대학) is a university in Taesong, Pyongyang, North Korea. Founded on 1 October 1946, it is the first institution of higher learning in North Korea since its foundation.

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The Koryo Hotel is the second largest operating hotel in North Korea, the largest being the Yanggakdo Hotel. The Ryugyong Hotel is larger than both, but is not yet operating. The twin-towered Koryo Hotel building is 143 metres (469 ft) tall and contains 43 stories. Erected in 1985 under Kim Il Sung, it was intended to "showcase the glory and strength of the DPRK."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Korea Computer Center</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kim Chaek University of Technology</span> University in North Korea

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Sayej, Nadja (20 February 2013). "North Korea's First Racing Video Game Is Terrible". Vice . Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 Weston, Benjamin (2 July 2019). "Pyongyang Racer, a North Korean online game". Koryo Tours. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Iwant (28 February 2013). "Pyongyang Racer". Hardcore Gaming 101 . Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  4. 1 2 Romano, Steven (20 December 2012). "Drive Straight On: North Korea Develops Racing Game for Travel Agency". The Mary Sue . Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Torchinsky, Jason (20 December 2012). "The First North Korean Racing Game Is A Perfect Metaphor For Their Society". Jalopnik . Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  6. ↑ Corriea, Alexa Ray (20 December 2012). "The first game developed in North Korea is a browser racing game for tourists". Polygon . Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  7. 1 2 Ashcraft, Brian (20 December 2012). "This Game Was Developed in North Korea. Play It Right Now". Kotaku . Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Welch, Chris (20 December 2012). "Play this: 'Pyongyang Racer' is the first game developed in North Korea for Western audiences". The Verge . Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  9. 1 2 Derboo, Sam (March 2014). "A History of Korean Gaming – The Other Korea: Gaming in the North". Hardcore Gaming 101 . Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  10. ↑ Bernstein, Joseph (20 December 2012). "The first North Korean English-language video game is the best indie game of the year". Kill Screen . Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  11. 1 2 Williams, Martyn (10 June 2010). "The world's most unusual outsourcing destination". Computerworld . Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  12. ↑ Isaacson, Betsy (23 December 2012). "Pyongyang Racer: North Korean Video Game Gets Western Release (VIDEO)". HuffPost . Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  13. ↑ Koryo Tours [@KoryoTours] (19 December 2012). "Are you fast enough for the Koryo Tours Pyongyang Racer game? Have a bit of retro fun with a free Christmas gift..." (Tweet). Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 12 January 2022– via Twitter.
  14. ↑ Eördögh, Fruzsina (20 December 2012). "Drive Deserted Streets in North Korea's Super-Depressing New Video Game". Slate . Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  15. 1 2 3 Custer, C. (20 December 2012). "I Just Played North Korea's First Computer Game: Pyongyang Racer". Tech in Asia . Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
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