Normally I couldn't think of anything more tedious than a horse-racing game, but the latest installment of Koei's G1 Jockey series promises to be at least slightly more interesting, thanks to it's compatibility with the Wii Balance Board.
Here's what they have to say for themselves, the crazy people:
"The Nintendo Wii and now the Wii Balance Board have enabled us to continue our desire to bring every facet of this fascinating sport into the homes of passionate horse racing fans and gamers who want to enjoy a sporting experience like no other."
I'm struggling to see exactly how crouching and jumping on a shiny white piece of plastic gadgetry in any way parallels the experience of riding a horse, but top marks for trying Koei. It does sound like fun though, albeit in a ridiculous sort of way.
The game also allows you to breed your own horses, although it doesn't specify if you can breed them with other animals to make some kind of hybrid, race-winning monster. Probably not.
Presumably the Wii remote and nunchuck will be used to flog your equine partner, which might make it somewhat tricky to prance up and down at the same time. It'll be interesting to see how Koei deal with this - over complication of controls would definitely be a bad thing if you're required to move around a great deal.
It's good to see developers utilising the balance board, even if it's so they can secretly laugh at how stupid everyone looks when they're prancing about trying to clear horse jumps. On their own. In the living room.
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