Cool News! Well, at least I think it is
Breeders’ Cup video game for home consoles set for September release
Bethesda Softworks will release in September a horse racing game called Breeders’ Cup World Thoroughbred Championships for PlayStation2 and Xbox.
The game is officially licensed by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association and Breeders’ Cup Ltd, and game races will feature NTRA member tracks including Aqueduct, Belmont Park, Del Mar, Emerald Downs, Keeneland Race Course, Monmouth Park, Oaklawn Park, Sam Houston Race Park, Saratoga Race Course, and Woodbine.
The game offers more simulation than a typical video game and many aspects of Thoroughbred racing such as breeding, training, racing, and betting are featured. The NTRA work closely with the software company to ensure realistic simulation of those elements, and the game’s betting simulation is designed to imitate typical self-service betting machines at racetracks.
Thoroughbreds such as Man o' War, Seabiscuit, Ruffian, Personal Ensign, Winning Colors, Silver Charm, Tiznow, Funny Cide, and Smarty Jones appear in the game. The voice of the Breeders’ Cup Tom Durkin calls the races.
"Breeders’ Cup will appeal immensely both to horse racing fans and to gamers unfamiliar with our sport," said Ken Kirchner, senior vice president of product development for the NTRA. "It conveys virtually all of the compelling qualities of Thoroughbred racing to a mass audience in a fun, fresh new way. We couldn’t be more excited about it."
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Wow. I did not see this coming...
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Dan:
April 30th, 2005 - 08:05
I’ve waited for an XBOX horse racing game for ages since I played Gallop Racer for PS2. It would have been nice to have had the game for the triple crown this year, but I’m not complaining. Have you seen a link for it as fas as info Bill or is that just a press release?
April 30th, 2005 - 13:54
Suhweet. I was wondering when a licensed product would make it out.
Gallop Racer was ok, I’ve been playing Starters Orders occasionally. I used to like QuarterPole but it was buggy as all hell…..
PointGiven
April 30th, 2005 - 17:28
Dave, no link; I was sent the PR from Bethesda. Hopefully I’ll see it at E3.
Hooves of Thunder was a lot better than QP, but still it’s an old, old game. The best racing game around remains the one at SS:
http://smartacre.com/hr/
May 18th, 2005 - 10:00
Great news! I’m a bit of a “Derby Owner’s Club” addict, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it’ll basically be a “DOC” clone with online-enabled racing. There are so many cool things Sega could’ve done to release DOC to the home market (online racing with your friends, virtual stud farms where you can charge people a small video-game dollar fee for stud rights, your own stables, etc…), but they seem to be really out of touch with the console market in the U.S. Oh well – if Bethesda comes out with something even resembling the amazingly addictive Derby Owner’s Club, I’m all over it.