By Jim Rossignol on April 27th, 2009 at 9:08 pm.
Oh baby. Racing action from the careful uncle of the car world: The Volvo. Sadly it doesn’t feature the box-like 1970s versions driving themselves to wonky destruction in a derby, but instead some kind of concept car with a heavy metal riff soundtrack. Boo. But! It’s being developed by SimBin, who did the GTR games, and it’s going to be released for free on May 26th. That sounds a lot more interesting indeed. The official website is here. Trailer below.
27/04/2009 at 21:16 Serondal says:
So is this just like one big PR stunt / video game being used as an AD for a car company?
27/04/2009 at 21:20 Stijn says:
Volvo: The PR Photo Slideshow Viewer?
27/04/2009 at 21:24 Jim Rossignol says:
Yep, game as advert. It’s a concept car though, which seems an odd choice?
27/04/2009 at 21:24 ry says:
righteous indignation that a company would (gasp!) dare to promote it’s brand aside, this is a superb marketing idea.
nobody’s being forced to play the game, and it certainly puts a new spin on the advertising in games kerfuffle.
jim- i think they choose a concept car as a brand prompotion rather than an individual Vulva. i could be wrong though, i’m a motorbike man myself.
This post was brought to you by Volvo, Guinness, the letter X and the number five.
27/04/2009 at 21:29 ChampionHyena says:
Pfft. Call me back when I can drive a replica of my teal 1996 Volvo sedan. My street cred will suddenly skyrocket.
27/04/2009 at 21:38 Serondal says:
No on is complaining RY. In fact I think it is a good thing, more free games for me to play. I think they’re targeting the wrong market though ;P I don’t think people who go in for free Volvo simulators are going to have a lot of money sitting around to get a new car, much less a concept car that as far as I know you can’t even buy O.o
Maybe they’re just trying to change volvo’s image and make it more hip with the new generation of gamers?
27/04/2009 at 21:40 pepper says:
Jim, maybe checking public reaction?
Anyway, has been done before, only first time i see a concept car in such a game. Pretty cool though, its nice to take these for a couple of spins.
27/04/2009 at 22:00 SlappyBag says:
Its a concept car for a concept medium – hand in hand.
27/04/2009 at 23:03 Ziv says:
@jim: it’s the perfect choice for this medium. first the game is to “better-ize” (i really don’t have a word for it…) the brand and what would be better t do so than some futuristic car. the second thing which i think is likely to be the cause is that if they’re using a real life model and the game sucks or the physics aren’t accurate it can make bad PR for the car.
27/04/2009 at 23:25 kyrieee says:
well, I try it at least
cool way of advertising
27/04/2009 at 23:27 CG says:
My mom’s car while I was growing up was a 1976 Volvo, going on 15 years old by the time it was finally destroyed… not by mechanical failure, but by a major category 5 hurricane (yes – I’m from Florida). I’d be interested in the game if they’d let me drive that special machine again.
27/04/2009 at 23:36 Serondal says:
Lol, they’re going to discover a heavy market for Volvo simulation with extra demand for vintage cars :P
I never really liked the GT servies but I LOVED Forza motor sports, it was just so much more realistic to me, I dunno why. Maybe it was because they let you drive a Tiburon which is the car I had at the time ;P
28/04/2009 at 00:41 Theoban says:
The words ‘Volvo’ and ‘Racing’ have never been in such close promiximity before.
Will we be able to turn the headlights off? And can we go over 30mph?
28/04/2009 at 02:33 Saul says:
My uncle has raced Volvos for years. He even has a website about all the work he’s done on his car: ovlov.net
28/04/2009 at 02:35 Dave says:
My mom’s car while I was growing up was a 1976 Volvo, going on 15 years old by the time it was finally destroyed… not by mechanical failure, but by a major category 5 hurricane (yes – I’m from Florida). I’d be interested in the game if they’d let me drive that special machine again.
I too was from Florida, and we were a multi-Volvo family. You just couldn’t kill the ones from the 70′s without a hurricane, or maybe a freight train. The ones from the 80′s though, not so much. This is why I drive a Mitsubishi now.
28/04/2009 at 06:10 Munken says:
Personally, I’m waiting for Vulva: The Game. Although I’m not sure that needs advertising.
28/04/2009 at 06:47 Pace says:
Munken; wait no more.
28/04/2009 at 07:59 Aldo says:
I remember a ‘partner’ of SimBin (they were somehow involved in developing GTR / GT Legends before splitting) reused the GTR 1 engine to make a BMW M3 advert-game.
28/04/2009 at 08:16 DSX says:
Volvo turbos have been suburban stealth rockets for decades. Awesome handling and far more torque then it’s civilized cousins, moms wagon can hold it’s own against most mid-range sports cars.
I hope Audi makes one of these advertgames.
28/04/2009 at 08:16 Skurmedel says:
Great timing now that they are having lay-offs :)
28/04/2009 at 09:40 Rich Tysoe says:
This isn’t a new thing- a couple of years ago Blimey games released a free game to promote the new BMW M3.
28/04/2009 at 10:24 Dozer says:
I want this Volvo vehicle as bonus content:
http://markamis.fotopic.net/p47013789.html
28/04/2009 at 12:30 Willy359 says:
I like how they put an almost-Stig in the driver’s seat.
28/04/2009 at 12:45 ThatFatChap says:
Bah, I was hoping for a round the world sailing game.
28/04/2009 at 13:21 nakke says:
Correction: SimBin didn’t do the GTR games, Blimey did. Well, they were a part of SimBin back then, sure. Lately SimBin has just been rereleasing the same game (to be harsh), although of course the tracks & cars are professionally made good stuff. Seems like this will be yet another same game but this time with a Volvo model instead. Wheeeee.
28/04/2009 at 13:24 phuzz says:
@Dozer – If it’s a First GW one then presumably you’d spend all day in traffic not doing much whilst cutting up other drivers and charging well over the odds for a short journey…
/rantover
Don’t they have Volvos in Touring Cars?, and therefore I’d guess some of the touring car games?
*edit* a quick google reveals that there were indeed Volvos in TOCA on the PS1, can’t be bothered to search more but for all those Volvo fans who want to burn some virtualVolvo rubber there is games out there for you perverts
;)
28/04/2009 at 15:07 Poindexter says:
@Rich Tysoe: Here is the BMW M3 game straight from BMW if anyone is interested: here
28/04/2009 at 16:33 Jason Moyer says:
I remember a ‘partner’ of SimBin (they were somehow involved in developing GTR / GT Legends before splitting) reused the GTR 1 engine to make a BMW M3 advert-game.
That would be Blimey! Games, which is composed of the original Simbin team who made GTR/GT Legends/GTR2 and the old GTR mods for the EA F1 series. IIRC, they’ve been absorbed into EA or something and are doing Need for Speed: Shift, now.
The Simbin making the Volvo game are the guys who did Race/Race07/GTR Evolution, and aren’t really related to the GTR developers in any way other than the name of the company.
28/04/2009 at 17:03 Rich Tysoe says:
The whole simbin/blimey (now emerged from collapse as “slightly mad”) is a bit of a legal minefield as apparently writs are floating around relating to who can claim credit for what.
28/04/2009 at 18:25 caesarbear says:
That’s not really true at all. The guys who are doing the Race series also worked on GTR/GTL. The co-founder Henrik Roos is still with SimBin. Ian Bell took the lead designer, etc, to form what is now Slightly Mad I guess. But a simple look through the credits shows that the people who work on the Race games also worked on GTR/GTL/GTR2.
28/04/2009 at 21:25 sinister agent says:
“SimBin” frankly sounds like a more exciting game.
02/05/2009 at 04:12 sigizz says:
I had great time playing this game. Try to beat me at sigizz.mybrute.com
27/05/2009 at 12:08 Markoff Chaney says:
Aaaand it’s live. Grab it here