Watch out Bioware and Bungie, there is a new video game developer on the block, and it is based in North Korea.
The name of the new game is “Pyongyang Racer”, coded by North Korean developers hired through the western company Nosotek which has set up shop in the capitol city of Pyongyang. The game was created for the purposes of satisfying PR demands of Koryo Tours, a Bejing-based tour company that offers tours through the secretive and reclusive rouge state of North Korea (thanks to LiveScience.com for the info).
A quick stop at the game’s website, which can be found here, allows the viewer to play the web-based driving game. The point is fairly straight-forward, collect petrol barrels to avoid running out of gas while dodging cars in the process. If you are not already too perplexed by the complexity of the game, please be sure to check out the wonderful backdrops of Pyongyang scenery that the game has to offer as well as a chance to email, yes email, your scores to the dev so that they may be published on the website…bragging rights.
In all honesty, this is actually a good thing for North Korea. Working conditions are said to be on par with most Western working conditions (it is stated that stable electical and internet access are provided) and allows employment for computer programmers in the country. Though I do wonder where they are getting the resources to power the facilities in the impoverished state? I have provided a picture below to juxtapose the difference in nighttime lighting between North Korea and the vastly more developed South Korea…I mean come on, after Gangnam Style, the North HAD to do something!!!
