BMW Sauber F1 Team burning iPhone rubber
Another Beemer advergame itching to overtake you on a blind corner
The iPhone is rapidly becoming the car industry’s favourite promo tool, as Artificial Life gears up to release another BMW sponsored racing game, BMW Sauber F1 Team.
This follows on from BMW Z4 – An Expression of Joy, and puts you in the driving seat of the Sauber F1.09 race car as your team (featuring avatars of famous professional drivers like Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld) takes on a host of other virtual racing teams.
“Based on the great experiences with Artificial Life while developing the BMW Z4 - An Expression of Joy title, we are very excited to take the next step together now,” says Uwe Dreher of BMW Motorsport Marketing.
“Like the brand new BMW Z4 Roadster, the BMW Sauber F1 Team guarantees unique adventures, based on the combination of excellent and banner product substance and a highly emotional captivation through the BMW brand.”
The cars promise realistic reactions to such influences as momentum, weather and other in-game physics, and will include sound effects recorded from the actual Beemer racing car.
“We are very pleased to work with BMW AG again on yet another exciting title. Sports and racing are interesting mobile market segments for both business and consumer applications on the iPhone. We will continue to explore further opportunities to enrich our iPhone portfolio with premium branded applications,” continues Eberhard Schoneburg of Artificial Life.
This is becoming quite a trend, as Audi already has a sponsored driving game on the App Store, and Volkswagen just announced its own contender on the virtual iPhone race track.
Essentially we’re not too bothered that these are sponsored games, as long as they perform properly. After all, lots of games already feature real life cars, planes, trains, helicopters and people, so there’s no reason BMW, Audi, Volkswagen, Skoda or a Morris Traveller shouldn’t get involved.
But how do you feel about paying for an advergame? Should these be free, or should their price be based on the quality of the gameplay, regardless as to whether or not it’s been sponsored by a corporation. Give us your thoughts below.
