Saturday 22 February 2014

Mazda Shakin' Racer

Let's Shake!!
Mazda's "Shakin' Racer" is an online multiplayer racing game app for smartphones and tablets. The app is a companion to the game's website shakinracer.com. It's a simple game for up to 4 players, where the cars steer themselves around a racetrack and the player provides the engine power by vigourously shaking their phone with the aim of finishing in first place.
There's a choice of cars from the current Mazda lineup and the 787B also makes an appearance. As well as the choice of cars you can also choose either a SkyActiv-G, SkyActiv-D, or Rotary 13B engines, with each requiring a different shake technique. So yes, you can put a 13B in the Roadster.
To play the game you need to download the app from either Apple or Google stores, login to the website and pair your phone to your computer with a wireless connection. The computer screen then displays the race information and animations while your phone screen shows a working piston or rotor animation while you shake it around. It's then a case of keeping the revs up on the gauge but not too much into the red zone to get maximum speed.
It's a smart and fun little game that sadly is only available in Japan. This means you will need to get access to the Japanese app stores to be able to download it and this would involve registering a Japanese account on Google and routing your internet connection through a server located in Japan. It's annoying but there are sites that can guide you through this if you're keen to give the app a try.

Here's the trailer for the game that is full of random shaking.