Eight-player racer roars on to Wii this July

Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH has announced a new multi-player racing title entitled Driift (working title), which will be released as a WiiWare title from July.

Viewed from above, Driift is a fast-paced racer that allows up to eight players to race each other, using cartoon-style chars. Featuring twelve different tracks based on four themed environments – cityscape, hills, snow and a desert oasis – players can also select one of 32 vehicles from four categories. Each category is tailored for use within the different environments, with variations of speed, acceleration and handling and grip levels making specific vehicles ideal for particular locations.

Driift’s multi-player modes allow users to play using combinations of Wii Remotes, Nunchucks and Classic Controllers, and seven game modes are on offer. These range from the single-player and multi-player championships, and Team Race, wherein participants are divided into two teams, with the winner determined by those that accrue the most points. The VIP mode elects one player per team as a VIP vehicle, who must be protected at all costs from the opposition cars, with the removal of the VIP car resulting in a win for the attacking team.

Driift also uses ‘Contamination’ where a player is marked contagious and must contaminate very other player within a set period, while the ‘Cold Potato’ mode charges the user with collecting said vegetable and holding on to it for as long as possible! Finally, the ‘Meteorite’ option sees players embarking on a normal race, while trying to avoid a series of meteors as they fall from the sky.

“We established our European development studio to create games for mobile phone devices. After a successful start and positive, high-value products, they are now moving to other formats, too,” commented Martin Schneider, European Marketing and PR Director for Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH. “This WiiWare title offers a new approach in a more traditional console business and we are looking forward to this download title and further contributions from our European development studio.”