About BMX Games

BMX is the abbreviated term for "bicycle motorcross," and denotes a type of cycling sport that is performed on prefabricated, open-air earth tracks with hills, ramps and obstacles. To win a competition, a BMX racer must perform a designated amount of tricks and complete a track race in the fastest time. With the advent of the Internet and the advancement of video and online games, BMX-style games have exploded in popularity. The introduction of BMX racing at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing has made the sport even more popular within the video-gaming community.

Identification

BMX-style video and PC games follow the style of the physical sport itself. There are several types of BMX racing, and the video games--especially those that tie into the popular professional athletes in the sport, like Dave Mirra and Mat Hoffman--offer a variety of playing options that allow users to perform tricks electronically. The most popular types of BMX games allow the players to exhibit simple and complex freestyle skills by using button patterns on their game controllers. To earn points, players must race against other players or the clock--or they may need to earn the most points based on the skills and tricks they perform. Some BMX games allow players to race each other via a shared network. These players may or may not be in the same room, city or even the same state. BMX games work like all other sport-affiliated video games, allowing the user to control the actions of an onscreen persona.

Types

On the Internet, a number of BMX games are available for free and by paid subscription. Teagames.com is a popular resource that offers free BMX games to users. There are also BMX games that are designed specifically for use on a computer. BMXGames.org offers information on a number of games that are available to the Internet and computer-playing market, from freestyle games that allow the player to perform tricks to speed games that have users racing other players. Titles designed for the standard Nintendo, Nintendo Wii and their various mini-game consoles like Game Boy offer BMX fans a variety of gaming options, from the Dave Mirra BMX Challenge to Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX 2. There are also a few BMX games for the Xbox, including Gravity Games. PlayStation users can enjoy BMX XXX, among many others.

History

While gaming systems have been around in some form since the early 1970s, it wasn't until Nintendo launched the 8-bit console in the 1980s that the first cycling motocross games appeared on the market. Bundled with classic games like Super Mario Brothers and Duck Hunt, Excitebike was the pioneer of BMX video games when it launched in 1984. In the early '90s, video games enjoyed a drastic technological advancement, like the introduction of 3-D graphics and the advent of multiplayer capabilities. This new technology helped BMX games like Motorcross Madness 2 and Nuclear Motorcross grab a much wider audience. In 2001, Playstation launched MX 2002 Featuring Ricky Carmichael, which was touted as the best BMX video game ever created. In 2002, BMX XXX was launched to offer a cross between BMX gaming and adult entertainment. In 2004, Excitebike was re-launched as part of Nintendo's Classic NES Series.

Potential

BMX racing and freestyling made their Olympic debut at the summer 2008 games in Beijing. The warm reception the sport received made it an immediate media sensation, especially among the youth market. As the popularity of the sport grows, so too does the technology of the gaming equipment and accessories that accompany it. According to the International Data Corporation (IDC), video game sales average about $12.6 billion a year. Video-game creators like Acclaim Entertainment and Electronic Art estimate that the sale of BMX games will increase by 66 percent by 2010. Sixty-nine percent of Americans play video games. Thanks to the unstoppable advancements in video-game technology and the lifelike quality of modern video games, BMX games will only become more exciting and popular in the years to come.

Considerations

Acclaim Entertainment, a popular video-gaming company, issued BMX XXX in 2002. The game was formatted for the Xbox, PlayStation 2 and Nintendo GameCube, and was touted as the next big thing in BMX games. While its pre-launch publicity was huge, its post-launch reception was riddled with controversy. The BMX game featured a player-create option, which allowed users to personalize their BMX riders as topless women. It also had a feature that allowed users to watch video clips of live strippers. The game was poorly received worldwide. It was denied classification in Australia, and some footage was censored for PlayStation 2 users. The game, however, is available in its original and uncensored format for the Nintendo GameCube and Xbox.

Resources

• International Data Corporation
• Free BMX Games on the Internet
• Entertainment Software Association