Last summer I had the pleasure of visiting North Korea (with Koryo Tours). I think it's worth noting that the company is not North Korean -- it's based in Beijing and run by British expats.
So it's all the more puzzling it's this bad then?
North Korea’s First Computer Game: Pyongyang Racer
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Re: North Korea’s First Computer Game: Pyongyang Racer
#42I hope they'll release an iOS version soon.
Re: North Korea’s First Computer Game: Pyongyang Racer
#43This article is incorrect - this is not North Korea's first video game, they have been producing video games for quite a while, there are a number of companies which even outsource production there. From an article in 2010 (http://www.pcworld.com/article/198555/the_worlds_most_unusua...) :
The outsourcer with the highest profile is probably Nosotek. The company, established in 2007, is also one of the few Western IT ventures in Pyongyang, the North Korean capital.
Nosotek's main work revolves around development of Flash games and games for mobile phones. It's had some success and claims that one iPhone title made the Apple Store Germany's top 10 for at least a week, though it wouldn't say which one.
Several Nosotek-developed games are distributed by Germany's Exozet Games, including one block-based game called "Bobby's Blocks."
Re: North Korea’s First Computer Game: Pyongyang Racer
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do they really send people to reeducation camps for disrespecting the president in the US?
Sorry I should have clarified. I meant in terms of the basics: food, shelter, water etc. My point was that North Korea is borderline third world on par with other countries in the region.
North korea is not borderline third world, they are much, much worse - indeed they can't even feed their own army anymore.
Re: North Korea’s First Computer Game: Pyongyang Racer
#45Obligatory Artemiy Lebedev's photo report on NK (unfortunately, comments in Russian only):
http://www.tema.ru/travel/north-korea-1/
http://www.tema.ru/travel/north-korea-2/
Re: North Korea’s First Computer Game: Pyongyang Racer
#46Heroic officers of the army, members of the Worker-peasant red guards, compatriots, comrades and friends. Today we have achieved great victory of technical excellence in honor of our Dear Leader, who is a perfect incarnation of the appearance that a leader should have, who has returned to Heaven from where he first descended. We have proved to the world our superior technical and scientific achievements, for which we…
Dear Leader is dead, long live the Supreme Leader!
Re: North Korea’s First Computer Game: Pyongyang Racer
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wonder if they even had access to unblocked internet.
My wild guess is: they might not have had any internet connection at all. But it really depends whether the Koryo Tours guys thought the extra cost would be worth it. I don't have any updated pricelist from Nosotek (the North Korean/Dutch joint venture outsourcing firm which wrote Pyongyang Racer), but back in 2010 they charged an extra €40 to €60 per day surcharge to clients if they wanted their team of two outsourc…
They have an internal intranet with bulletin boards and even dating sites that a few select have access to. I think it's mostly there to make rich kids feel like they're not missing out. A very, very small number of people even have access to the "real" Internet.
Kim Jong Il once (around a decade ago) famously asked Madeleine Albright for her email address.
Re: North Korea’s First Computer Game: Pyongyang Racer
#48The instructions read "don't hit other cars or vans!" but I think I counted around only 6 of them in the entire city. Is it because it's on DEMO MODE?
No, it just adds a lot of realism. I'm not being snarky, NK roads are mostly devoid of cars most of the time from what I've seen (on the Internet, didn't have the privilegue to visit yet).
I've read on a blog belonging to a Russian foreign exchange student that's currently living in the country, that they're actually having traffic problems in Pyongyang this year.
Re: North Korea’s First Computer Game: Pyongyang Racer
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
Actually the average life of North Korea is not that different from those in rural China, Phillipines, Thailand and arguably some parts of the US.
We desperately need a Poe's Law or a Godwin's law to describe this common scenario. In any sufficiently-long comment thread, the probability of someone falsely equating the USA and $DICTATORSHIP, or invoking moral relativism to achieve the same end, approaches 1.
To be fair,
In any sufficiently-long comment thread, the probability of someone making $STATEMENT, approaches 1.
Re: North Korea’s First Computer Game: Pyongyang Racer
#50Last summer I had the pleasure of visiting North Korea (with Koryo Tours). I think it's worth noting that the company is not North Korean -- it's based in Beijing and run by British expats.
So it's all the more puzzling it's this bad then?
No no no, Koryo Tours is a tour company run by Brits. They're just a tour company. They don't do programming. The programmers are with NovoTek in North Korea. Koryo Tours paid NovoTek to make the game.