Six wild infants, each with its own goofy personality, compete in a challenging road race using vehicles ranging from carriages and race cars to animals and skateboards. The winning toddler of the Hawaii-based competition goes on to become a spokesmodel for a famous brand of powdered milk. Any one of the six infants--Donburi, Cafleo, Panpan, Momoka, Zambie, or Doogie--could walk away with the honor.
This isn't a pilot episode of a Nickelodeon cartoon show, but it's an upcoming racing game that builds on the ever-growing South Korean franchise titled Come on Baby, from game developer Expotato and publisher Sonokong (both Korea-based).
The companies have just finished beta testing an online PC racing game that features the infants, according to a recent report from the Korea Times.
Expotato started the Come on Baby franchise in 2000, when it introduced a two-player sports game of the same name into South Korean game arcades. It featured a simple joystick design complete with three large, hard-to-miss buttons on the cabinet for each player. This allowed for easy gameplay, as users would compete in events such as sumo wrestling, dirt bike racing, face slapping, rhinoceros hunting, and paddle boat racing to win the title of "World’s Healthiest Toddler."
The following year, Expotato expanded the Come on Baby franchise by contracting Onycom (also a South Korea-based company) to develop a series of mobile games featuring the six infants. PlayStation 2 and PC versions followed soon thereafter.
"Cute" is also on sale in this online racer, as players will be able to make real-time purchases of such items as clothing, shoes, gadgets, and other decorative ornaments to make their virtual infant competitors stand out in the game. Sonokong will rely on this sales initiative as its main source of income, along with introducing Come on Baby toys and other related merchandise at a later date.
According to a recent report in Business Week Asia, South Korean game developers have been scrambling to lure in the casual gamer by trying to build on the success of Nexon's Kart-Rider, an online racer that has become a major hit in South Korea with more than 12 million users. Nexon recorded $110 million in revenue last year, 85 percent of which came from online Kart-Rider users who made real-time avatar purchases to upgrade their cars.
Nexon now estimates its revenue will top $250 million this year. Time will tell if the development and publishing team of Expotato and Sonokong will see this kind of success with its Come on Baby racer.
Come on Baby will be available to online gamers in South Korea later this year, after further testing is completed.
While the game's publisher has a number of international partners, there's no indication that the Seoul-based company plans to produce an English-language version of the game.
