Distance, Tron-Esque Racing Game Could Come To PS4, Xbox One, Wii U

The upcoming racing title for PC, Mac and Linux (which is now codeword for “SteamOS compatible”) may not be exclusive to the computer gaming community. When queried about potentiality and possibilities for the game arriving on home consoles, the answer wasn't too surprising.

Refract Studios successfully Kickstarted Distance, the visually contrasting racing game that infuses a lot of dark, sci-fi atmosphere with bright traces of neon color. The game has picked up massive support from the community not only due to its visual effects and graphically compelling art-style, but also in due part to the smooth gameplay and crazy physical feats that players can pull off during the intense races.

Of course, not everyone has a gaming-ready PC or a laptop capable of running some of the newer titles on the market (even though most games have fairly low entry points as far as system requirements go). So for gamers interested in Distance that don't belong to the Glorious PC Master Race, they wondered if they would be able to get in on the racing action via home console. It was a fair question that we would forward to Refract Studios, and here's what the press representative had to say in response...

“We would love to see Distance on a console as a possibility in the future, but as of now we are only working on PC, Mac, and Linux.”“We want to emphasize that there is no guarantee that the game will be on a console, but it's certainly a possibility”

While it's easy to say that Distance could make the jump to the PlayStation 4, where it would fit in with a ton of other independent titles that were once PC exclusives, it's important to keep in mind that the playing field in the console spectrum regarding indie titles is no longer solely in favor of Sony's latest console.

Microsoft has taken up the indie mantle as well, and provided smaller developers with an opportunity to design games using a retail Xbox One that can be turned into a debug unit with the simple press of certain buttons. The ID@Xbox program has opened the doors to allow just about any up-and-coming developer to take advantage of Microsoft's latest console like Chris Christie takes advantage of blocking bridges for a little political revenge.

Also, we can't count out the Big 'N's little Wii U. The “console that could” has been doing very well as of late in the sales and software department, picking up its slack after a lackluster first and second quarter of 2013, where most analysts thought it was a goner. However, Nintendo revamped their indie policies and opened up the console to some pretty innovative titles set for release in 2014, as well as offering developers free Unity Pro licenses for registered developers, sort of as a way to keep the fresh young minds coming back to make more games for the Wii U. This could make Nintendo's console prime bait for the post-student project of Distance.

With each console providing their own benefits to the indie community, it will be interesting to see if Refract Studios makes good on one offer over the other or if they decide to go all-in and release the game on all three platforms. Personally? I would love to see the game on the Wii U, taking advantage of the GamePad and the gyroscopic capabilities. It would be a perfect fit for the off-the-wall gameplay provided in Distance.

For those of you who have no idea what the game is like or why some people would want to see it released on home consoles, feel free to check out some awesome gameplay footage of the title below, and marvel at the awesomeness.

For more info, feel free to pay a kind visit to the official website.

Will Usher

Staff Writer at CinemaBlend.