$400 worth of prizes
Directeur Sportif, the fantasy game for road racing nuts has been revamped in readiness for the Giro d'Italia.
The web-based competition lets players pick a squad of ten riders who earn them points according their real-life exploits in major cycling races. Following initial trials during last year's major tours, the fantasy game has been revised and relaunched in time for the start of Italian tour on Sunday morning (NZ time).
New features are mini-league playing, attractive prizes and new tactical options for the sports director.
One new feature of the new game will be the introduction of substitute riders - a move designed to prolong the interest for players whose star riders crash out of the race early on. Game designer Markus Mutscheller - a Napier-based cyclist and programmer - says he will look to see how much backing the relaunched game gets from Kiwi bike fans before looking to expand the game for the forthcoming Tour de France.
"The game started in email format as a bit of fun last year between me and my cycling mates in Hawke's Bay," says Markus. "When I launched the game on the net for the Tour of Spain last September we had a lot of players come in from all over New Zealand and Australia. So I really had to take a far more professional approach and organise some decent prizes. But the main focus remains that it's a fun game that makes the major tours more interesting and you don't have to be a road cycling expert to do well.
Deadline for entry to the Directeur Sportif game for the Giro d'Italia is 11/05/2008, 9pm.
For more information visit www.dirsportif.com |
