Volkswagen will be equipping its vehicles with the AirConsole video game platform, starting in September. The first models to get it will be the ID.3, ID.4, ID.5 and ID.7 EVs, as well as the Golf, Passat and Tiguan.
Don’t bother contacting your dealer just yet, however - the feature will initially only be available in Europe. No mention was made of the North American market at the time of VW’s announcement on Monday. We can think of no reason why the feature won’t make it here, eventually.
BMW already offers the AirConsole platform with some of its products, such as the latest 5 Series.
The platform allows users to play video games on the vehicle's multimedia screen, including in multiplayer configuration, using a smartphone as a controller.
And yes, the vehicle must be stationary for it to be possible to game. Which actually represents a good way to kill time when charging the vehicle, for example.
AirConsole is an application developed by Swiss firm N-Dream. The company’s website claims it offers 137 games, some of them exclusive to the company. Choices range from educational games -quizzes, word games, etc. – to classics like Tetris, and some that look a lot like Nintendo's Mario Kart.
The games are free to play, but subscriptions are available, offering benefits like the ability to connect to a larger number of players, skip commercial breaks, enjoy a greater number of games and more.
Original content from auto123.
