Preliminary City-verse D-Wheels writeup
(Mostly for Junabi's perusal, but I'd also love to hear the thoughts of anyone else in or tangentially connected to Cardgamescast o/)
OKAY SO, the D-Wheels in the city aren't precisely like the D-Wheels in the show. They’re generally smaller, sleeker, and more like a modern sport bike than anything else, rather than the various standard- and cruiser-type bikes that are typical in canon. You all can thank Kaiba and his obsessive insistence on speed for this departure. Granted, there IS precedent for this kind of build in the show thanks to Aki’s D-Wheel and its more sport-style riding posture (which in addition to showing off her nice ass in that riding outfit is much more in line with actual real world high-speed racing bikes, imagine that!)
The D-Wheels each come preloaded with what is arguably the most advanced auto piloting system in any vehicle, let alone a motorcycle, so even those still a little new behind the handlebars are encouraged to try it out. Not that it’ll do all the work for you; the rider still has to understand when and how to shift his weight around during turns and such, especially since the bikes are comparatively so light, so a valid Type M driver’s license is a requirement for every rider in any Kaiba Corp sanctioned match.
The bikes themselves are perfectly street legal, but driving on a public road while having the bike either a) set on autopilot, or b) conducting a duel of any kind (autopilot or no) is, NO SURPRISE HERE, a violation of New York state road laws. So, if you want to go out and have yourself a riding duel and don't want to get picked up by the cops (Kiryu ಠ_ಠ), you'll have to do it on a Kaiba Corp authorized circuit.
As for the dueling itself, it all works pretty much like it does in the show: the card platform that would normally be sticking out from the arm brace of a Duel Disk is instead mounted between the handlebars of the D-Wheel, with a goodly sized color screen above it for displaying card data and the opponent’s Field. Cards are drawn from an auto-shuffling deck holder attached to the wrist of whichever arm they would normally wear their Disk on (left arm for righties, right arm for lefties), and an extra slot near the card platform serves as the Graveyard. There is one caveat in that the playing surface is very compact and fairly thoroughly recessed behind the windscreen for the sake of speed and cards-not-blowing-off, so you won’t be able to do quite so much ~*~dramatic gesturing~*~ as you're used to.
Back to the show-typical features, the helmets that come with the bikes each have microphones and earpieces in them that sync with the bike and (through the bikes) to the other guy's helmet to allow for two-way communication and the inevitable trash-talk. The eyeshields work as simple HUDs that briefly display pertinent information about the cards the opponent is playing so that you don’t have to take your eyes off the road so much.
Not that card games are all these bikes will be good for; these things were not in development for full year for nothing. Kaiba demanded that these puppies be faster than anything else on the road, and Bruno sure as hell delivered. The engine is an exotic hybrid gas-electric that purrs like a kitten and propels like a diesel, and even without the autopilot these things handle like a dream. Seriously, Kaiba can probably make more off of licensing out all the patents he now holds for all the new stuff Bruno came up with than he ever will on the bikes themselves.
All of Kaibacorp’s models are hybrids, which in THIS context means that the playing surface itself can be dismounted from the dash and attached to the wrist dealer for use as an independent full-function Duel Disk. So even if you toss aside all the card games components and just use the bike as a sweet new ride, you'll still find yourself with a free Duel Disk sitting around in case you change your mind later.
Speaking of accessories: although this is probably not an official feature, Bruno has ensured that all Kaibacorp D-Wheels have built-in functionality that allows them to sync with imPort comm units and allow the rider to view, create and respond to audio and video posts using the D-Wheel’s own A/V functionality. Note that the video synching will always be disabled while the bike is in motion for obvious safety reasons, although if you really felt like it you could find the backdoor Bruno left in hack the onboard computer and switch that limitation off.
OKAY SO, the D-Wheels in the city aren't precisely like the D-Wheels in the show. They’re generally smaller, sleeker, and more like a modern sport bike than anything else, rather than the various standard- and cruiser-type bikes that are typical in canon. You all can thank Kaiba and his obsessive insistence on speed for this departure. Granted, there IS precedent for this kind of build in the show thanks to Aki’s D-Wheel and its more sport-style riding posture (which in addition to showing off her nice ass in that riding outfit is much more in line with actual real world high-speed racing bikes, imagine that!)
The D-Wheels each come preloaded with what is arguably the most advanced auto piloting system in any vehicle, let alone a motorcycle, so even those still a little new behind the handlebars are encouraged to try it out. Not that it’ll do all the work for you; the rider still has to understand when and how to shift his weight around during turns and such, especially since the bikes are comparatively so light, so a valid Type M driver’s license is a requirement for every rider in any Kaiba Corp sanctioned match.
The bikes themselves are perfectly street legal, but driving on a public road while having the bike either a) set on autopilot, or b) conducting a duel of any kind (autopilot or no) is, NO SURPRISE HERE, a violation of New York state road laws. So, if you want to go out and have yourself a riding duel and don't want to get picked up by the cops (Kiryu ಠ_ಠ), you'll have to do it on a Kaiba Corp authorized circuit.
As for the dueling itself, it all works pretty much like it does in the show: the card platform that would normally be sticking out from the arm brace of a Duel Disk is instead mounted between the handlebars of the D-Wheel, with a goodly sized color screen above it for displaying card data and the opponent’s Field. Cards are drawn from an auto-shuffling deck holder attached to the wrist of whichever arm they would normally wear their Disk on (left arm for righties, right arm for lefties), and an extra slot near the card platform serves as the Graveyard. There is one caveat in that the playing surface is very compact and fairly thoroughly recessed behind the windscreen for the sake of speed and cards-not-blowing-off, so you won’t be able to do quite so much ~*~dramatic gesturing~*~ as you're used to.
Back to the show-typical features, the helmets that come with the bikes each have microphones and earpieces in them that sync with the bike and (through the bikes) to the other guy's helmet to allow for two-way communication and the inevitable trash-talk. The eyeshields work as simple HUDs that briefly display pertinent information about the cards the opponent is playing so that you don’t have to take your eyes off the road so much.
Not that card games are all these bikes will be good for; these things were not in development for full year for nothing. Kaiba demanded that these puppies be faster than anything else on the road, and Bruno sure as hell delivered. The engine is an exotic hybrid gas-electric that purrs like a kitten and propels like a diesel, and even without the autopilot these things handle like a dream. Seriously, Kaiba can probably make more off of licensing out all the patents he now holds for all the new stuff Bruno came up with than he ever will on the bikes themselves.
All of Kaibacorp’s models are hybrids, which in THIS context means that the playing surface itself can be dismounted from the dash and attached to the wrist dealer for use as an independent full-function Duel Disk. So even if you toss aside all the card games components and just use the bike as a sweet new ride, you'll still find yourself with a free Duel Disk sitting around in case you change your mind later.
Speaking of accessories: although this is probably not an official feature, Bruno has ensured that all Kaibacorp D-Wheels have built-in functionality that allows them to sync with imPort comm units and allow the rider to view, create and respond to audio and video posts using the D-Wheel’s own A/V functionality. Note that the video synching will always be disabled while the bike is in motion for obvious safety reasons, although if you really felt like it you could find the backdoor Bruno left in hack the onboard computer and switch that limitation off.