Tag: Ridge Racer »

A new update is arriving for Bandai Namco's free-to-play racer Ridge Racer Slipstream, bringing new challenges, courses and cards into the mix.

Players will be able to race around two new courses - the Seacrest District and Surfside Resort - and get behind the wheel of four new Class 1 cars - the Kamata Synci, RC410, Lucky Wild Evolver, and Soldat Rauna. Players will also have the chance to unlock some new achievements and compete in new races, battles, and Masters' Class 1 career mode challenges.

Ridge Racer Slipstream is available to download from the App Store now for free.

Namco Bandai Games is celebrating the 20th anniversary of Ridge Racer by releasing a new title on iOS devices this December.

Ridge Racer Slipstream comes with 20 tracks (10 that go forward and backward) and 12 vehicles with over 300 customization options that include the adjustment of color, rims, body kits, and vinyls. Users can also enjoy a Career Mode and three different race options in Arcade Mode - including Regular, Quick, and Knockout races.

It's time to fire up your engines and prepare your Dig Dug decals, as Namco is bringing Ridge Racer Accelerated to the iPad later this month, after the game's iPhone release last year. This latest version in the venerable arcade racing franchise focuses not just on trying to cross the finish line faster than your opponents, as per standard racing game procedure. You also have to master drifting technique, which fills up your nitrous meter, which you can then use to deploy speed boosts when you need them. The game features 57 unlockable vehicles, 11 courses playable both forwards and backwards, and 5 game modes, including a Game Center Time Attack mode. That sound you hear is Kaz Hirai being very excited about this racing series, which has amazingly almost been around for 2 decades now, coming to the iPad in full-screen, high-resolution glory.

The interesting thing about Ridge Racer Accelerated for the iPad is that it will be released as a freemium app - it will be free to download, include 3 cars, one course, with Time Attack and Game Center ranking modes available for free, and will cost $9.99 in-app to unlock the full app. This is Namco's fourth freemium game release for the iPad, following Time Crisis 2nd Strike HD, Lost in Time: The Clockwork Tower and House of Glass. It appears as if this model is starting to pique the interest of major publishers, especially on Namco's side, as this is their second release that has been freemium.

It would be interesting to see if this is a potential future business model for games on the iPad, as it seems to have drawn raised interest on this platform, between NimbleBit's Dizzypad HD, One Man Left's Tilt to Live HD, and now Namco seems to be pushing the freemium model with their iPad titles. Is there something about the platform that encourages more business model experimentation? Are iPad users buying apps in different ways than what the iPhone/iPod touch userbase tends to consume apps? Between these titles and Gameloft testing the model out over on the iPhone side of the App Store, it'll be curious to see how consumers react to it and if we continue to see it used down the road. Ridge Racer fans will get to express their opinion on the model later this month when Ridge Racer Accelerated HD hits the iPad.

According to Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu, Namco Bandai it set to release a version of their classic arcade racing franchise to the iPhone. Ridge Racer: Accelerated is tentatively scheduled for a worldwide release before the end of the year.

The Ridge Racer series has been gracing a variety of gaming platforms since 1993 with its unique, drift-heavy racing style. The iPhone version looks similar to the recent PSP editions of the game, where you race against up to 12 competitors. The controls are said to be accelerometer-based, and the screenshots show a gas pedal & brake located either both on one side, or one on each side of the screen. Both behind the car and front bumper camera options are visible as well.

Not much else is known regarding the feature list of the game, but we should be finding out soon enough considering the tentative release date. The price of Ridge Racer: Accelerated has not been revealed at this time.