Tagged: arcade

Ridge Racer gets PSN re-release

Get your racing cars ready, because Ridge Racer Type 4 is coming to town! The PS1 classic is hitting PlayStation Network next month for both PS3 and PSP.

It was originally released in 1999 to raving reviews. The game offers arcade-style drift racing that is synonymous with the series. The re-release features 48 cars, over 300 variations, eight tracks, two-player split-screen and enhanced graphics. No price was given.

A new Ridge Racer game is also in development for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. They are also making a Nintendo 3DS version.

GTi Club+ Dated

Konami sends word that a completely updated and enhanced version of GTi Club+ will be released via the PlayStation Store on December 4. It will be priced at 14.99 Euros and will offer all new graphics and expanded gameplay elements.

To be a 335MB download, the game will feature a French locale within a giant game map. It will run at 60 fps and offer five licensed cars – Austin Mini Cooper, Renault 5, Fiat A112, Abarth, Lancia Delta and the VW Golf GTi.

Additions to the game include new game modes, as well as PlayStation Eye support. It also supports 5.1 surround sound and player-to-player voice communications.

Capcom Blames Rising Fuel Costs for Ailing Arcade Business

Capcom, one of the last remaining developers still making games for arcades, has blamed the declining Japanese arcade market on the rising cost of fuel, among other things.

Their latest earnings report shows “sluggish growth” in the ailing arcade market, even though the company opened up nine new arcade plazas across the country last year.

“There were several factors that negatively affected performance: the dissemination of home video game machines, intensified competition, declining popularity of card dispensing games for children, and the decrease of visitors to those arcades located in suburban shopping malls due to rising gasoline/petrol prices,” Capcom said.

The company notes that its arcade operating income took a huge dip in 2007 versus the previous year, leading to a nearly 10% drop in Capcom’s net profit for its arcade business.

TrackMania United Forever Gets New Tracks

The next edition in the TrackMania series, TrackMania United Forever, is launching this Friday and will feature even more tracks than before. The game will also feature quite a few new cars and will let players share their custom-created tracks as well as customized cars. Below is the car list:

  • Stadium Car – Iconic TrackMania car that’s part F1 car, part sturdy buggy
  • Fast racing Car – The fastest car in the TrackMania series will test your reaction times
  • The ‘American’ – Sensitive suspension to challenge handling skills
  • 4×4 Grand Class – Fast and flexible with a motor revved to the max
  • Rally Car – Slide round dirt tracks with this ultra light and ultra powerful vehicle
  • Roadster – Requires meticulous driving with expert acceleration and breaking
  • Pick-Up – Rough and tumble racing with a mechanical monster

More after the jump.
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Xbox 360 Arcade Officially Announced, Released

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Microsoft has finally come out of the closet and announced Xbox 360 Arcade, a cheaper model of the Xbox 360. Aimed at families this coming Holiday season, the Arcade model will retail for $279/£199 that includes a 256MB memory card and a wireless controller as well as a disc containing full versions of the five following Xbox Live Arcade titles: Pac-Man, Uno, Luxor 2, Boom Boom Rocket and Feeding Frenzy.

The new model is already available in North America. It will hit UK stores this Friday, October 26.

Cyclomite on InstantAction

Wideload Shorts sends word that it will release Cyclomite, an online browser-based game to support its launch of InstantAction, an online gaming site. To be released early next year, the game will have players pilot the titular vehicle through relentless meteor storms. There will be two multiplayer modes, hundreds of co-operative multiplayer levels, and a competitive versus multiplayer mode.

“For InstantAction to succeed, we need to have the top Indie developers participating. So we are stoked to have Wideload bring us an original title,” said Josh Williams, CEO of Garagegames.com. “We haven’t stopped there. We expect other top developers to announce their support Instant Action in the coming months.”

InstantAction.com is the first web-based game network that will provide original action games through standard web browsers. The site will go live during January 2008.

Gridrunner Running to Xbox Live

Trippy shooter Gridrunner++ is headed to Xbox Live, as revealed by Jeff Minter, the psychedelic game’s creator, on his Livejournal blog. Already available on PC and Mac, with demos available from the Llamasoft website, the game is a traditional top-down shooter injected with flying sheep and weird stage names, among other things.

“I already have it running modified for the different aspect ratio and working off the x360 pad as opposed to the mouse, and I’m changing and extending the gameplay; it’ll be a much more involved game than the PC-only predecessor,” he wrote on his blog. “I’m getting all the gameplay working first then I’ll overhaul the graphics; we’ll likely go for algorithm generated 3D shapes rather than the hand-drawn sprites of the PC original.”

Space Ace Goes HD

The legendary animated arcade game Space Ace has been re-released in high definition. Video from the game has been transferred directly from the original film source, resulting in sharp images and vibrant colors which are said to be better than the original laser disc release.

Dubbed Space Age HD, the game will also feature a completely new five channel surround sound audio mix and more. Here’s the deal on the story:

In Space Ace you play the heroic Ace who must stop the evil Commander Borf from taking over the Earth! Borf plans to reduce all of humankind to infants and take over the planet. Only two people have the courage and strength to stop Borf and save Earth: the beautiful Kimberly and the heroic Ace. But as they approach Borf’s stronghold, Ace is hit by the Infanto Ray, changing him into a child, and Kimberly is kidnapped by the evil madman! The fate of Earth is in your hands!

The game will be available later this Fall on PC. It will also be released on Blu-ray and HD-DVD sometime next year.