Kotaku: Ridge Racer

Jackasses Destroy a Fleet of Ferraris

Brian Ashcraft — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 03:00:00 EST

One Sunday about a month ago, I was driving my family to Himeji. It was a drizzly early morning on the Chugoku Expressway, and I just cleared Kobe. To my right, a trio of Lancia Delta Integrales came whizzing by. More »

Ridge Racer DLC Sucks. Namco Ready To Rip You Off.

Brian Ashcraft — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 04:00:00 EST

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Thought it was stupid and awful that Namco Bandai was releasing Ridge Racer with only three tracks? Wait until you hear what the DLC is. More »

Ridge Racer Has Only Three Tracks? 30FPS? No Thanks!

Brian Ashcraft — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 07:00:00 EST

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I like Ridge Racer. It's a guilty pleasure. And I was actually thinking of getting the next game. That is, until I heard what madness Namco Bandai is pulling. More »

Father of PlayStation Gets to Launch a Game on PlayStation Vita in February

Stephen Totilo — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 13:20:00 EDT

We got Nintendogs + Cats, Pilotwings Resort and a few more for the launch of the Nintendo 3DS earlier this year. We got Lumines, an Ape Escape and more in 2005 for the launch of the PlayStation Portable. More »

First PlayStation Vita Games Priced

Brian Ashcraft — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 04:30:00 EDT

When the PS Vita goes on sale Dec. 17 in Japan, it will cost ¥25,000. With the weak dollar, that's US$326. So it's best to go by the portable's American pricing: $250. With that in mind, how much are Vita games going to cost? More »

I Can See Myself Playing Ridge Racer on the PS Vita

Brian Ashcraft — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 11:00:00 EDT

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Back in December 2004, I bought two things. One was a PSP. The other was Ridge Racer. More »

The Strange Studio Born of Two Rival Companies

Luke Plunkett — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 02:30:00 EDT

The Ridge Racer game for Sony's upcoming PlayStation Vita will be the product of a unique studio: one that was established not by one major publisher, but as part of a partnership between two. More »

Ridge Racer Coming to PS Vita

Brian Ashcraft — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 06:00:00 EDT

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Cue the Riiiiiidge Raaaaacer jokes! Namco's racing series is bound for the upcoming PS Vita. Details are scant, but Namco did release a single image in an official statement. More »

The New Ridge Racer Game Looks Somewhat Familiar

Luke Plunkett — Thu, 12 May 2011 06:24:00 EDT

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I promise you. This is not a trailer for a new Burnout game. More »

Trust Us, Ridge Racer Has The Best 3D On The 3DS

Stephen Totilo — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 12:00:00 EDT

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It is hard to show you the 3D graphics of the Nintendo 3DS. It is nearly impossible. So please trust me when I say that the ordinary graphics of Ridge Racer 3D look extraordinary when the Nintendo 3DS slider is activated. I can't show you in the video here, though I try hard to explain it to you. More »

Ridge Racer Is Taking A Sharp Left Turn With 'Unbounded'

Michael McWhertor — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 16:30:00 EST

Namco's Ridge Racer series is turning 18 years old this year. What will it do with its new adult freedoms? Get a new developer and what appears to be plenty of destruction, as seen in the new Ridge Racer Unbounded. More »

A Visual Guide To Racing Games

Mike Fahey — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 18:20:00 EST

Whether you feel the need for speed or the need to make the car you're driving sounds as close to the real thing as possible, The Kotaku Genre Guide to Racing Games has you covered. More »

Riiiiiiiiidge Raaaaaaaaaacer Goes 3D On Nintendo's New Handheld

Luke Plunkett — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 19:00:00 EDT

Namco Bandai has thrown its support behind Nintendo's new 3DS, with five games currently in development for the handheld. One of them is, of course, Ridge Racer. More »

Ridge Racer: Accelerated Coming To iPhone Soon

Michael McWhertor — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 22:40:00 EST

Namco Bandai is taking the old Ridge Racer franchise for another spin, its first in almost three years, this time on the visual powerhouse that is... Apple's iPhone? Yes, Ridge Racer: Accelerated is an iPhone game. More »

Riiiidge Raaaacer Paaaachislot

Luke Plunkett — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 06:30:00 EDT

Yeah, you read that right. Ridge Racer. Pachislot machine. Together. In two flavours: one on the PS2, the other, a real life pachislot machine (sort of like a slot machine mixed with a pachinko machine that dishes out tokens) with tacky LCD speedometer. Good news is this is real. Bad news is there's no way in hell this is ever going outside Japan. Well, except for maybe the PS2 version, which will be out on June 5. Above's a screen from the console edition, full-body pic of the pachislot machine's after the jump. More »

Should Video Game Patents Be Legal?

Mark Wilson — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 13:40:53 EST

Over on Gamasutra, designer Ernest Adams has posted an interesting piece on video game software patents. He argues that not only are such patents morally gray, but that they are too encompassing—citing an example from Namco's PSOne version of Ridge Racer in which they patented, we kid you not, load-time minigames. He explains:

The US Patent and Trademark Office has taken a much more vague approach to determining what may or may not be patented. Its guidelines for patent examiners requires that the invention produce a concrete, useful, and tangible result, and gameplay patents are being allowed.

Then he later continues: More »

Father of Ridge Racer to Lead Cellius, Make Racing Games

Brian Crecente — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 08:21:16 EST

Yesterday, Sony Computer Entertainment of Europe contacted me to let me know that Ken Kutaragi won't be heading up the newly formed joint business between SCEI and Namco Bandai. More »

Clips: My Son Masters the Sixaxis

Brian Crecente — Sun, 05 Nov 2006 10:38:26 EST

My son's first experience with the Playstation 3 Sixaxis was interesting. He had never used motion control before and I just handed him the controller and told him to steer the car. The first 30 seconds or so he hated it and actually said he wasn't playing anymore. Then he watched me playing with it and said he wanted to try it again. That's what this video showed. He seemed to really enjoy himself, though I think he's still a fan of the thumbsticks as well. More »

Ridge Racer 7 Takes 5GB of Hard Drive Space

Jason Chen — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 19:40:30 EST

In order to "speed up gameplay", a euphemism for saying the PS3's Blu-ray drives are too slow to keep up with the amount of data streamed from the disc, Ridge Racer 7 is going to deposit 5 GB of junk onto your hard drive. This seems like quite a bit of space when you consider that "stickers, music and race events" are going to be available for download too. More »

Ridge Racer Producer On Kaz's "Riiiidge Racer"

Brian Ashcraft — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 06:22:43 EST

While the humor has long worn off, the meme still exists in the internet's deepest bowls. Somewhere someone is clacking our "Riiiiiiiiiiiiidge Racer" and cackling. Alone. We have since moved on and found different things to make fun of. But for those who missed the follies... More »

Exit & Ridge Racer Get PSP Sequels... Why?

Brian Ashcraft — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 10:22:01 EDT

The latest issue of Famitsu says that two of my personal PSP favorites (Ridge Racer and Exit) will get getting sequels. Exit will get some slight tweaks and new levels, while Ridge Racer will be more of the same. The release date is September 14th, and Namco says RR is about 70% done. I enjoy both these games immensely, but I'm not sure that either PSP games really merit a sequel. Easy money, sure, but should that creative energy be directed else where? Or rather, could that creative energy be directed elsewhere please? Brian Ashcraft More »

The MightyJustice Gaming Show is Better Than GameLife

egauger — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 19:41:42 EDT

The greatest review of Ridge Racer ever filmed, bar none. Although the retardation here is still brutal, it's easier to take because it's entirely intentional. Or so we can hope. More »

Your Own Personal Kaz Hirai Quote Machine

Brian Ashcraft — Thu, 18 May 2006 14:22:03 EDT

Sony Computer Entertainment honcho Kaz Hirai is chockfull of fab catch phrases from the PS3 presser at E3. Quotes like "Woah!", "I'm not a very good player" and of course, "Riiiiidge Raaaaacer" made an otherwise dull press conference slightly less dull. Mind you, it was still dull. The open-shirt exec (Kaz, darlin', buy a neck-tie) gets his own fan-made soundboard, providing approximately four minutes of amusement. More »

Ridge Racer 7 For PS3

Brian Ashcraft — Thu, 20 Apr 2006 13:22:31 EDT

The latest issue of Famitsu features an interview with the team responsible for the PS3's Ridge Racer 7. Here's a few tid-bits: up to fourteen folks can play at once (same as RR 6), and the team conceded that there's no point to increase the number. "We're trying to make the game more than just winning or losing," says director Masaya Kobayashi. The title appears set to take advantage of Sony's online set-up, giving Xbox Live a run for its money. "We want to get the game out as soon as possible," says Hideo Teramoto. "We want to show you how great our technique is on this machine." The game will be playable at E3. Bring it on guys, bring it on. More »

Ridge Racer 6 Coming to Xbox 360 Live

Brian Crecente — Fri, 05 Aug 2005 14:34:54 EDT

Namco announced a new Ridge Racer for the Xbox 360 Friday and it's gonna be online. Ridge Racer 6 will be ready for the Xbox 360 launch this Fall. More »