But at least Namco Bandai hasn't forgotten about the arcade-style racing game, with plans to release Ridge Racer: Accelerated some time this month. Further details are still forthcoming, but Famitsu has in-game screens and swears it'll be out before the end of the year for an unspecified price.

世界初公開！ iPhone『RIDGE RACER ACCELERATED』最新映像&画面写真大量入手 [Famitsu via NeoGAF]

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.

[Video games] are not inventions at all in the normal sense of the word. They are imaginary systems. Unlike mathematical theorems (which cannot be patented), game rules don't even have to be coherent — though obviously they should be for playability reasons.

The Designer's Notebook: Damn All Gameplay Patents! [Gamasutra][image]

But when I asked them to double check they became a bit unclear and said they would look into it. This morning Nick Sharples, director of their PR team, was kind enough to send along some more details about the newly formed Cell-centered game developer.

It appears that Namco Bandai's Isao Nakamura, best known for creating the Ridge Racer franchise, will actually be the director of the company while the other board members will be "absentee directors" who will support Nakamura's role.

A bit more details:

The new company, combining development technologies and flexible way of thinking which both SCEI and NBGI have, will develop new contents business in order to create interactive and "surprising" contents.

Isao Nakamura is known for creating the Ridge Racer franchise but the new content to be created by CELLIUS is not limited to racing genre only. CELLIUS office will be located in Nakameguro, separately from SCEI or Namco Bandai offices and will initially start with around 30 people.

By saying that the company is "not limited" to the racing genre, they certainly imply that will be one of the things they will be doing. I'll leave it to you to finish this post with some Kaz-speak.

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.

If all games are going to be like this, that means on the low-end PS3 you're fitting four games simultaneously, and that's if you don't download any other content. Let's hope there's a way for end users to put larger hard drives into the PS3, especially if we're going to be installing Linux and playing DivX movies off of it. Jason Chen

Ridge Racer 7 Update [PS3 IGN]

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...

At E3, Sony Computer Entertainment of America honcho Kaz Hirai demonstrated how to plow into a wall on the PSP version. And Ridge Racer producer Hirofumi Inagaki's thoughts? He tells Gamasutra's Brandon Sheffield:

Oh...well I'm not as happy with that! But hey, if he's having fun with it, that's ok, even if he can't play... I'm happy people are saying the game's name so much.

Well Mr. Positive, they weren't just saying the game's name, you know. Brian Ashcraft

Kaz Suxor at Ridge Racer [Gamasutra]

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 Here [British Gaming Blog]

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.

Well done, JubeiSaotome. And special thanks to Lincoln Hammond for the link. Eliza gauger

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.

KazHiraiSoundboard [Official Site] Thanks Chakal!

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 Here [Jeux-France]

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.

"Ridge Racer 6" takes the celebrated racing series online for the first time with Worldwide Online Multiplayer Battles through Xbox Live. Utilizing a Worldwide Player Matching system, players can match up against drivers from around the world in intense head-to-head drift racing match ups. Players can also upload their personal records from the game s Time Attack mode to see how they stack up against the rest of the world in a persistent Leader Board and download ghost data to virtually race against friends or test their skills against the best in the world. To complement the online "Ridge Racer 6" community, new game content such as new cars will periodically be made available for download from the Xbox Live Marketplace.