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Ridge Racer skids onto Vita March 13, free DLC in tow
It wouldn't be the launch of a new PlayStation device without a new Ridge Racer game, and while Ridge Racer for the Vita may have missed launch day, it'll be making making up for its zero-to-retail time with free cars, music and tracks when it launches on March 13.Initial retail copies of Ridge Racer ($29.99) will include a "Ridge Racer Gold Pass," which nets the buyer five additional cars, three bonus courses, two new songs and an extended remix of an existing song. PSN copies of the game ($24.99) also include the Gold Pass goodies, provided they're purchased before April 30. An additional "Silver Pass" DLC pack will also be available in April, albeit at an undisclosed price.Aside from free DLC, Ridge Racer's North American launch also includes a system update, which improves the game's frame rate and adds "crisper graphics." It's fitting, since the only other thing more "PlayStation" than Ridge Racer is a system update.
Ridge Racer Vita's development cycle was also a race
This may or may not be a surprise to you, depending on your level of cynicism about the relative lack of content in Ridge Racer for PlayStation Vita, but it was developed at a quick pace. A Famitsu interview with director Hideo Teramoto (translated by Andriasang) notes that development started in "spring," which likely refers to March at the earliest -- giving the team about eight months to have the game ready for the Vita's Japanese launch. Teramoto said that the development schedule was "tight," as Andriasang puts it, but that the Vita hardware was easy to develop for, with the development kit in an "advanced state." The content was in an advanced state as well, on account of having already been designed for other Ridge Racer games. Oh, there we go being cynical again.
Report: Ridge Racer Vita includes only three courses and five cars
Japanese press sampling the PlayStation Vita Ridge Racer were surprised to find that the game itself is pretty sample-sized. The racer reportedly includes just three courses, Harborline 765, Highland Cliffs, and Southbay Docks, all of which come from previous games, and are playable in normal and reverse modes. The list of cars is also limited -- to five. Of course, there will be DLC, but it's kind of surprising that it took two developers (Namco Bandai and Namco/Sony joint venture Cellius) to make a game with so little material, all of which had already been made. On the upside, Famitsu reports that it looks great on the Vita's screen, and we think the "Planetary League" mode sounds neat. For Planetary League, Namco plans to send out daily team battle missions for multiplayer, playable over wi-fi, ad-hoc and asynchronously (using ghost data).%Gallery-140172%
Evangelion PS3 is, disappointingly, not a game
If you thought Cellius was finally going to bear a new game thanks to yesterday's Evangelion reveal ... then you're going to feel as crushed as we are upon hearing this. The Evangelion project isn't a game, but yet another anime-linked service, much like the previously shown Gundam VOD thing -- and honestly, it's even less fascinating than the Gundam one. For ¥800 a month, starting June 6, Japanese PS3 owners can get a 3D news reader for their system which features Misato from Evangelion. ... Still with us? Good, because we're about to hit the only interesting part of this story: Misato's voice will be completely computer-generated. Namco chose to go this way since it was deemed impossible to hire a voice actor for everyday news reading. According to Famitsu (via Andriasang), Cellius is using Ruby Talk to make the incredibly life-like voice for Misato. Although this feature sounds rather nice, it's not enough to justify shelling out eight dollars a month. For once, this is something Japan can keep for itself.Source: AndriasangSource: Famitsu
Cellius reappears amidst Evangelion PS3 reveal
According to Kotaku, an advertisement found in the Blu-ray version of the Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone anime hints at a new Neon Genesis Evangelion title for PS3. While great news for EVA fans, there's more to this story than just the possibility of a new game -- we're also talking about the return of Cellius. Cellius, Namco-Bandai and Sony's joint venture from 2007, has been out of the news for two years (with the exception of a small showing a few months ago). This Evangelion game appears to be the first title to have come out of the Sony-Namco union. It's not exactly what we were expecting, but it's a start.
Rumor: Namco Bandai hard at work on three... games? [update 1]
Remember Cellius, the subsidiary company formed by Namco Bandai and the head of Ken Kutaragi? You'd be forgiven if your memory is a bit hazy on the matter, since the $824,000 investment had naught to show for its efforts at the time. Today brings a different story, however, along with a slew of scans supposedly escaping from the pages of a recent Famitsu issue. It would be wise to sprinkle the word "supposedly" throughout this entire post, as these images have migrated hands and servers so many times, it's difficult to pinpoint their source or level of authenticity.[Update 1: The caution was justified, it seems. Our Japanese translation slave brings up the following points: These likely aren't scans at all -- they're either mock-ups or leaked page template files. There is no confirmation that these are PS3 games or even games at all! Team Aces is behind the wheel, however, and they recently made Ace Combat 6 an Xbox 360 exclusive... If Cellius is involved, it is not evidenced here. While this new information doesn't rule out the possibility of these being PS3 exclusives anyway (the internets would certainly like to believe so), it would be wiser to take a step back and merely view these as new-gen game concepts. Though the stunning screenshots of Brave Arms, Chain Lim!t and Second Season 01 could represent target renders or similar technical tomfoolery, the abundance of guns, explosions and atmospheric lighting conveys quite a bit of excitement nonetheless. Take in the full scans images after the break.
Katamari Damacy to roll trash balls on the interweb... trippy
If you can't get enough of the lovable (if difficult to understand!) Katamari Damacy franchise, you might just have your prayers answered. According to 4Gamer, a Japanese gaming website, the next game is getting hauled over to the PC thanks to publisher WindySoft. Dubbed Katamari Damacy Online, it's due out by late 2007.The online aspect of the game basically seems to revolve around the versus mode battles from the previous titles and planting them in an online scenario. You've got "pet" and "house" stuff to collect and unlock, you can build your own island (perhaps from the very crap you roll into a ball) and get new clothing along your journey.Now, you may be wondering, where does the PS3 tie into this? Isn't this about the PlayStation losing another game to a different platform? Not entirely. Apparently, this deal was struck so Namco-Bandai could get their feet wet in the Korean market, where this game is being developed. If you've been paying attention, Namco and Sony have formed Cellius, where "Cellius will use Sony's Cell chip, which powers PlayStation 3, to create games for the console and content for mobile phones and personal computers." Hmm, is anyone else connecting the dots? Sure, the dots aren't clearly black against a white background, but if the public of Japan and America demand it, perhaps this "Cellius" will distribute KDO to the rest of the world. Anyone agree, disagree, want to roll up some suburban neighborhood into a giant ball of doom?
Namco-Bandai wants to make more games with Sony [update 2]
Namco-Bandai and Sony have created an alliance to take market share away from Microsoft and Nintendo, according to a recent article at Bloomberg. Their joint venture will be named Cellius, Inc. and Namco-Bandai will own the majority of it -- barely. They get 51% ownership, which is enough. Sony spokespeople said: "Cellius will use Sony's Cell chip, which powers PlayStation 3, to create games for the console and content for mobile phones and personal computers." So this venture spans beyond the PS3 itself! That's probably a good idea. You can check out some more business-oriented details at the original article, but it's mostly information that gamers already know. In any case, this should be a pretty good alliance -- was it Namco-Bandai that was expressing financial difficulty a while back? It was probably Atari... but Namco-Bandai started the whole "we need to sell 500,000 units to generate a profit for our games" deal. Now, if only Apple joined up with these two... iPhoneStation Portable anyone? iPSP... genius.[update 2: It should be noted that the Cellius organization/project/venture is going to be headed by the mind behind Riiiiiidge Racer, Isao Nakamura, not Ken Kutaragi as earlier stated.]
Ken Kutaragi to become Chairman of Cellius
BandaiNamco and SCEI today announced that they are forming a new Tokyo-based subsidiary company, Cellius, in a bid to develop fresh content for Sony's Cell Broadband Engine. Cellius will be in the hands of "PlayStation's dad", Ken Kutaragi, who will be appointed as the new company's Chairman. Initial investment from BandaiNamco and SCEI is approximately US$824,000; SCEI will have a 49% stake in Cellius, with BandaiNamco controlling a 51% share. Although there are no plans for Cellius to work directly on PS3 games, the new outfit will be producing "interactive entertainment" and "business contents" when its doors open on March 6. What those terms actually entail, we'll just have to wait and see, but perhaps Ken Kutaragi will now have a fair opportunity to show us what he was talking about at last year's Tokyo Game Show conference. Click through for the Japanese (PDF) press release.
