Crazy Taxi
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Sega’s Super Game project already has a Crazy Taxi reboot under way
We could see online, multiplayer versions of 'Crazy Taxi' and 'Jet Set Radio' coming in the next four years.
Sega considers reviving classics like 'Crazy Taxi' and 'Jet Set Radio'
Sega is considering reviving multiple classic game franchises, including 'Crazy Taxi' and 'Jet Set Radio.'
Sonic Adventure, Nights headline Humble Sega Bundle
Sega peeks into its storied past this week with the Humble Sega Bundle, a pay-what-you-want collection featuring a handful of classics adapted from the Saturn and Dreamcast eras. Pay any amount for the bundle and you'll get the surreal score-attack action game Nights Into Dreams, kart racer Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, and the Dreamcast Collection, which includes PC versions of Sonic Adventure, Sega Bass Fishing, Crazy Taxi, and Space Channel 5 Part 2. The package also offers Total War: Rome II's "Caesar in Gaul" expansion and the Miles' Tactic DLC for Football Manager 2015. Beat the bundle's average purchase price (currently $3.68) and you'll unlock Empire: Total War, Company of Heroes 2 - The Western Front Armies: Oberkommando West, and additional games that will be revealed as the bundle enters its final week. Total War: Shogun 2 - Fall of the Samurai is up for grabs as a $12 incentive, and you can also get an exclusive Dreamcast-themed t-shirt with a purchase of $50 or more. The Humble Sega Bundle will be available through December 9. [Video: Humble Bundle / Sega]
Crazy Taxi: City Rushes to Android
Hot on the heels of its iOS counterpart, the mobile-exclusive Crazy Taxi: City Rush is now available on Android devices. Designed by Crazy Taxi creator Kenji Kanno, City Rush has been built specifically for the touchscreen interface found on mobile devices. Though the game still centers on racing through a city, gathering pedestrians and delivering them safely to their destinations, Crazy Taxi: City Rush also includes new characters, new cabs (including a tank) and new jobs spread throughout the sunny streets of Bay City. Crazy Taxi: City Rush can now be found on Google Play. It's a free download, but the game does feature numerous in-app purchase options. Edit: This article originally stated that the Android version of Crazy Taxi: City Rush offers support for custom soundtracks. That feature is, in fact, exclusive to the iOS version. [Image: Sega]
Crazy Taxi's touchscreen-oriented offspring is out on iOS
Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah! Taxi cabs are burning rubber on iOS devices today with the release of Crazy Taxi: City Rush. The new game is designed by Kenji Kanno, creator of the original Crazy Taxi, and developed by Hardlight Studios, of Sonic Dash and Sonic Jump Fever. The game is free to download on iPad, iPod touch and iPhone today, and is scheduled for Android release "very soon," according to a press release. Controls have been designed "from the wheels up" for touchscreen devices, with players using their fingers to swipe and poke at a 3D, explorable city on the bay called ... Bay City. Well, no one could accuse the Crazy Taxi series of being obtuse. Other than the touchscreen controls, City Rush works much the same as the original Crazy Taxi games: find a fare, pick them up, get them to their destination as fast as possible, traffic laws (and physics) be damned. No word on how often the game will cycle through the same seven songs from The Offspring and Bad Religion. Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah! [Image: Sega]
Crazy Taxi is fast, fun and, for a limited time, free
Crazy Taxi is one of those games that almost every gamer has taken for a spin at one point in their lives, be it on the Dreamcast, PlayStation 2, or even the arcade original. The game sped onto iOS in 2012 and although I've always been meaning to give it a joy ride, I just never got around to it. Until now, that is. If you're not familiar, Crazy Taxi puts you behind the wheel of one of a handful of stylish taxi cabs on the roads of a bustling city. It's up to you to find fares, deliver the passengers to their destination, and do it all in the quickest manner possible -- and you needn't worry about the law too much, as driving on the wrong side of the road, cruising on the sidewalk, and taking shortcuts through pedestrian parks is encouraged. You can play the game in a variety of modes including the original arcade mode where you race against the clock and gain time for completing fares. You can also play more leisurely, by picking a set time limit and doing your best to collect as much cash as possible before the bell rings. Fans of the console versions of Crazy Taxi will be happy to hear that the original Offspring-heavy soundtrack remains intact on iOS, but for those who aren't fans, you can also use a custom playlist from your iOS music library. Unfortunately, no MFi controller support has been added yet, but thankfully the on-screen touch controls (with optional tilt steering) works fine on its own. Crazy Taxi is free for a limited time, while a new title in the series, Crazy Taxi: City Rush, makes its way to the App Store where it will debut in the coming days.
Here's the most popular colors in the App Store, and other news for March 19, 2014
The App Store offers more than a million apps, and the first thing a shopper sees while browsing is their icons. That first impression is important, and developers often spend a good chunk of time and money on designing a good one. Icons aren't only used to identify their apps. Apple has created mosaics and other arrangements to great effect in marketing materials, cascading their colors together. But have you ever wondered about the most popular color of app icons in the App Store? Brandisty has, and the results have been analyzed and sorted by category: So we crawled the iOS app store and grabbed the top 5 app icons in each category and ran a histogram analysis on each one to find which colors were used most often. What we found was very interesting. Blues and reds seems to be the most popular, but orange is hanging in there as well. In other news: Apple has been named the most valuable "billion dollar brand." I'm shocked, too. OS X 10.9.3 beta is in developer's hands and with it, iTunes version 11.1.6. The beta release of iTunes features the return of the ability to sync contacts and calendar information (without resorting to iCloud, Exchange or Google's cloud services) to your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch from your Mac. The Sega classic Crazy Taxi is free for iOS today only. For all those business analytics fans out there, the Roambi data analysis and visualization service (and the accompanying analytics iPad app and Roambi Flow presentation app) are getting a new BFF today: Box.com's enterprise cloud storage now has a direct connection to Roambi for quick and seamless graphing and PDF presenting on the go. Data sources on the Box side (or, with Box Sync, on your Mac or PC) can automatically update the analytics display within the Roambi app.
Is Crazy Taxi on Android? Yah yah yah yah yah
Sega's iconic arcade racer Crazy Taxi has pulled into the Android garage and is available on the Google Play store now for $4.99. The Android version mirrors the iOS port with two modes of play, Original and Arcade, and includes 16 different mini-games. Crazy Taxi, an open-world driving game where players must pick up citizens and ferry them along to various destinations around town, made its debut in the arcades back in 1999. A Dreamcast port emerged the following year, blazing a trail for several games in the series over the following years.
Carmageddon free, The Incident and more on sale
Just in time for the weekend, here's a few apps that have dropped their (already cheap) prices even lower, meaning that you've got plenty to play here for just a few bucks' worth (all prices USD). The PC classic turned iOS port Carmageddon has gone completely free for today only. The Incident is on sale for 99 cents. The Sky Gamblers: Storm Raiders flight-simulation title has dropped down to just a buck. Just a few weeks after release, Sega's dropped The House of the Dead: Overkill to just $2.99. The game's not fantastic, but it does have a really innovative shooting mechanic built for iOS. Crazy Taxi is also on sale for 99 cents. Zach Gage's Halcyon is currently completely free to download. Chillingo has dropped Tiny Troopers 2: Special Ops down to free as well. Velocispider is on sale for 99 cents. NetherRealm's impressive Batman: Arkham City Lockdown is just under a dollar, too. Excellent price to try that one out at if you haven't. Cavern is a roguelike RPG with some good buzz that's on sale for $1.99. Big Fish Games' cute and polished point-and-click adventure title Fetch is only $2.99. That's just a buck off the usual price, but the game's well worth it. Finally, the retro arcade space shooter Plasma Sky is also available for free right now. Personally, I'm still enjoying Firaxis' free Haunted Hollow, but I'm loading up a few of these on my iPad as well. Enjoy!
Xbox Live Countdown to 2013 daily deal: Crazy Taxi, Banjo Kazooie and more
Today's daily deal on Xbox Live includes sales on six games as part of a "family games" theme. Two XBLA games, Crazy Taxi and The Splatters, can be downloaded for 200 Microsoft points each today, a 75 percent savings on their original 800 point prices.The other six games come straight from the Games on Demand section, and include Toy Story 3 and Crash of the Titans for $9.99, half off from the original $20 price for either game. Cars 2 is $19.99 today, while Banjo Kazooie Nuts and Bolts is $9.99, both 33 percent off. The Xbox Live Countdown to 2013 promotion will keep rolling with sales for the next few days, so these deals are only good for today.
Holiday iOS game sales: Sega, Square Enix and plenty more
We told you to expect more holiday sales, and here they are. First up, Sega is hosting a round of holiday drops, including Jet Set Radio for just US$1.99, Crazy Taxi for the same price, and the new Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing for just 99 cents. Great prices on those great games, so don't pass those up. Taito's got a sale up, too, with Gardening Mama for $3.99, Space Invaders Infinity Gene for $1.99 and a few more deals on too. Square Enix has the original Chaos Rings on sale for just $4.99 on iPad. Final Fantasy Tactics is only $8.99, too, which I'm pretty sure is discounted from the usual price. djay for iPad is just $9.99, so that should make it fun to play some tunes at the holiday parties this weekend. Words with Friends HD is now just 99 cents, if you haven't already bought it. The great Dungeon Raid is only 99 cents as well. This is a classic, as far as I'm concerned. Capcom's got some deals on as well, including Marvel vs. Capcom 2 and Street Fighter 4 Volt. Bastion is only 99 cents, which makes it a must-buy. Apple's choice for iPhone game of the year, Rayman Jungle Run, is also only 99 cents. Grand Theft Auto 3 and Grand Theft Auto Chinatown are both only 99 cents, which is kind of insane, and Rockstar's also got Max Payne Mobile selling for the same price. Holy moly! Here's the deal: If there's been an iOS game you've been waiting to buy, odds are it's on sale now, or will be so in the next 24 hours or so. Developers are getting nuts with these prices, trying to claw their way into the charts over the holiday break. Go grab some new apps!
Crazy Taxi is now available for iOS, crashing soon onto Android
Hey hey hey, Crazy Taxi has come on over to iPad and iPhone, and is now available on the App Store for $4.99. Sega announced the crazy early release date, although apparently it's available everywhere except Asia for now. Which is a little bit crazy, really. Sega also announced an Android port is due shortly.As suggested by the tiny trailer earlier in the week, and confirmed by the above one, the game features the original's memorable mix of The Offspring and Bad Religion. The only right way to play Crazy Taxi is with the same four punk rock songs yah-yahing through your ears for hours on end.%Gallery-168128%
Sega goes for crazy money with iOS port of Crazy Taxi
Sega found a platform that didn't already have Crazy Taxi on it, and is rectifying that situation immediately. The platform in question is iOS, and Sega's port of the Dreamcast classic is scheduled for release this October.Curiously, the teaser video for the iOS release features Offspring's "All I Want," or as you know it, the "YAH YAH YAH YAH YAH" that Crazy Taxi left in your brain forever. The track was missing from the recent HD re-release; its presence in this video suggests Sega has re-licensed it.
Samsung files for patent on safe taxi service, we hope we never fully test it
Anyone who often relies on taxi service to get around, as good as it can be, has likely had a driver who was less than courteous -- and in the worst cases, outright scary. Samsung wants to keep passengers safe, and drivers honest, through a just-published patent application for an end-to-end taxi service. On a basic level, it's a taxi finder with a rating system: the mobile app in the patent can hail a nearby cab based on the driver's "kindness" rating and verify that it's the right vehicle with a short-range wireless link, not unlike an even more genteel version of Uber. It's when passengers hop inside that Samsung's implementation takes on a more distinct shape. If the driver puts customers or the whole cab in danger, a passenger-activated SOS mode flags the car's location to get the police on the scene before it's too late. We don't know how likely Samsung is to implement such a system, although it has been actively developing more advanced backseat technology and filed the US patent in February, a year after its Korean equivalent. We do know this is one of the few patents we'd rather not completely experience first-hand -- the only crazy taxis we're comfortable with sit inside game consoles.
Let's go save some crazy money, with Sega PSN/XBLA sales
Sega is offering discounts on its digital console games this month, on both PSN and XBLA. The regions, timing, and games are all different between the platforms for maximum confusion. In fact, the only thing the two sales have in common is Streets of Rage 2. Through November 29, North American PSN users will be able to get After Burner Climax for $5, and Genesis classics Streets of Rage 2, Comix Zone, and Golden Axe for $2.99 each. Sega's XBLA sale starts November 22 and runs through November 28, and offers 50% discounts on Crazy Taxi (sale price 400 Points), Sega Rally Online Arcade (400 Points), Streets of Rage 2 (200), Outrun Online Arcade (400), Happy Tree Friends (400), and Phantasy Star 2 (200).
Afterburner Climax and Crazy Taxi are half-off on Xbox Live Marketplace this week
Starting tomorrow, March 29, frugal gamers looking to dip their toes into Sega's franchise pool for something new to play will find two entries from its most iconic series to be half-off. After Burner Climax and Crazy Taxi will have their prices slashed down to $5 (400 MS Points). The sale is only extended to these two titles from Sega's staple and lasts until Friday, April 1. After Burner Climax is the obvious choice between the two here, but if you're vehemently against The Offspring or Pizza Hut, then maybe the XBLA port of Crazy Taxi is for you. Either way, remember: you can always download the free trial first. Try before you buy, people!
Dreamcast Collection puts four whole games on PC and Xbox this Feb.
The "Dreamcast Collection," first spotted on GameStop in November, is official. Sega announced the disc-based collection today, and we're a bit disheartened to see that it's exactly what we expected, because what we expected was pretty sad. The collection contains Crazy Taxi, Sonic Adventure, Sega Bass Fishing and Space Channel 5 Part 2 (all with "enhanced graphics"). In other words, the Dreamcast Collection is composed of just the four totally random games that have already been released (or announced for release) on PSN and XBLA, burned onto a disc for Xbox 360 and released digitally on PC. We suppose it could be good news for PC gamers who weren't going to have access to the games otherwise. The Dreamcast Collection will be available on February 22 in North America and February 25 in Europe. Pricing has yet to be confirmed by Sega, but GameStop's original listing showed $30, which would at least be cheaper than purchasing all four downloadable versions of the games separately. Yay?
Android Dreamcast emulator nullDCe gets early video preview, still a work in progress
Never underestimate the power of Dreamcast to live on long past its intended expiration date (which, if you ask Sega, would have been around September 2007). The final flagship console from the Haus of Sonic is survived by a multitude of emulators propagating across a multitude of platforms... and well, here's another. Drk||Raziel has posted some videos showcasing the work in progress of nullDCe for Android (on what we make out to be a AT&T Samsung Captivate). The footage ranges from buggy (Soul Calibur) to pretty smooth (Crazy Taxi), but again, no one's calling this a finished product. See it for yourself after the break.
XBLA in Brief: Unbound Saga, Crazy Taxi
Appropriately enough, both of the games featured on this week's XBLA in Brief are ports of older games, like so much reheated Thanksgiving turkey. On one hand, we have a ported PSP brawler, Unbound Saga. In the other, there's Sega's latest Dreamcast revival, Crazy Taxi. Like real leftovers, they're cheap ($10 each) and they might not taste as good as they did the first time around.
'Splosion Man 'splodes to top of XBLA sales chart
'Spolsion Man, one or our absolute favorites of 2009, enjoyed a surprise sales surge last week, rocketing to the top of the Xbox Live Arcade bestseller list. That's the power of Black Friday and a one-day, 75-percent discount. In fact, thirteen of the top twenty bestsellers for the week of November 22 were on sale for at least part of the period, and the only discounted XBLA title not to chart was poor Voodoo Dice. Amidst the apparently too-good-to-refuse deals, Crazy Taxi made a strong debut in the number six position in its first week of release, and Pac-Man CE DX ate up a top-ten spot in its second week of availability. As for Xbox Live activity, Black Ops recruits and Modern Warfare 2 veterans (who aren't about to surrender that easily) continue to hog the most bandwidth, followed by the Reach faithful and -- watch out for that Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood sneaking up the activity chart! Speaking of no surrender, how about World at War and Call of Duty 4 (remember that one?) hanging around the top twenty most-played Xbox Live games? No wonder Activision wants to better tap its gold mine next year. Both Top Twenty charts are posted in full after the break.
