Ridge Racer Unbounded Announced

Namco sets its sights on EA's Burnout series with new Ridge Racer Unbounded.

Avinash Bali|Feb 08, 2011, 10:11:32 IST

Besides the numerous Need for Speeds and Burnouts, Namco’s Ridge Racer series has always proved to be an enjoyable arcade racer that’s low on stress and high on drifting. This year the franchise celebrates 18 years and keeping that in mind Namco decided to jump start it in a rather weird way.

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiidge Racer's back in the house

Instead of allowing players to drive for miles on end amidst open roads, Ridge Racer Unbounded will now take place in urban environments and will focus on vehicular combat. Perhaps that has something to do with the fact the game will be developed by Bugbear Entertainment, the Finnish developer behind the FlatOut series.

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Breaking free from all the pussyfooting around tame circuits, politely bumping into rivals' fenders, Ridge Racer Unbounded has a new mantra – Drive, Destroy, Dominate – and it's one that's going to shake up the racing genre for good. It’s time to break not only the rules, but plenty of cars too. You think you've seen crashes? You've seen nothing.

Ooo. Sounds like so totally completely edgy.

By Avinash Bali

Nash, as he prefers being called, woke up to the wonders of gaming rather late but don't bring that up around him. It's a touchy subject. A self confessed Battlefield veteran, Nash spent a good part of 2010 on the Steam Battlefield - with Bad Company (see what we did there?). He has a zero tolerance policy towards RTS games but is currently showing an interest by picking up and moving people - who he refers to as units - in the office. Thank God he's not that enthusiastic about Angry Birds or we'd be seeing women flying all over the place. Bali... Bali, put the receptionist down now.