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You know, it seems like only yesterday that Namco announced that its Ridge Racer franchise was coming to the iPhone. Oh, wait, it was only yesterday. After a painful one-day wait, Ridge Racer: Accelerated ($2.99) is now available for purchase from the iTunes App Store.
Accelerated features much of the same drift-heavy racing that defined previous entries in the series, but a few notable and potentially controversial design decisions make this one stand out.
Namco notes that the current version of Accelerated is optimized for play on iPhone 3GS devices, and that 3G support will be improved in future updates. Few games cater directly to the smaller 3GS market, so it’s interesting that Namco would choose to do so with such a major release.
It should also be noted that the core version of Accelerated only features two tracks, which can also be raced in reverse. In a move similar to the pricing strategy behind Pac-Man Championship Edition and Ace Combat Xi, Namco has chosen to make the majority of Accelerated’s content available through in-app purchases.
Not all add-on material will be paid content, however — Namco assures that additional cars and tracks will be periodically released in free updates throughout 2010. After the negative customer reaction to Pac-Man and Ace Combat, it appears that Namco is reevaluating its reliance on in-app purchases — here’s hoping that the proposed free updates manage to satisfy the majority of players.
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[...] Ridge Racer: Accelerated Premieres for iPhone “Accelerated features much of the same drift-heavy racing that defined previous entries in [...]