Namco Limited was a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company founded in 1955 which operated video arcades and amusement parks globally, produced video games, films, toys, and arcade cabinets. They were one of the most influential figures in the worldwide coin-op and arcade game industry; Namco produced several multi-million-selling game franchises, such as Pac-Man, Galaxian, Tekken, Tales, Ridge Racer, and Ace Combat. In 2006, Namco merged with Bandai to form what is now named Bandai Namco Holdings; the standalone Namco brand continues to be used for video arcade and other entertainment products by the group's Bandai Namco Amusements division.
Ridge Racer is a racing video game series developed and published for arcade systems and home game consoles by Bandai Namco Entertainment, formerly Namco. The first game, Ridge Racer (1993), was originally released in arcades for the Namco System 22 hardware, later ported to the PlayStation one year later as a launch title. It was met with several sequels and spin-off games for multiple platforms, the latest being the mobile game Ridge Racer Draw & Drift (2016) and the latest mainline game, developed in-house, was Ridge Racer 7 (2006). Gameplay involves the player racing against computer-controlled opponents to be the first to finish in a race. Drifting is a core aspect of the series and is used to keep speed while turning corners; Ridge Racer pioneered the real-life technique in video games. The series is considered influential to the racing game genre.
Mr. Driller is a puzzle video game franchise created by Yasuhito Nagaoka and Hideo Yoshizawa for Namco. The eponymous first game was released in 1999 for arcades and several home consoles, such as the PlayStation. Gameplay in the series consists of controlling Susumu Hori, the titular Mr. Driller, or one of his friends and destroying colorful formations of blocks to make it to the bottom of a well. In order to survive, players need to collect air capsules to replenish their depleting oxygen and avoid being crushed by falling blocks.
Ridge Racer V is a 2000 racing game developed and published by Namco for the PlayStation 2 as a launch game for that platform, and later followed by a home-to-arcade port subtitled Arcade Battle. Ridge Racer V is the fifth main title of the Ridge Racer series following R4: Ridge Racer Type 4 and the only one to be released on PlayStation 2.
Ridge Racer 6 is a 2005 racing game by Namco released. It was the sixth console game in the Ridge Racer series following Ridge Racer V (2000), but unlike the previous mainline entries, which were released for PlayStation consoles, this entry was released exclusively as a launch title for the Xbox 360.
Ridge Racer 7 is a 2006 arcade-style racing video game developed and published by Namco Bandai Games for the PlayStation 3 as a launch title. The seventh installment in the Ridge Racer series for consoles, Ridge Racer 7 is essentially the PlayStation exclusive version of the Xbox 360 exclusive Ridge Racer 6, but with more content.
Ridge Racer is a 1993 racing video game developed and published by Namco, and the first title in what would become the Ridge Racer series. It was released initially on the Namco System 22 arcade system board and ported to the PlayStation home console in 1994. Ridge Racer was notable for being the first arcade video game with 3D texture-mapped graphics, with its System 22 hardware capable of texture mapping and Gouraud shading.
Venan Entertainment, Inc. is a mobile and handheld game development studio based in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 2002, Venan began primarily as a Java/Brew-based mobile phone game developer, but has since branched off to develop games for Nintendo DS, iPod, and iPhone OS. Venan's most recent titles include their fifth fully independent, self-published title Book of Heroes, and the TouchArcade and EGM Game of the Year Space Miner: Space Ore Bust,. Both are available for the iOS devices. Other recent Venan-developed titles include Ninjatown for the Nintendo DS, Monopoly Worldwide and Monopoly Classic for the iPhone and iPod Touch, and NBA Live for the iPhone and iPod Touch.
Bandai Namco Entertainment Inc., formerly Bandai Namco Games until 2015, is a Japanese multinational video game publisher, and the video game branch of the wider Bandai Namco Holdings group. Founded in 2006 as Namco Bandai Games Inc., it is the successor to Namco's home and arcade video game business, as well as Bandai's former equivalent division. Development operations were spun off into a new company in 2012, Namco Bandai Studios, now called Bandai Namco Studios.
Need for Speed: Shift is a 2009 racing video game developed by Slightly Mad Studios and published by Electronic Arts for PlayStation 3, Windows, and Xbox 360. Developed by EA Bright Light, a distinct version of the game was simultaneously released for PlayStation Portable. Two mobile adaptations were developed by IronMonkey Studios for Java-compatible devices and iOS and released in 2009, with the latter version subsequently being made available for several other mobile devices. Need for Speed: Shift is the thirteenth installment in the Need for Speed franchise.
Star Trigon is a 2002 puzzle arcade game published in Japan by Namco. Ports for iPod, iOS devices and Windows were also released. In the game, the player controls one of three characters — Wataru Hoshi, Chuta Bigbang and Susumu Hori — the objective being to rescue creatures known as "Uchijins" by hopping from planet to planet to draw triangles and capture them. The player will automatically circle the planet they are on, requiring timed jumps to avoid falling off the playfield. It ran on the Namco System 10 hardware.
Pocket Gamer is a video game website and former print magazine that focuses on mobile, portable and handheld games. It was launched in 2005 by Steel Media Limited.
Tag Games is a video game developer and publisher based in Dundee, Scotland. Established in 2006, it is focused on creating games for mobile, tablet and wearable platforms and was one of the first European studios to develop titles for both the iPhone and iPad.
Namco Networks was an American developer and publisher of video games for mobile phones, based in San Jose, California. The company was founded on January 1, 2006, as the mobile phone division of Namco America, and produced video games for mobile phones in North America, Europe and Asia, many of which were ports of older Namco video games. Their first release was a port of Pac-Man, which was part of a batch of nine titles to be released for the iPod. Namco Networks' licensed port of Scene It? Movies is regarded as one of the first North American mobile games to incorporate downloadable, streaming video content for phones. In 2011, the company was merged with Namco Hometek, who was Namco's older home console division, to form Bandai Namco Games America, which subsequently became Bandai Namco Entertainment America in 2015.
Ridge Racer 3D is a 2011 arcade-style racing video game for the Nintendo 3DS, published and developed by Namco Bandai Games. It was the first Ridge Racer series title on a Nintendo platform since Ridge Racer DS (2004) and as usual for the series revolves around cars racing around high speed tracks while drifting. The game received positive reviews and was a commercial success.
Asphalt is a series of racing video games mainly developed and published by Gameloft. The series typically focuses on fast-paced arcade racing set in various locales throughout the world, tasking players to complete races while evading the local law enforcement. Gameplay includes teaming up with allied racers and gang groups to assist in police pursuits and shootout races against rival groups such as crime families and terrorists.
Asphalt 3: Street Rules is a racing video game developed by Gameloft Shanghai and the third major game of the Asphalt series following Asphalt: Urban GT 2. It was released in 2006 on Java-based mobile phones, followed by a 3D version in 2007 on other mobile phones and was also released in 2008 for Nokia's N-Gage 2.0 platform and in 2009 for Android. It is It was notably the first mobile game to be played at the World Cyber Games competition.
Nokia Asha 501 is a low-end smartphone from the Nokia Asha series, announced by Nokia on 9 May 2013 in India, and released on 24 June 2013. The device is classified by Nokia as a "Full Touch" smartphone. The phone is available in either single- or dual SIM configuration.
The Nokia Asha platform is a discontinued mobile operating system (OS) and computing platform designed for low-end borderline smartphones, based on software from Smarterphone which was acquired by Nokia. The platform inherits UI similarities mostly from MeeGo "Harmattan", and replaced Series 40 on Nokia's low-end devices. The user interface design team was headed by Peter Skillman, who had worked previously on webOS and the design of MeeGo for the Nokia N9.
Ridge Racer Slipstream is a racing game developed by Invictus Games and published by Namco Bandai Games for iOS in 2013, and for Android in 2014.
