Crazy Taxi Arrives For PSN, XBLA Version Coming Soon

Today a remake of the Dreamcast classic Crazy Taxi launched on the PlayStation Network, with the Xbox Live Arcade release coming November 24th. The graphics have been updated to 720p, but licensing issues for the soundtrack and some in-game locations resulted in noticeable changes. Quoting the Opposable Thumbs blog: "The Offspring, along with Bad Religion, provided the game's soundtrack in the original release. These songs, along with the sound of that announcer, went a long way toward creating the game's mood. In the new version, they have been replaced by completely forgettable pop-punk tracks, and it's a downgrade. ... That's not the only thing that's missing. The game originally featured licensed locations. Customers would need to be dropped off at the Pizza Hut, for instance. These companies didn't spring for the advertising in the game's rerelease, but the buildings weren't updated to look like anything else; the result is a game that looks like its filled with closed-down fast food restaurants. ... this is an interesting look at what went on to become a cult classic. Still, this is no replacement for my original copy."

Oh how terrible

[Anonymous Coward]

They replaced The Offspring with generic pop-punk? Oh, the humanity!

I think the removal of Pizza Hut is a good thing - either commentary on how games shouldn't be overcommercialised, or else they're just suggesting that in the post-2008 world, lots of businesses have gone under. Don't you like realism?

Do you know of any places where sailors hang out?

[elliottsb]

If any Dreamcast games should be updated and re-released it's Shenmue I & II. Those were great games.

Go ahead, stay on my lawn...

[wandazulu]

...and watch me through the window as I play Crazy Taxi and Jet Set (Grind) Radio on my Dreamcast. After that, I'm going to bring it down a little with some Shenmue.

Sigh, even if I'm modded down to oblivion, I've got to say it: the Dreamcast was probably the best console ever created, in terms of graphics quality (Soul Calibur just like it played in the arcade!), awesome games (see above, plus Marvel vs Capcom), and experimental "what were you smoking when you came up with that???" games (Pen Pen Trilcelon, Seaman, Space Chanel 5). It was the console that really breached the chasm between the old school Nintendo-era sprite games and the $50 million mega sequels of today. It was the last console where big publishers could take a risk insofar as they were going to have to actually put it on a disc and sell it in the stores, as opposed to just downloading it to the console today. Plus not only did it have the modem/nic attachment, it also had those mini games that doubled as memory carts. I remember playing Tetris on one waiting for the train.

From the description above, it sounds like going home to discover main street's all boarded up and tumble weeds roll down the sidewalk. Sigh...you can't go home again, even with video games.

Oh, wait, yes you can....I'll just fire up my Dreamcast!

Re:Go ahead, stay on my lawn...

[plasticsquirrel]

I watched the whole sad story unfold. It was clear that Sega's Dreamcast had an innovative design, compact form factor, and all sorts of great games. The graphics were also far better than anything on the previous systems (PSX, N64), and the Sonic demos alone were to die for. I just felt the whole time that Sega deserved the comeback and their new system was really impressive. Unfortunately the timing was bad, because Sony had been working on its PS2, and it was set to be released just as the Dreamcast should have been coming into its own. Unlike the Dreamcast, the PS2 had a large and clunky design, controllers that were the exact same as the last system's, and memory cards that looked exactly the same as well. In terms of its games and developers, they were essentially holdovers from the PSX days. They really offered nothing great in the way of innovation. What they did offer was higher system specs. Rather than the GD-ROM of the Dreamcast, the PS2 had a DVD player, so much more storage for textures and media. Of course, the big thing was better performance for 3D graphics, and Sony wowed everyone with all sorts of contrived demos that no real PS2 game looked even half as good as (It's rendering the FF8 ballroom dance CGI in realtime! Yeah right...). Sony then released this ugly black cube for a hefty $300, which was $100 more than the Dreamcast had been released for at launch.

The result of all these factors? Of course the PS2 destroyed it. The system performance and developer loyalty were what mattered. The Dreamcast had all the makings of a great system, and it seemed like Sega did everything right in its design, but the timing just killed it. With the death of the Dreamcast and the emergence of new and expensive next-generation consoles, the magic seemed like it was gone, so I left gaming behind. I have fond memories of the old PSX days, though, when quality Japanese RPG's were being released left and right, and each action game wasn't a grizzled spacing marine walking down drab hallways.

Wii

[brucmack]

The original Crazy Taxi was also ported to Gamecube, so if you can find a copy, it's playable on the Wii as well.

Re:Go ahead, stay on my lawn...

[Rikiji7]

and ikaruga!

Re:Wii

[MemoryDragon]

Call me late to the game, I once bought Crazy Taxi in the gamecube version and could not find out why the game was so popular. It just was a drive from a to be as fast as possible without any variations. It might have been the time, I played it three years ago, but I still cannot understand the fuzz about it.

Re:Go ahead, stay on my lawn...

[Anonymous Coward]

History is full of gaming consoles with a superior spec being destroyed by lower-spec competition. The Atari Jaguar and Lynx, the Amiga CD32, of course the Dreamcast, and to some extent even the PS3 (Sony have pulled it back but basically by removing a lot of launch features to get the price down). I'm sure there are a lot more that have slipped my mind. It seems to me that there is a sweet spot in every console generation of spec vs price. Underspec too much and you won't sell even if you're dirt cheap (I'm excluding Wii from this as it essentially caters to a wholly different audience), but over-spec at too high a price and people will go with the competition no matter how amazing your device is. It's surprising that console manufacturers are still learning this valuable lesson even today.