http://andriasang.com/comz2b/ridge_racer_courses/

PlayStation Vita Ridge Racer Includes Just Three Courses

Namco Bandai held a Japanese media briefing for its PlayStation Vita launch titles yesterday. Impress Watch and Famitsu.com delivered impressions and screens for Ridge Racer.

As we previously detailed, Ridge Racer (which appears to be the game's final Japanese name) carries a lower price compared to most Vita launch titles. The game's package version is priced ¥3,980. The download version is regularly priced ¥3,580, but through March 31 you can pick it up for the special price of ¥2,980. Regardless of the version, the game requires a Memory Card.

One of the tradeoffs for the low price appears to be content. The sites report that the event build had just five cars and three courses, and this will be true for the final version as well.

The course list includes Harborline 765, Highland Cliffs and Southbay Docks, all from past entries in the series. They can be played in normal and reverse. Impress Watch's writer said that the course layouts felt like they may be unchanged from the previous titles.

Namco Bandai will, of course, be offering download content to add to the game. Details on DLC will be shared in December. The game's main menu has an option for directly accessing PlayStation Store.
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Seems Namco is following the iOS price model which they had with the iOS Ridge Racer... cheap entry price, pay for extra tracks and cars.. Personally I like that system.. but 5 cars and 3 tracks for the base version seems a bit low for me.. even the iOS version had more than that.. I wonder if this will become a trend on the PSV

UPDATE WITH DLC PRICES:

Ridge Racer DLC Sucks. Namco Ready To Rip You Off.

Thought it was stupid and awful that Namco Bandai was releasing Ridge Racer with only three tracks? Wait until you hear what the DLC is.

There's free weekly DLC planned—but it's music from previously released Ridge Racer games.

According to Japanese game magazine Famitsu, in February 2012, Namco will release a "Ridge Racer Pass", which is a collection of all the DLC released between February and May. It will cost ¥1,600 (US$21) but those who purchase it by Feb. 29, can get it for ¥1,000 ($13).

The breakdown of DLC is ¥250 ($3.20) for one car and ¥400 ($5.10) for one track. More cars will become available in March, April, and May as well as more free music packs. As previously mentioned, Ridge Racer owners can buy them as a bundle or individually.

If you want a Ridge Racer music melody or a new song, that will cost you: ¥100 ($1.29) each, actually.

Oh, did I mention that the game runs at 30 frames per second? The game runs at 30 frames per second.

On the scale of 1 to 10, with ten being the most desirable, my interest in owning this game is negative 50.

http://kotaku.com/5863299/ridge-racer-dlc-sucks-namco-ready-to-rip-you-off

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lol... even the music tracks

FU NAMCO!!!! I Really thought this would be 'the' Ridge racer series revange.. :(

I like the principal, and I love seeing publishers breaking away from the old distribution models, but that seems like awfully little content at that price...

why should it be a trend? there will always be some lazy efforts on any console, but with that we have many games with a lot of effort from the devs as well

and from this info, I will not buy this game, unless for a price like $10

A great idea imo, iPhone app buyers want stuff cheap, but anyone who wants more can get the DLC

EDIT: Oh I misread the OP, weird seeing this practice on dedicated handhelds :/

EDIT2: Holy crap 3980yen = like 50USD and 2980 = about 40 - - - wtf? Are these guys for real?

I'm fine with it but I hope the trend doesn't take off. It will just give an excuse to devs to dish out short games for a decent price, and then nickel and dime past the previous full price amount for the content they would have added if it was a full game.

If I remembered correctly.. I think even Ridge Racer PS1 had more tracks (3 + 2 in link mode) and more cars (4 + 8 if you beat Galaga and + 1 end boss) then this... -_-"

Well that is just rubbish, there is nearly no content there, it is a slightly discounted game, but it really needs to be more like £5 for them to get away with that little content

Ridge Racer DLC Sucks. Namco Ready To Rip You Off.

Thought it was stupid and awful that Namco Bandai was releasing Ridge Racer with only three tracks? Wait until you hear what the DLC is.

There's free weekly DLC planned—but it's music from previously released Ridge Racer games.

According to Japanese game magazine Famitsu, in February 2012, Namco will release a "Ridge Racer Pass", which is a collection of all the DLC released between February and May. It will cost ¥1,600 (US$21) but those who purchase it by Feb. 29, can get it for ¥1,000 ($13).

The breakdown of DLC is ¥250 ($3.20) for one car and ¥400 ($5.10) for one track. More cars will become available in March, April, and May as well as more free music packs. As previously mentioned, Ridge Racer owners can buy them as a bundle or individually.

If you want a Ridge Racer music melody or a new song, that will cost you: ¥100 ($1.29) each, actually.

Oh, did I mention that the game runs at 30 frames per second? The game runs at 30 frames per second.

On the scale of 1 to 10, with ten being the most desirable, my interest in owning this game is negative 50.

http://kotaku.com/5863299/ridge-racer-dlc-sucks-namco-ready-to-rip-you-off

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lol... even the music tracks

How can Developers think this is okay to do?