Ridge Racer 7
The game was first unveiled at the 2006 E3 event in a teaser trailer, and the first trailer of game footage was shown at the 2006 Tokyo Game Show. Like many other games in the series, it features a full motion video opening that stars Reiko Nagase. The game received positive reviews from critics, and has since been re-issued under Sony's "Platinum" and "The Best" budget lines. A patch was made available in October 2010 titled "Ridge Racer 7 3D License Version" that enables "Ridge Racer 7" to be played in 3D. Gameplay. As in  previous games within the "Ridge Racer" series, the gameplay centers on high speed circuit racing featuring "drift" handling, where the player slides the car around turns without great loss of speed. New features in this iteration include car body and engine customization which can affect the performance, handling and nitrous boost system of the car. "Ridge Racer 7" also actively encourages players to slipstream other cars, whereas previous iterations did not mention that this technique increases speed. This game sees the "unlimited restarts" return for the first time since "Ridge Racer Revolution" in 1996, which means the player can restart  during the race (including the regular races and the duel races) at any time. The player can re-play the same race series for more points and money. A global ranking system is used to rank players. It uses a combination of FP (Fame points), CR (Credits, the game's currency) and OBP (Online Battle Points, gained in the online races) to work out an overall number of RP (Ridge Points), which are displayed on the player's Ridge State ID Card. Extras. Namco released downloadable extras and content for "Ridge Racer 7" through the PlayStation Network in March 22 , 2007. This content included extra events (the UFRA Special Events) and special decals for customizing the roof of the car. Players also had the option to purchase extra background music for their game. These add-ons were added to the US PlayStation Store on 1 June. A patch for the game was released in October 2010 to make the game playable in 3D. The classic arcade game "Xevious" is unlockable in this game. Reception. Critic reviews. The game received "generally favorable reviews" according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. In Japan, "Famitsu" gave it a score of all four nines  for a total of 36 out of 40. Awards. "Ridge Racer 7" received the IGN Award for Best PlayStation 3 Racing Game of 2006.