I totally know that Pizza Hut!

etchasketchist

Regarding the kanji and the people complaining about it, seems Wikipedia had this to say about it:

The two kanji letters that act as a subtitle, 湾岸, are translated as wangan, meaning "bayshore". This was taken from the name of the Tokyo to Yokohama route of the Shuto Expressway. The game was said to be named after the real life hashiriya gang, known as the Mid Night Club, who used the same route on a regular basis.

So apparently that's where the name and the Kanji come from. Makes sense to me.

Sansui

@geoffcbassett: "I consider NFS: HP2 to be the pinnacle of racing games. Before story and ridiculous over customization got involved."

You and me both hoss, it was just "fun". I wish that more games (mainly racing as of late) rekindled that same feeling, enjoyment can come in many diffrent packages...calling in roadblocks on your buddies and trying to take them out with a supercar police cruiser never got old. Oh well, guess it'll be another 424 helpings of "more of the same". Yay.

caleb

shitz will be minez. oh yes, it will be minez.

F22

O_O did the video source change?

It was gametrailers before.

doesntlikedede

Yeah well, Grand Theft Auto 4 also "looked impressive"... hell, lots of games "look impressive" (Assassin's Creed).

I for one have learned my lesson:
Instead of falling for the Rockstar hype or even the ridiculously inflated review scores, I'll be renting every Rockstar game before buying from now on.

XbhaskarX

@caleb: agree! I consider NFS: HP2 to be the pinnacle of racing games. Before story and ridiculous over customization got involved.

geoffcbassett

Wow, I wasn't even considering buying this game until I saw the kanji symbol on the logo. I'm sold!

ρаяτіzаη

Man, I've had that game pre-ordered since it was announced. Nice to see the wait finally coming to a close. Loved the Midnight Club series since the first one, seems to be shaping up as the best one so far.

AuraHACK

Does anyone know the song in the trailer?

twinturbo2

@denki: Uhm, but to be honest. They probably did originally keep the kanjii in the US localization to appeal to certain consumers. After all, their decisions are made to attract consumers. So, it may have been to be "cool". It makes sense that they keep it now because that may be what people associate with the game but at some point someone made the decision to have kanjii in there. That decision was probably based on coolness.

If you think about it, it doesn't make sense for them to keep that in there in the new game considering it takes place in LA.

topogigio

@denki: The "dumb powers" still exist, McWhertor talked about them during his hands-on (referenced in this post).

I like the "dumb powers".

aphex242

@ausmara: do people who have the money ever realize how fortunate they are? Think about it 60 bucks a game is a lot of money.. I always imagine that there are 3 types of people who buy lots of games. A. The single working person B. The single college person who will be in debt because of loans after college C.The kid who has his parents buy it for them or works but gets to keep all their money because their parents pay for everything else. Sigh.. I miss those days.

topogigio

@Marty_Party:

same here.

I never thought i would like a "trendy" racing game, but this one seems to have more substance than the normal fast and furious type games.

kablammyman

@karateka: They've always used those kanji for the games, it's not like they just tossed it on there because they "think it's cool." It stands for the expressway route which links Tokyo and Yokohama, where lots of street racers go, like the 'midnight club,' hence Midnight Club Racing.

I enjoy the MC series, I just hope they get rid of the dumb super powers this go around. From what I've seen, it looks like they have? I dunno, of all the flv players out there, only blip.tv runs at 60fph on my computer- shit.

denki

@tripur: Yes! Nice reference

topogigio

The amount of 360 games I own is going to triple in the coming months. So many games grabbing my interest lately.

ausmara

@ostartero: I wish Pizza Hut would do less 'marketing' and remodel their 1980's 'restaurants'. I think there is still pizza from the 80's stuck on the floor and in the booths.

kidCasey13

I have a sudden urge for pizza hut.

ostartero

@karateka: the symbol has been on there for every midnight club game since the first one on ps2. It's most likely tradition than anything practical.

HueyFreeman

I still haven't bought a 360 racer... this may be the first.

Grumpz®

You know what I wish we could have again? Need for Speed "Hot Pursuit" type racing games. Being Cops trying to catch my friends was a blast...I guess the only relation this post had with the topic is that they were both racing games. Sorry if it appeared off topic, just anytime I see a trailer for a racing game I wish that could only be as fun as Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 was for me (IMHO).

caleb

Wow, I wasn't even considering buying this game. But after watching that video, I'm sold.

Marty_Party

Looks awesome. All they need to do is bring in a good guy to do the lighting (a la Burnout Paradise) and it'll look perfect... oh, I'm sure the game plays fine, too, but nobody seems to care about that anymore. :D

dunetiger reads kotaku, seems pleased

As long as I get to drive down Rodeo with my shotgun.

tripur

Do want.

aphex242

Wow, that looks great. Despite my addiction to sim racers, I've always loved this series, and it looks like they'll be holding up that tradition with this iteration. October is too far away. :(

Rhawb

If it's midnight club los angeles, why does it have japanese handwriting on it. They must think it's cool.

karateka

Can't Wait

Kinetic22

I miss the late nights playing MNC... and not to mention playing online and doing cops and robbers.. and a bunch of other things...

so much fun.

Ejvid04

@aphex242: Guess I should have read that, but I don't like reading any sort of review on a game that I am probably going to buy- even the teeny tiny spoilers of game content is too much for me. Going back to the ol' days of buying games based on their covers and hearsay from friends that have subscriptions to Nintendo Power.

Anyway, they left the powers in, huh? Well, I guess I can play this game too without hitting the super power button, but in the realwords of the Darth Vader, FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU........

denki

Look a new GTA IV trailer! wait a sec....

zaagis

W221 S-Class? sold!

doesntlikedede

@Sansui: And those guys were also the inspiration for the Wangan Midnight series...

twinturbo2

Im not much a racer fan but I had tons of fun with the original. Tuner cars, bikes, LA, R*, High expectations.

CSat420

Damn, looks like I might not even bother putting the Burnout Paradise disc back in...

Demaar

@topogigio: I'm none of those. I'm married, have a kid, a house payment, car payment, insurance, all that stuff and I still have money for games. Of course, I have what many people seem to lack these days: a real job.

Machines

@topogigio: I always imagine that there are 3 types of people who buy lots of games.

Wow, you missed out on lots of types of people then. I would guess that probably the biggest group you missed was those who are grown adults with families with good jobs and a reasonable amount of discretionary income, and they choose to spend some of it on games.

ReadNLearn

Man, I hope this uses the driving physics from GTA IV. ;)

redgopher

@Machines:
Define "real". A job that doesn't require a CV as long as an arm is no less "real" than yours.

Demaar

@caleb:
same here nfs hot persuit was so much fun why cant they make a high def updated version of that game so much fun

adamr999

@Demaar: I wasn't trying to twist panties. Just trying to illustrate that "topogigio's game buying demographic 101" lesson was about 10 miles off base.

Machines

This doesn't look next-gen, but it looks like fun maybe... If I can figure out what it's about. Is this similar to GTA? Is the entire game just racing or can you get out of your car or get arrested, etc? Is it a sandbox?

everybest

SAME DAY AS FALLOUT 3?!!??!

mother of all...

ColtBrennan

@Sansui: How does that make sense even if it's true?

The original game was set in New York. So, ok, let's name our street racing game set in New York after a stretch of expressway in Japan and a Japanese street gang. It's perfectly logical!

The only game for which that would make sense is Wangan Midnight, which was, you know, actually set on the Wangan expressway and was supposed to model real Tokyo gang street racing. (As were its predecessors, Shutouko Battle 1, 2, 3 and 0, which featured parts of the Wangan.)

It would be like splaying "New Jersey Turnpike" prominently on a game's cover and then setting it in San Francisco. There's no way that makes sense. They're just doing it because they think it's cool.

badasscat

They need to add an "earthquake" run-through to make it more authentic..especially in light of recent events :)

JohnnyLA

@caleb: OMG! I was thinking the exact same thing! I loved playing cops and chasing my friends on NFS Hot Pursuit. Best time eva!
But Midnight Club was awesome as well. October seems a little far away...

nanikore

I can't wait! Now after driving home through LA I can drive virtually through it! I can go on virtual days out now.. which might be more practical than paying for gas =(

topogigio

@badasscat: Yes. But if you can't do something just because it's cool in a driving game, where the hell can you? (Remember, this is appealing to the constituency who put blue lights underneath their car.)

I think there's a lot of totally unnecessary hate/elitism against use of Japanese (Chinese) characters because they look cool. Fact is they do look cool. Go ahead and use them. If you can make a proper word with some relation to the game, rather than having characters that say 'donkey penis', even better.

When Japanese games stop using English words in the title just because it looks cool? Then maybe American games (or British, whatever - which studio makes Midnight Club anyhow?) should think about not using Japanese characters in their logo. Not until.

quen

@denki: @Sansui: thanks for the explanation, I was wondering what the significance was.

The game looks GREAT. October is going to be a good month for gaming

dArk_stAr

Wow... That was awesome! Everything I wanted to be added into Midnight Club is added in this game! Except for a remake of N.Y.C. of course. =P

TheSpeedstah

That trailer made me really excited for the game. Nice to see there's a proper story mode this time... though, the option to choose a female lead is always welcomed in my books.

JarenFace

I need a driving game for my 360. This might be the one I get.

Phazon

ohhh my god

slyzxx786

Looks great! Love the clean, bright presentation. I *almost* bought GRID this year, but I may be glad I saved my "racing game money" for this :)

Doug

At 00:13, is it just me or does the black dude in a Diamond Cashmere Sweater look like Sean Puff Daddy?

Shachihoko

@quen: Brucie Kibbutz has the kanji for "transvestite" tattooed on his back.

It'd be fun to try to look up the characters for "donkey penis" though and stick them on the car, snickering at the fact that most people don't know what it means, you just put it there because it's cool.

Frank

@Frank: lol. yes it would - and it would be even better if you could use those characters in the logo for a major game release. so you're right, i take back my earlier comment - instead it's best if they use characters that have nothing to do with the game :)

quen

looks awfully outdated...

samor

looks awfully outdated....

samor