World Rally Championship 4 recalled in Japan

TOKYO--The Japanese edition of the European-developed racing game World Rally Championship 4 is being recalled because of a showstopping bug that freezes the game's pro driver challenge mode. As a result, Spike, the publisher of the game in Japan, will soon be offering players a replacement version of the game.

The bug appears on the loading screen of the fourth stage, titled "Big Chance," and locks up the screen and controller, halting play and necessitating a reboot of the user's PlayStation 2. The glitch has resulted in the flooding of complaints to the forums on the game's Web site.

Spike urges consumers who have purchased WRC4 to call the phone number posted on the game's official site. Spike will release a fixed version in about a month, and it will release further details on how to receive replacement copies of the game soon.

World Rally Championship 4 has been available in Europe since last fall, where there have been no reported problems. Released in Japan last week, the game currently has no US ship date yet.