Crazy Taxi careens onto PSP

Sega bringing exclusive expanded compilation of first two games in Sega's series to Sony's portable platform.

Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars

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Though Sonic Rivals and Sega Genesis Collection didn't sell so well on the PSP--moving just over 26,000 and 8,000 units in the US, respectively, according to NPD--Sega is readying another retro compilation for the platform.

This time around, it's the Crazy Taxi franchise's turn. Today, the company announced that Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars will ship for Sony's portable this summer both in the US and Europe. The game will feature Crazy Taxi and Crazy Taxi 2, as well as new ad hoc multiplayer modes that will allow for both co-op and head-to-head play. The latter mode will see players snatching each other's fares by bumping each other.

"With over 2.7 million games sold to date in the Crazy Taxi franchise, Sega is excited to bring back such a popular series from our vault of classics," said Sega of America marketing VP Scott A. Steinberg. No rating or price for the game was announced.

The original Crazy Taxi debuted in arcades but eventually made it to the Dreamcast, GameCube, PC, and PlayStation 2. Crazy Taxi 2 was released solely for the Dreamcast, while Crazy Taxi 3 was Xbox and PC only. Crazy Taxi: Catch a Ride was released for the Game Boy Advance in 2003.

49 Comments

  • Pastehunter

    Posted Jan 27, 2007 9:30 am PT

    This is greate , greate , greate

  • GrimBee

    Posted Jan 12, 2007 2:56 pm PT

    infrared13... it doesnt cost 20 grand to make a game. You forget these things -

    UMD royalty losses, pressing costs, box art and case manufacture. Shipping worldwide, multiple language translations. Tax legislations, patents, copyrights, marketing, pushing the item to sales reps...
    And then you have faulty returns to deal with after that.

    It costs quite alot more than 20 grand to get a game out. This is why they cost so much. A movie can be converted no problem, pressed on discs that cost 0.1p in mass bulk order.
    Movie players are more avaliable, there are more dvd players than there are consoles. DVD's can exist at the price they are at now, but when they started out to a smaller user base, remember that £30 a dvd price tag??

    A simple PORT of Crazy taxi, is Sega's way of saying "now, we need to get a game out to make some numbers down on our books for this month, anyone think of a liscence that is relatively fresh?"
    In goes crazy taxi. The ps2 code is already there, but its not a simple case of porting a ps2 game over, for it to work, it needs to have the psp cpu in mind, which is quite different to a ps2, especially in terms of its gpu running at a much lower power.

    All Sega are looking to do here is create a SAFE BET. To their investors, crazy taxi has been quite a successful game. All sega need to do to get investors happy is say "we are porting this game over to the psp, its fun! and... more importantly it sold alot!".

    I dont think this game is meant to boost the credentials of the psp, at all. Its just another title slapped up to please some book-keepers, if you ask me. If it WAS something of worth, you can bet that they would of developed the game for the psp from the ground up, like Daxter was.

    It is a shame though that the psp can't shift enough titles like Daxter, it costs even MORE to make a game like daxter, new code, new liscence, new copyrights, new packaging, more marketing... etc. And not forgetting also (with cray taxi especially) liscencing out the soundtrack to be used, again. The sound artists will get royalties from the sales, you know.

    PSP can't really shift out titles which cost developers a lot. Which is why you wont see many PSP EXCLUSIVE titles, which arent ports. A ds game, even totally original, will take HALF the time to develop, and sell bucketloads. Because the graphics dont demand hours and hours and weeks and months of testing and coding as the psp does (its part of what the psp IS).

    A DS crazy taxi would suit sega better, but because it will probably look like crap, sega wont take the chances. Another SAFE BET is that if a game LOOKS good on the back of the box, then it should sell more. Investors look at those kinds of things. And its a sad thing to say, but a lot of gaming companies (like sega now) are being prodded along by its investors so they dont go into the black, and lose them a tonne of money.

    Recently, investors had backed out of Sony's corner after the PS3 delays and all that jazz. If the PSP can't sell more PSP's and more games, then its a shame... but all the year (for the next 6 months IMO) will be much the same kind of drab psp releases.
    TIl Summer, you might get one or two interesting titles... and Christmas.

    DS will have good titles for all times of the year (as it had last year) simply because there are so many users, developers are willing to push the boat out, at any time. This is what portable gaming is all about. I mean, who wants to invest in top notch game development if you are only barely going to scrape out?

    In the console world, Gears Of War was very costly to develop, as is any next gen game of that calibre. It COULD of been released on the 360 launch, if Microsoft wanted it to. But EPIC and M$ all stood back, and said "ok, how much money CAN we make from this?" and so, November JUST IN TIME for the ps3 launch I might add, was the time to strike.

    This way the game is released to masses of xbox 360 users, hence the 2 million sales. And the developers can happily talk about sequels and all that kind of stuff.

    For the moment, alot of games on the psp which arent sports or GTA will scrape by. Which is why this news is so, well, drab. If the psp had LOADS of quality games, people wouldnt care about this news. But I think everyone is looking for a PSP game which really makes them pick up the psp and show everyone how awesome it is, hence the negative responses to this news.

    THIS, imo, is why Gamespot news seems negative. Its talking about something negative.

  • MadGamer132

    Posted Jan 12, 2007 1:22 pm PT

    i should check this out.

  • ghsacidman

    Posted Jan 12, 2007 12:48 pm PT

    Hey infrared13... Nothing you wrote made any sense what so ever, stay in school and maybe one day you can use words together to make sentences that actually makes sense, like grown ups! "Gamestop" is a retail store... this is "Gamespot"... Damn kids!

    The PSP sucks. All mine does is collect dust... Mostly because the controls suck. They should have either canned the analog stick, or designed one that actually works. Why re-do Crazy Taxi for PSP when they could just make a new one that's multiplatform?

  • chrisdojo

    Posted Jan 12, 2007 10:19 am PT

    crazy taxi was cool.... but won't be on that PosP

  • infrared13

    Posted Jan 12, 2007 9:13 am PT

    Why here is why-- does anybody in here ever think with logic?

    Its all realitive and how Gamestop choses to report the story and how you see it.

    selling 26,000 and 8,000 units is not bad at all for cheap old games collecting dust. Think about it 33,000 @ $29.00 each is just under a million dollars. They prob spent less then 20 grand to convert both titles to UMD since no programing development cost were needed (besides the emulator). On top of that the games will continue to sell units so they will make more. its a cos /profit ratio they have very little cost wich make sthe profit huge--- that is why they are porting Crazy taxi.

    maki

  • Doolum

    Posted Jan 12, 2007 8:13 am PT

    First time i ever heard of that game was on a console named Dreamcast.

  • Dkg

    Posted Jan 12, 2007 7:52 am PT

    I'm sorry but as fun and awesoem Crazy Taxi was in it's day, I just can't get excited about this news. If it were a completely NEW game then that would be a different story.

  • GrimBee

    Posted Jan 12, 2007 6:08 am PT

    It is the perfect handheld game, and it wont be able to run on the DS so why not!
    But the thing which really made this game for me on the DC was the smooth gameplay. If Sega can get nice smooth framerate, wonderful! Otherwise, that attempt at outrun... overall I liked outrun, amazing stuff on the xbox. But at speed, its hard to know what the heck you are going to run into because the framerate is not very stable, almost looks like you are going at breakneck speed, but in honesty its just skipping frames.

    Crazy taxi worked best on the dreamcast, I have no idea how comfortable my hand is going to be whilst pressing down on that iffy shoulder button on the psp whilst shifting drive and reverse. Dreamcast pad was perfect for this... arcade was even better... (harder to master) but generally, for this game to be worthwhile, it needs to be smooth, have that DREAMCAST look to it. If the psp cant port out a 6 year old dreamcast title.. then all is lost...

    I wonder what the load times will be like...

  • theKSMM

    Posted Jan 12, 2007 6:08 am PT

    Man, I didn't even know there was a Crazy Taxi 3. And why isn't it being included in this new "Fare Wars" release?

    I didn't find these games worth buying on the home consoles, but they might suit my mobile fancy just fine.

  • insinuendo

    Posted Jan 12, 2007 6:03 am PT

    It seems every time Sega release a Crazy Taxi sequel, they always have to rope in the previous instalments (Sega are guilty of this with some other sequels too). I would like to play a CT title in which it has been built from the ground up, and not featuring anything from the games I was completely bored of back in the Dreamcast days.

  • Cloud737

    Posted Jan 12, 2007 6:00 am PT

    "The latter mode will see players snatching each other's fares by bumping each other."
    That`s the stupidest thing I ever heard. How can a you snatch a fare by bashing the other car? The client will jump from the bumped taxi into the one that`s bashing? Sega needs to improve their reasoning.
    Also, the graphics look very ugly. The textures are very washed-out, and the edges couldn`t have been more jagged than this.
    I just hope Sega isn`t just gonna make a junk game.

  • IronMC

    Posted Jan 12, 2007 1:38 am PT

    We need a Resident Evil for the PSP!!!

  • MasterAsh42

    Posted Jan 11, 2007 10:04 pm PT

    This just in: PSPortable receives another port!

    In all seriousness, though, seeing those numbers for Sonic Rivals and the Sega Collection, I believe the small/diminishing PSP consumer base is to blame, not an overall lack of interest in the titles.

  • T1Panda

    Posted Jan 11, 2007 9:11 pm PT

    Nice. I may have to pick this up for my PSP. I never played Crazy Taxi 2, but I really liked the first one.

  • blackIceJoe

    Posted Jan 11, 2007 7:52 pm PT

    Come on Sega put real online play on the game that being infrastructure.

  • TryMe01

    Posted Jan 11, 2007 6:13 pm PT

    this is just crazy!! seaga games aint selling well on the psp (top of article) and now they are supportin it with this title which has seen release on almost every console since being created...

    what is sega thinking?

  • solidsnakeo

    Posted Jan 11, 2007 5:57 pm PT

    well to codinggenius i'm just glad there finally making a new one i thought this series was dead

  • HumanTorch101

    Posted Jan 11, 2007 5:56 pm PT

    I think this is good news. I love the original and know that it will succeed even more.

  • Omega3210

    Posted Jan 11, 2007 5:53 pm PT

    CodingGenius

    yeah, u r right

    but after all it was a good game!

  • CodingGenius Site moderator

    Posted Jan 11, 2007 5:28 pm PT

    I like Crazy Taxi, but it really doesn't need another port, does it? I feel like it has already been ported to every console on the planet!

  • lzorro

    Posted Jan 11, 2007 5:09 pm PT

    So it's a port or a remake?

  • nemes1s3000

    Posted Jan 11, 2007 4:55 pm PT

    Finally something good headed to the PSP.

  • the_real_VIP

    Posted Jan 11, 2007 4:34 pm PT

    That game was crazy at the arcades.

  • ocdog45

    Posted Jan 11, 2007 4:33 pm PT

    im not payign 30 bucks for htis game. if it was on the ps store i would get it.

  • Gmacrusher

    Posted Jan 11, 2007 3:53 pm PT

    Good some classics are back on the regular Current gen Systems...COOL!

  • Slappywhite2001

    Posted Jan 11, 2007 3:53 pm PT

    I fell in love with this series on my Dreamcast (yeah I loved my Dreamcast) and I am exstatic that it is coming back for the PSP. And strangely enough, I was listening to The Offspring last night and thinking how awesome it would be for this to come out for the PSP. Maybe I should start thinking about more games more often.

  • Primenova

    Posted Jan 11, 2007 3:45 pm PT

    I'm with FeiSlayerOGod. I got Crazy Taxi on my PS2 when it came out, and was so addicted to it that I would play it in the mall arcade still. I still have it and pop it in every now and then. Crazy Taxi on Live would kick @$$.

  • FeiSlayerOGod

    Posted Jan 11, 2007 3:06 pm PT

    This is great!! I miss Crazy Taxi. It is a perfect fit for a portable game. I'll probably get it. Although, I would have prefered a 360 or XBLA version with leaderboard and online multiplayer. Maybe Sega has other plens for the franchise...

  • Dr_Corndog

    Posted Jan 11, 2007 2:48 pm PT

    That's cool, but wouldn't a new Crazy Taxi be a lot cooler? This is the PSP's problem: it gets almost nothing but ports.

  • 4quarters

    Posted Jan 11, 2007 2:45 pm PT

    This is a great title for short bursts on the go!!! Good idea Sega!!! Keep it cheap $29.99

  • PostedOval

    Posted Jan 11, 2007 2:45 pm PT

    Excellent! Another great game for the PSP!

  • crithon

    Posted Jan 11, 2007 2:26 pm PT

    a lot of people talk about making short quick burst games, so you could pause hop on a bus and then turn off when you make it to work. Crazy Taxi was a game that I skillifully pick up and drop passengers and play for a solid hour in the arcades. Hope they compensate for those skilled Dreamcast and Arcade players.

  • GazzaB

    Posted Jan 11, 2007 2:25 pm PT

    =) awesome

  • kavadias1981

    Posted Jan 11, 2007 2:22 pm PT

    For the love of god release something original on the PSP. I would buy one if there was more reason than buying MGS: Portable Ops.

  • comthitnuong

    Posted Jan 11, 2007 2:14 pm PT

    cool i wish i could play it

  • aashkii

    Posted Jan 11, 2007 2:13 pm PT

    Hopefully this new edition won't have bad reviews like most psp games.

  • Chief_Kuuni

    Posted Jan 11, 2007 2:08 pm PT

    I never liked crazy taxi to begin with, it'll probably sell horrible since it's on the psp anyway

  • gatsbythepig

    Posted Jan 11, 2007 2:06 pm PT

    loco taxi is kerazy

  • dmastor

    Posted Jan 11, 2007 2:01 pm PT

    dag i trade my psp for a ds now i have to buy one

  • snarple_basic

    Posted Jan 11, 2007 1:59 pm PT

    redarmyfox this is a really fun game, it might not be for everyone but i have been hoping for a port of this on the psp for a while now. Definetly wanting a copy, too bad they didn't get the 3rd game's courses on it =(

  • Gamepro2421

    Posted Jan 11, 2007 1:57 pm PT

    sick, love the series. Though i can't see myself picking this game up if it is more than $29.99(preferably $19.99 but i can't see that happening)...$40-$50 is too must to ask for what amounts to an arcade port with multiplayer support.

  • TintedChimes

    Posted Jan 11, 2007 1:44 pm PT

    i loved the arcade game but not the console games because you didn't have the pedals and wheel. I hope its cool.

  • puppiemaster

    Posted Jan 11, 2007 1:44 pm PT

    I'm a God on Crazy Taxi, Dreamcast version is the best

  • LinconSixEcho

    Posted Jan 11, 2007 1:39 pm PT

    Now that would be nice V

    Crazy Taxi for the 360 with online is something that should have been done a while back.

  • budlongmv

    Posted Jan 11, 2007 1:36 pm PT

    How about some 360/PS3 Crazy Taxi online action, SEGA? Please!!!

  • LinconSixEcho

    Posted Jan 11, 2007 1:32 pm PT

    OMG My girlfriend and I were just talking about this game the other day and saying how much fun it was. I REALLY enjoyed the first Crazy Taxi but the others seemed to fall flat. I never played the GBA version.
    As for the PSP being "garbage" LOL. I own the DS lite and PSP and enjoy the PSP more since the graphics are better and when the titles are good, they are REALLY good. Metal Gear Solid, Medal of Honor, Syphon Filter, SOCOM. I like the DS as well for Castlevania, and the Zelda game for October 2007. Metroid was great until the online play was marred with glitch gamers who simply took the fun out of the whole thing, plus only four people allowed to play at once? Meh.
    I do believe that the PSP needs more stronger titles to come out more oftehn rather than every several months. Am I looking for a fight here? No. Petty insults being tossed on the forums aren't me. Besides, some posters are just kiddies and that would like beating up a special needs person or something.

  • Stammalamma

    Posted Jan 11, 2007 1:01 pm PT

    I'm pumped, this is the best arcade game ever!

  • redarmyfox

    Posted Jan 11, 2007 12:58 pm PT

    Well thats expected, as the PSP is just a machine with watered down garbage.

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