As the release of Microsoft's successor to the Xbox marches ever closer, publishers are allowing more and more information on the console's anticipated games to see the light of day. The latest game in the Ridge Racer franchise received such a dose of sunlight when Namco announced that the racer will be one of the games available at the Xbox 360 North American launch scheduled for later this year. The company also unveiled information on the game's Xbox Live-enabled multiplayer.

Ridge Racer 6 will join the growing list of games that will be available at the console's launch. The research firm Piper Jaffray expects 25 to 40 games to be available for Microsoft's new console by the end of the 2005 holiday season.

Namco also pulled back the curtain on the game's online features. Ridge Racer 6 will be the first in the long-running racing series that will take the action online, allowing players to race against other players from around the world in head-to-head drift racing matchups. The Xbox Live portion of the game will also include a persistent leaderboard based on the game's time attack mode. Players will be able to download ghost data from the board and race against the best (or worst) players in the world. Namco also promises that new game content, such as cars, will be released for download via the Xbox Live Marketplace.

Check back with GameSpot for more information on Ridge Racer 6 and the Xbox 360 as it becomes available.