Ridge Racer V - is the 5th game in the Ridge Racer series on the Playstation line of consoles. This actually was one of the launch titles the PS2 was graced with and it is quite similar to Ridge Racer Type IV on the original Playstation or PSOne. It plays a lot faster and is more twitchy and it took me some time to get used to but it also showed a promise of things to come as Ridge Racer VI and VII obviously built opon the foundations laid in this game. A must play if you are a fan of the Ridge Racer series.

In Armchair Arcade's fun new series, we ask the provocative question, "What makes a particular videogame sexy?" Each week's feature will explore some of the many intriguing approaches game designers have taken over the years to make their games more sensual, not just with increasingly detailed graphics, but also with romantic and seductive gameplay. While some of the games we'll be looking at are unabashedly low brow, displaying their raw sexuality like a badge of honor, other games in contrast are remarkably subtle, often downplaying their suggestive themes.

This week's entry, written by Christina Loguidice, features one of the first female videogame characters and is also one of the biggest quarter gobbling arcade games of all time, Ms. Pac-Man. Enjoy, help spread the word, and of course, let us know what you think:

Bill Loguidice presents a quick game of "Name That Arcade Game", featuring Namco's Japanese Dotgraph arcade toys. Listen to the toy play the sound sample, pause the video, then try to guess the game before resuming the video and getting your answer.

First off, I outdid myself with the title of this chapter. I'm not going to spoil the surprise, but I really had an inspiration. ;)

Pac-ManPac-Man fever! That's what I have now that I've started work on the Pac-Man chapter in the book I'm currently writing with Bill Loguidice, the acclaimed collector and game historian. :) As usual, I started off by reading the wikipedia entry on the game, which this time was actually extremely detailed and helpful. One interesting thing about the wikipedia article is that it claims that the game designer, Toru Iwatani, was not inspired by a pizza as the old story goes. The article cites a book called Programmers at Work: Interviews, which I unfortunately do not own. If anyone does have this book or has thoughts on this matter, please let me know!

Galaga on Xbox Live Arcade (Xbox 360)Well, it was Xbox Live Wednesday again yesterday and that means a fresh arcade download. This time it was Namco's classic, Galaga, now under the Namco Bandai banner.

Unlike many past arcade ports to the Xbox 360 and Xbox Live Arcade, this one is a straight up port - no frills whatsoever. Beyond the standard resolution update to 720p and a concession for screen format - the original was a vertical game and in order to compensate just like with Frogger there's a type of cabinet art on each side - this is a pure emulation. What you got with the arcade game you get here, other than achievment tracking and comparisons via Xbox Live. So, what did I think?