187 Ride or Die details

If you can remember all the way back to May last year, you may recall Tom's post-E3 preview of Ubisoft's new combat racer, Notorious: Die to Drive.

Well, the game is still on course to ship for PC and "current home consoles" by the end of this summer, but it'll be under a new name and feature proper actors to boot.

187 Ride or Die is set in Los Angeles' seedy criminal underworld and follows the adventures of "urban hero" Buck, who's played by Larenz Tate (off of Menace II Society, Dead Presidents and one episode of Matlock). He's tasked with defending the turf of his mentor, Dupree, from the evil Cortez and his gang of hoods.

Cue lots of cars, guns, ho's, NWA records and stupidly fast races through the streets of South Central. There's a wide range of vehicles to choose from, from vintage roadsters to modern muscle cars, and a healthy selection of firearms including assault rifles, rocket launchers and Molotov cocktails.

Game modes include Death Race, Cop Chase and Assassination and we're promised that the PS2 game will offer online play after all, just like the Xbox and PC versions.

The game features a "banging" hip-hop soundtrack, plus the voices and likenesses of Noel G (actor from Training Day and GTA San Andreas) and Guerilla Black (enormous rap star who makes Biggie look like Gary Coleman). We'll bring you more news as we get it, word.