EA to publish R: Racing

Finally, someone's answered the question we were mulling over rather worriedly when R: Racing Evolution went gold a few weeks ago - who is going to publish it in the UK and when? That somebody is, of course, the mighty Electronic Arts, who once again look set to reap the benefits of a lucrative deal with Namco which has already given them a massive No.1 in the shape of Soul Calibur II.

According to a release that turned up while I was playing on Xbox Live yesterday, EA is planning to publish R: Racing (no Evolution for us, then?) across PAL territories on PS2, Xbox and GameCube in March 2004, fully localised for the British, French, German, Spanish and Italian gamer.

Although it doesn't share its name, R: Racing is generally held as the spiritual successor to the rather disappointing Ridge Racer V on PS2, and aims to incorporate all manner of racing styles, gripping physics and visual quality and even a storyline focusing on driver rivalries. We're hoping to bring you some thoughts on the Japanese version of the game sometime in the future.