Namco’s Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 4 Expanding International Reach

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Earlier this year, news came along that Namco’s Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 4 would be finding its way outside of Japan with an English version and international support. Much like we reported the other day with Sega’s MaiMai, that has become the case as locations pick the game up, although originally it was sold under the idea of a revenue share model. Now word has come along that Namco will be expanding that reach with the game as locations in Australia and New Zealand will be able to get the game starting in January. Highway Games has some more info about the upcoming release for those regions although they do mention a “worldwide release” which seems to indicate that everyone will get a chance to get one.

I reached out the Namco America for comment but so far I have not heard back about the possibility of WMMT4 showing up in the States but it seems like it is headed in that direction. Of course imports are always possible to those that have the funds, although I am not sure if this is region locked via the online features, which make up a greater part of this game than previous installments of the series, in particular the Banapassort Data Card. That card does allow for better data transfers from older games and with “hours of content” that gives players a lot to come back to. The nice thing about this series though, at least for operators, is that it will probably be arcade exclusive for a long time and there is a pretty good community of dedicated players for it that will give it a lot more play than some other racers on the market. It is more of a technical racer though and not exactly casual play.

If the Namco will be officially supplying the game out West we probably won’t have to wait long for confirmation, with two trade shows coming soon, EAG 2013 in London this January and Amusement Expo in Las Vegas this March, those are two opportunities for the game to make an appearance as well, which would be confirmation, aside from news of a location getting their hands on some.

There are already a lot of videos on Youtube of the game but here is the official trailer with some English subtitles that while based on a Japanese trailer it still can give you a good idea of what this game has in it, if you haven’t been following it already.