As co-founder of Sniper Studios, Jeff Hasson has had a lot of experience in outsourcing game development resources and being outsourced for game development, despite the general outlook of the industry as a "dirty" word in the business.

 

The studio itself has already had a number of games under its belt - Halo, SOCOM and Star Wars Battlefront being those that stand out of the list. But after a team up with SEGA and its illustrious arcade franchise Crazy Taxi, Sniper Studios was able to take a step forward into next-gen development.

Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars for the PSP is currently under their skilled development hands and the game is slated to be set off as a blend between Crazy Taxi and Crazy Taxi 2 with multiplayer features. Although much of the ideas won't be coming from Kenji Kanno, SEGA of America has been on-hand to lead the project the way its supposed to.

PSP development hasn't been all that smooth however. According to an interview by Gamasutra with Hasson, certain technical issues such as UMD loading times and access times have been a difficult hurdle. Of course, they were impressed with the platform's power as a handheld PS2, and even more so with Sony's developers tools for the platform.

In fact, he mentioned that for a game that originated in a 4:3 aspect format, shifting to a small screen with a 16:9 aspect ratio was "straightforward." Added to that, they've developed the multiplayer code from scratch while the engine for the PSP were ported from the original engines from Japan.

Not bad for a studio taking baby steps into PSP development. Big news is that they've also been tagged by Microsoft as an officially licensed Xbox 360 developer, but they are hoping to enter the Wii and PlayStation 3 also. Hasson said:

Sniper has experience developing across all major platforms and the team looks forward to making announcements about new development projects in the future. Every platform is of significant interest to Sniper. This includes potential projects on PS3 or the Wii.

 

While videos are perhaps more apt when you want get a taste of quasi-illegal taxi-driving found in Sniper Studios' Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars, screens do reveal a few details that a fast paced video doesn't.

For one thing, you get to see all of the jaggies and the pixels that get hidden by the break-neck driving. However, who cares if the jaggies are there? This isn't a 1080p game for your excessively expensive high-def TV, this is a game for your PlayStation Portable. The craziness and the chaos should be on shelves by June, if in case you're curious.

What should matter here is the style and the character of the game. Good thing that the screenshot of the character called "Slash" (check it out below) exudes nothing but style and character. The thumbnails are below, you know the drill.

     

Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars for the PlayStation Portable will not only test your crazy non-street legal driving skills, but it will also test your patience. Yup, some passengers just might be irate and/or talk too much. The two gameplay videos we have today shows us that and then some.

The passengers need to get to their destinations and they need to get there fast. Sega and Sniper Studios' Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars feature mad driving and you can't really expect the passengers to sit through the (near death) experiences quietly. Anyway, we see more crazy driving in the gameplay trailers and the reactions of the assorted passengers.

Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars will be zooming to the shelves around June so we'll watch out for more info about the video game. We'll quit with the prattle now so you can enjoy the videos. You know the drill.

 

Catch the other video right after the jump!

We think we've seen enough Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars gameplay videos to say that it really is crazy (or sanity impaired). Here's another one for you, showing that the best way to get there is to fly.

Sega and Sniper Studios' Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars for the PlayStation Portable is set to hit the shelves in June. So far, we've seen its much loved gameplay and the usual insanity from the original Dreamcast video game. In this trailer, we see the leaping, jumping, and hopping power of them cabs. All in the name of getting your passenger to his destination on time - and the tips that come with it.

We'll quit the babble and let you watch the video. Enjoy!

 

For the fans of Crazy Taxi, here's a treat for you. Sega has launched something for the upcoming video game - a fun mini-game called Crazy Taxi: Fare Rush.

Gameplay's pretty simple. First you choose between four drivers and their cars: Axel, BD Joe, Gina, and Gus. Then you're set in a top down set with passengers littered around the town. You get two minutes of gametime and as with all Crazy Taxi titles, you've got to pick up passengers and bring them to their destinations in record speed.

You can check out the mini game by clicking the via link below. It might just tide you over until Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars' June release. Enjoy!

There's a lot of things that define Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars for the PlayStation Portable - indestructible taxi, irate and hurried fares, and insane (not street legal) driving. We never get tired of that sort of gameplay so it's good that we've got another video that showcases all those things.

Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars from Sega takes players on the driver's seat of the most insane taxi around to deliver passengers to their destinations. In this new gameplay video, we see shortcuts through parks filled with people, collisions with a cable car and a bus, going up stairs, and barreling through congested traffic.

We'll let you watch the video so you can see what we mean. Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars for the PSP is still slated for June release both for North America and Europe. In the meantime, enjoy the video!

For those who've played the original game on the Dreamcast, they'd remember that one of the craziest aspects of Crazy Taxi is, well, its crazy shortcuts. And while the traditional definition of "shortcut" would be a path through secret or obscurely hidden alleys, detours, or side streets, the definition of "shortcut" in Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars is taken a bit loosely.

As seen in this 'Shortcut' clip from GameVideos, "shortcut" can be defined as barreling your way through turn-turtle'd trucks, flying through speed ramps onto sidewalks, and dashing your way past a "keep of the grass" sign and speed-demon-ing your way across a park. Sniper Studios and Sega bring you... Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars:

A taxi driver who drives recklessly, doesn't care about roads and uses ramps as take-off points for shortcuts? You'd have to be insane to give him your hard-earned money.

It's a good thing we're a little bit nutty then, because these seven new screenshots of Sega's Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars certainly aim to please the insane. From barreling past a hotdog stand to forcing pedestrians out of the way, our crazy driver certainly has speed on his mind. While it probably won't kill him to slow down, it may just kill us if he stops so suddenly.

In any case, expect Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars to make its way to stores in June. In the meantime, make way for these new screenshots.

More screenshots after the jump!

Since SEGA's withdrawal from the console wars and the death of the Dreamcast - a day of infamy mourned by yours truly - it's a comfort to see that the stream of games being churned out by the once dominant regime remains steady and of consistent quality. This, despite the shattered dreams of the orange swirly machine coming back to life once more. James Orry of PRO-G gives us the latest on SEGA.

With summer right around the corner, SEGA Europe has revealed its line-up, spearheaded with the PSP platform-slash-puzzle game Crush. Crush is set with the rather original premise of squishing, or 'crushing' the 3D environment around you into a simplified platformer.

Next is the casual game SEGA Presents Touch Darts, which is just exactly what it says - a game of darts for the Nintendo DS. Using the touch screen, players can now experience a riveting round of who-can-stick-the-bullseye-first-and-not-hit-anyone without having to stroll into the local bar (and contending with your usual case of musclebound, grizzly sore losers). SEGA Presents Touch Darts is tentatively slated for June 22.

Swerving across lanes and breaking speed limits one week after for the PSP is Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars, a compilation of Crazy Taxi and Crazy Taxi 2 with added bells and whistles on the multiplayer department. Blasting right around the corner, also for the Playstation Portable, is Alien Syndrome, a fast-paced action RPG that will also be released at the same time for the Nintendo Wii. Major differences between versions include full motion controls for the Wii, and Wireless Multiplayer for the PSP.

Last but definitely not least is the much-awaited Sonic Rush Adventure, the sequel to the well-received Sonic Rush for the DS. Planned for an autumn release, Sonic Rush Adventure pits Sonic against pirates in battles involving the big blue drink and sailboats. Definitely something to watch out for.

In the next-gen department, SEGA confirms that it has a list of titles on the way, such as The Club and SEGA Rally.

Here's some more footage from Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars. This vid's a short trailer from the game, and aside from the kick-ass gameplay, it also comes with some cool tunes. Check it out below.

Sniper Studios and Sega have really pushed the pedal to the metal in this one, what with more furiously-paced taxi action all happening on the maps found in the original Dreamcast games. They've even added head-to-head multiplayer in Fare Wars. Now two players can race for fares and steal passengers from other cabbies in the head-to-head competition mode or help each other go for the big tips in co-op play.

Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars is set to hit the Sony PSP handheld system in June.