Pinoy Gaming World

Initial D Extreme Stage is a racing game developed by Sega for the PlayStation 3. It is based on the Japanese comic Initial D created by Shuichi Shigeno in 1995. It was released in Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea on July 3, 2008. This is the sequel to PlayStation 2's Initial D: Special Stage and the PlayStation Portable's Initial D: Street Stage.

Unlike Initial D Special Stage for Playstation 2, Initial D Extreme Stage is not region protected on the Playstation 3 making it popular with North American fans of the anime and arcade game. Online shopping sites, such as Play-Asia and in some cases, people on eBay, offer 2 versions, the Japanese version and the Asian version. They are both in Japanese however, but the Asian version offers an English manual. The Asian version is usually cheaper, but there is no online play. A way to tell them apart, cover wise, is that the Japanese version has the Cero rating in the bottom left of the front cover. The Asian version does not have this.

What makes the PS3 version special is the online play. Playing in single player mode, time attack, and story mode is great but there is no greater feeling than actually leveling up your car's attributes and looks and ultimately battling it out with other players online. Unfortunately for me, the Japanese version of the game is extremely rare here in the Philippines. I can't even find copies for sale on the surplus websites! Sadness. Anyway for anyone to have any Initial D Extreme Stage copies out there, I'm a very interested buyer here! :) I'll leave you with this amazing trailer of the game.