Japanese release day highlights: 12.28.06

Takuma Sato is arguably the world's most interesting Formula 1 driver. He has moves that occasionally serve to make one of the most predictable motorsports slightly less predictable. So that's who we picked for a quick spin around Monaco on our PS3 this afternoon. Sato's race was typically bathetic, dropping from a place among the points to a spectacularly silly retirement with one bizarre maneuver in the tunnel on the last lap. (It wasn't our fault.)

Based on our initial 23-minute playtest, these are the Good Things about PS3 Formula 1 Championship Edition:

• Really wet rain
• Feels like an arcade game
• Features the Van Halen-tastic Japanese F1 theme tune

And these are the Bad Things about PS3 Formula 1 Championship Edition:

• No multiplayer
• Feels like an arcade game
• Features the Van Halen-tastic Japanese F1 theme tune

Oh, and Dragon Quest Monsters (DS) was also released in Japan today. But we didn't buy it because we're still too Dragon Quested out after DQVIII.