1UP: Namco Plans Racing Evolution Sequel?

Namco has registered a trademark for the title "R: Racing Rivals" in Japan, searchers of the Japanese patent and trademark database discovered today, suggesting that we may see a sequel to last year's R: Racing Evolution some time soon. That title, registered November 4, is the most notable of the latest round of trademarks registered in the past two months by Japanese game companies.

In late October, Konami registered three rather interesting non-specific logos, shown below. It's not clear what "Muscle Navi," "Forced Rep," and "Giga Drake" might be, although they give off a distinct aura of pachinko. They may be names for new models of gambling machines produced by Konami's gaming division.

Sony Computer Entertainment, on November 4, registered a rough draft of its logo for the PSP handheld. No surprise here -- it's a spinoff of the PlayStation 2 logo, just with another stylized "p."

Sega's registered two odd-sounding titles in late October. "Madou Taikai," registered by the Sega Wow development studio, is a punny name meaning something like "Puzzle Tournament," while "Fighting Tsumo" is more difficult to parse. We look forward to learning more about whatever these titles might mean -- if indeed they mean anything -- over the coming months.