The latest incarnation of the game features all the improvements added to the GameCube release and some new Xbox-exclusive additions as well. History looks to be repeating itself in 2003 as Konami aims to release another version of the game that has been tweaked and renamed Bloody Roar Extreme for Microsoft's Xbox this year. The game underwent some retooling and was renamed Bloody Roar Primal Fury when Activision released it for the Nintendo GameCube last year. The third installment in the series, Bloody Roar 3, has been evolving since it was first released on the PlayStation 2 in 2001. Unlike the Virtua Fighter or Tekken franchises, the Bloody Roar games have offered very fast and flashy arcade-style gameplay.
At least the fact that it’s contained within Android Auto’s on-screen environment means that you don’t have to hop back out to the car’s own system to make a phone call you do have to do this to switch radio stations or media if you’re not listening to music through an Android Auto streaming app.ĭo you have Android Auto in your car? Tell us what you think of it in the comments section below.Hudson's Bloody Roar series, first introduced in 1997, has offered a very distinct alternative experience in the 3D fighting genre. It’s basically sound, and it will read out texts and Google Hangouts messages to you and allow you to dictate replies - but it’s not much more comprehensive than a decent car-smartphone interface.
And there are already at least a dozen eBooks and Podcast apps on offer - although you may need to use trial and error to find one with the right mix of content and a user-friendly interface.īizarrely, phone access is one of Android Auto’s weaker points. WhatsApp and Skype are already compatible, allowing you to potentially use those services to make VOIP calls instead of Android Auto’s conventional smartphone system. Other apps are being launched on an almost weekly basis. Apple’s CarPlay system - which offers many of Android Auto’s features on iOS devices - isn’t so strict. So even though your Spotify library may have 100 albums or artists, you’re only ever able to scroll through eight or 10 of them before you get a pop-up telling you to stop the car before you continue to browse. One negative point is that Google has been quite restrictive on the amount of ‘browsing’ you’re able to do - presumably for safety reasons.
We’ve tried Spotify with a premium account and it’s reasonably slick, showing album art and using Google’s cloud-based speech recognition to allow you to demand any track from the archive - regardless of whether it’s in your collection or not. The other main service of Android Auto is music streaming - including offerings by the three main subscription-based services: Google Play Music, Amazon Music and Spotify. Some makers, such as Mitsubishi, are relying on the tech and have actually deleted the built-in navigation on some models knowing that customers prefer to use their connected smartphones instead. But the number of cars that have it is growing all the time as customers are insisting on it. You don’t have use of all of the functions to make it easier and safer to operate while driving a car, but it still allows quick access to some apps and features such as navigation, music streaming, messages and phone calls.Īndroid Auto is not available on all new cars and some makers have made it a pricey option or are asking for a subscription fee – it’s the same with Apple CarPlay. It’s a piece of tech which connects your phone to the head unit in your car, so you will see a simplified version of your phone screen on the infotainment display.
The way around this is to incorporate an interface which means the car’s infotainment system harnesses the power of your phone, mirroring the phone’s apps on the car’s infotainment screen and allowing you to control its functions using the car’s buttons and microphones.įor Apple users, the system is called CarPlay, while Google’s interpretation of in-car infotainment is Android Auto.
It means that as soon as a car’s launched, features like the navigation and entertainment systems are already obsolete and drivers just end up using their phones instead. Car makers often find it difficult to keep up with the relentless progress of smartphones and apps.