Wipeout (video game)

1995 racing video game
the video game

Wipeout (stylised as wipE′out″) is a racing video game developed and published by Psygnosis. It is the first game in the Wipeout series. It was originally released in 1995 for PlayStation and DOS, and in 1996 for Sega Saturn, being a launch title for the PlayStation in Europe. It was re released as a downloadable game for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable via the PlayStation Network in 2007. Set in 2052, players compete in the F3600 anti gravity racing league, piloting one of a selection of craft in races on several tracks around the world. Unique at the time, Wipeout was noted for its futuristic setting, weapons designed to both stall and destroy opponents and its marketing campaign designed by Keith Hopwood and The Designers Republic. The game features original music from CoLD SToRAGE, with tracks by Leftfield, The Chemical Brothers, and Orbital appearing on some versions. The game was critically acclaimed on release; critics praised the game for its originality and its vast "unique techno soundtrack". However, it was criticised for its in game physics. Wipeout spawned several sequels to critical acclaim.

Wipeout is a racing game that is set in 2052, where players compete in the F3600 anti gravity racing league. The game allows the player to pilot one of a selection of craft in races on several different tracks. There are four racing teams to choose from, and two ships for each team. Each ship has its distinct characteristics of acceleration, top speed, mass, and turning radius. By piloting their craft over power up pads found on the tracks, the player can pick up various weapons and power ups such as shields, turbo boosts, mines, shock waves, rockets, or missiles. The power ups allow the player to either protect their craft or disrupt the competitors' craft. There are seven race tracks in the game, six of them located in futuristic versions of countries such as Canada, the United States and Japan. After all tracks have been completed on the Rapier Championship, a hidden track (Firestar), set on Mars is unlocked. Wipeout features a multiplayer mode using the PlayStation Link Cable, allowing two player to race against each other and the six remaining AI competitors.

Wipeout was developed and published by Liverpudlian developer Psygnosis (later known as Studio Liverpool), with production starting in the second half of 1994. The marketing and artwork were designed by Keith Hopwood and The Designers Republic in Sheffield. Aimed at a fashionable, club going, music buying audience, Keith Hopwood and The Designers Republic created art for the packaging, in game branding, and other promotional materials. The team was under pressure, as it consisted of around ten people, and they were on a tight schedule. Carus stated that the code had to be rewritten three quarters of the way through development, and that the team was confident that they could complete the game on time. Burcombe, the game's future designer, was inspired to create a racing game using the same types of 'anti gravity' vehicles from SoftImage's animation of two ships racing. The name "Wipeout" was given to the game during a pub conversation, and was inspired by the instrumental song "Wipe Out" by The Surfaris. Designing the tracks proved to be difficult due to the lack of draw distance possible on the system. Players received completely random weapons, resembling Super Mario Kart in their capability to stall rather than destroy opponents. A marketing campaign created and launched by Keith Hopwood and The Designers Republic included an infamous promotional poster, featuring a bloodstained television and radio presenter Sara Cox, which was accused by some of depicting a drug overdose. The poster branded Wipeout "a dangerous game", with Wipeouts lead artist Neil Thompson suggesting—and designer Nick Burcome denying—that the "E" in Wipeout stood for ecstasy. The game was released in the United States in November. The game went to number one in all the format charts, with over 1.5 million units of the franchise having been sold to date throughout Europe and North America. Wipeout was ported to the Sega Saturn in 1996 by Tantalus Entertainment. Because the company behind the PlayStation, Sony, owned the applicable rights to the last three tracks of the PlayStation version's soundtrack, new music was added for the Saturn version by Rob Lord and Mark Bandola. The Sega Saturn version was released by Sega in North America.

The game's initial success led to Psygnosis developing several sequels which would later become part of the Wipeout franchise. A direct sequel, Wipeout 2097, was released for the PlayStation and Sega Saturn in 1996, which was met with positive reviews, especially aimed towards the vastly improved game engine and new physics the game offered. A Nintendo 64 spin off, Wipeout 64, was released in 1998 and was met with considerable praise from critics, but was noted to be too similar to the original Wipeout. Wipeout has been described as being synonymous with Sony's debut gaming hardware and as an early showcase for 3D graphics in console gaming. It has since been re released as a downloadable game for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable via the PlayStation Network in 2007. The game's soundtrack and musical sensibility is credited with exposing millions to underground club and rave music and inaugurating a new era of music in video games. In 2021, Mat Ombler wrote that the game "brought the nightclub experience into bedrooms and living rooms across the globe." Writer Adam Ismail described Wipeout as a "cultural force," a game "where the music and visual style were as crucial—if not, arguably more so—than the physical experience of actually playing it." In 2023, CoLD SToRAGE's soundtrack was remastered, rereleased, and pressed onto vinyl for the first time, with added remixes from contemporary electronic artists such as Kode9 and μ Ziq. The soundtrack, especially its use of tracks by popular contemporary artists, has been credited with prompting gaming developers to allot greater importance to the music in their games. Wipeout'''s visual identity, graphic design, logos, and typography made by The Designers Republic have been credited as a significant achievement in both game and design history. In 2016, game journalist Luke Plunkett wrote "the visual influence the game has had is staggering" and "its bright, neo Tokyo style still being admired today (you can see echoes of it in everything from Mass Effect to Mario Kart 8 to Destiny)." In 2023, an art book entitled WipEout: Futurism'' was announced to be published in 2024, focused on commemorating the game's artistic and graphic style. The source code for the PlayStation and the Windows versions of the game was leaked on 27 March, 2022 by the video game preservation group Forest of Illusion. Based on this leaked code, there were two source ports by enthusiasts: WipeOut Phantom Edition for Microsoft Windows, which is closed source and wipEout Rewrite for Windows, macOS, Linux and WebAssembly by Dominic Szablewski, which is source available.