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wipEout is the title of a series of anti-gravity racing games, originally produced by Psygnosis. The gameplay is different from that of a traditional racing game with cars, instead you race in spaceships which hover over the ground, in addtion you can pick up weapons to fire at enemies. Similar games are Hi-Octane and the popular F-Zero series. As well as offering a fast and intense racing experience with high-end graphics, the wipEout series also has popular electronic music from the time of release and modern design, making its target audience older than the average gaming age. The first game was in the generation of games on the release of the Sony PlayStation, that targeted the older gamer. These games changed the video game industry, making games popular with people in the twenties and not just children.
Screenshot wipEout ( PlayStation) Format: Sony PlayStation, Sega Saturn, PC CD-ROM
The original wipEout was launched together with the Sony PlayStation in Europe, in September 1995, and was the first non-Japanese game for the console. Two months later, in November 1995, it was released in the US. The game went to number one in the all format charts, with over 1.5 million units of the franchise have been sold to date throughout Europe and North-America. A number of marketing hooks were built into the product, including music tracks licensed from non-mainstream dance acts and the hiring of cult design agency The Designers Republic to work on game packing, the manual and in-game branding. The intention was to place wipEout firmly within the context of the fashionable, club-going, music-buying audience; a somewhat older audience than the traditional gamers.
Launch activities for the game included installation of PlayStation consoles running wipEout in popular nightclubs, the release of an accompanying music CD and the sale of a range of wipEout club-wear.
The soundtrack featured popular techno groups, including Orbital, Chemical Brothers, Underworld and Leftfield.
An early concept video of the game was featured prominently in the 1995 film Hackers, in which Jonny Lee Miller's character beats Angelina Jolie's in a wipEout match.
The Saturn version of the game had extra music tracks (Brickbat, Planet 9 and Poison, while lacking the PlayStation version's Transvaal) and some claim better control, but lacked some of the visual flair (due to its difficult dual-processor setup making 3D harder to do) and the two-player mode of its PlayStation cousin.
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Hidden track:
Music Tracks:
Format: Sony PlayStation, Sega Saturn, PC CD-ROM, MacOS/OSX
wipEout 2097 moved the wipEout brand forward, introducing new tracks and new craft. To cater for the increase in the PlayStation owners an easier learning curve was introduced whilst keeping the difficulty at top end for the experienced gamers.
Tracklisting included The ProdigyThe Prodigy is a British hard dance/ rave act, consisting of Liam Howlett (Keyboards), Keith Flint (Dancer/Vocalist) and Maxim Reality (Live MC). Leeroy Thornhill (Dancer) was also a member of the band from 1990 to 2000. A female dancer called Sharky was, Chemical Brothers and Underworld. An entire nightclub tour was also initiated in conjunction with Red Bull Energy DrinkFor the seventeenth century playhouse in London, see Red Bull Theatre. Red Bull is the brand name of a famous Austrian carbonated soft drink. Sold as an energy drink and to combat mental fatigue, it is very high in sugar, and also contains taurine, glucur that featured prominently throughout the game.
Fans of the series mainly believe this has the best gameplay of all the titles in the series.
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Music Tracks: