Half-Life: Alyx

Half-Life: Alyx was a dream come true for legions of fans, but when Valve announced that it was a VR-only game – there was an element of skepticism associated with anticipation. But when Half-Life: Alyx was finally released, fans were elated with joy and all those skepticism washed away. In so many ways, Half-Life: Alyx is the perfect example of how to craft a AAA game for the VR platform – thanks to a potent combination of a meaningful story and well-designed gameplay ideas that leverage the capabilities of the platform to the fullest.

Burnout Paradise Remastered

Burnout 3: Takedown was a major change in direction for the series with its speed, wrecks, and overall addictive gameplay. Criterion’s Burnout Paradise went even further with an open-world environment and the freedom to progress at one’s own pace. This is on top of fully customizable race settings, a reworked damage model, streamlined progression that rewards new cars consistently, and much more. Crash Mode could even be accessed at any time via the new Showtime Mode. With an incredibly well-designed urban playground and fun gameplay, Burnout Paradise stands the test of time.

Bloodborne

It’s been almost six years since the game originally launched but the demand for an official 60 FPS mode in Bloodborne remains strong. 4K resolution support would also be great but it’s the higher frame rate, that too running consistently to combat the frame-pacing issues, that remains unfulfilled. Make it happen Sony. Whether it’s in the rumored PC version or on PS5, just…make it happen already.

Here’s a franchise that has maintained a remarkable level of quality and consistency throughout its lifespan, and though it’s by no means a system seller, or one of the top billing games on any PlayStation platform, its still a series that millions of people hold very close to their hearts. In recent years though, Wipeout has slowly but surely all but faded away, to the point where it now seems like little more than a hazy memory. Sure, we got a remastered release not too long ago – and an excellent one at that – but how long has it been since we got a true sequel? Too long, I say.

And why exactly is that? It’s hard to think of a bad Wipeout game. Most of them have been legitimately good, while many have been downright excellent. Even Wipeout Fusion, which often divides opinion among series fans, is at the very least a solid racer, while Wipeout 2048, though somewhat unremarkable, is never not fun. So why is it that even in the face of such remarkable consistency, this series finds itself on ice? What the hell happened to Wipeout? 

Though this is a series that is closely associated with PlayStation and Sony, funnily enough, it didn’t start out that way. Before their restructuring in 2000, SCE Studio Liverpool were known as Psygnosis, the creators of Wipeout, and though they were acquired by Sony in 1993 – two years before the first Wipeout game came out – they actually retained a surprising amount of independence that would be unimaginable in today’s day and age- to the extent that many of their games were even multiplatform titles.

The very first Wipeout came out on the PS1, of course, but it also came out on PC and – just a few months after its PS1 launch – on the Sega Saturn. Its sequel, Wipeout 2097, released for the PS1 in September 1996, followed by a PC release in July 1997, and, once again, a Sega Saturn launch in September of that year. Hell, before moving on to Wipeout 3, they even made a Wipeout game for the N64, with Wipeout 64, which was published by Midway Games. Imagine that- a Sony-owned studio making an N64 exclusive title.

It was only with the fourth game in the series, which was Wipeout 3, that the franchise went all-in as a PlayStation exclusive property. That, incidentally, was also the last Wipeout game the development team made under its original name, with 2002’s Wipeout Fusion on the PS2 – and every subsequent Wipeout title afterwards, being developed under the SCE Studio Liverpool moniker.

That is, until 2012. 2012 saw the release of Wipeout 2048, a launch title for the PlayStation Vita, and though the game by no means set the world on fire – its excessively long loading times attracted a lot of criticism, in fact – it was still a technically impressive and deeply enjoyable game with some excellent track design. It was, sadly, also the last game to be made by SCE Studio Liverpool, with Sony shutting it down in 2012.

It’s been seven years since Wipeout 2048 came out and SCE Studio Liverpool was shuttered, and we’ve received no new Wipeout sequel. We did see the launch of Omega Collection on PS4, a remastered collection of PS3’s Wipeout HD, its Fury expansion, and 2048. Releasing in 2017, Omega Collection was very well received upon launch, and though it’s definitely worth experience for all PS4 owners – especially if you own a PSVR headset, for which it is probably one of the top 3 games to date – it still doesn’t scratch that itch for a new game in the series.

With SCE Liverpool no longer being in the picture, the future of Wipeout remains a little hazy. It wouldn’t be accurate to say that Sony has given up on the franchise- the 2017 remaster would suggest that they still see some value in this property. But with half a decade having passed since the last new entry in the series, and more than a decade since the last console entry, one can’t help but wonder what the future holds for the franchise.

Before the studio was shuttered, they had been working on two launch titles for the PS4. One was going to be a Splinter Cell-style stealth game, while the other was a new Wipeout entry. It was billed as being “drastically different” from previous games in the series, and when the studio was shuttered, it was already pretty far along in production, having been in development for about 12-18 months. What does that say about Sony’s confidence in the series? Well, it doesn’t necessarily say anything about Wipeout specifically- internal restructuring and shuttering of studios isn’t something that is all that uncommon in this industry, sadly. But it does tell us that Sony doesn’t have too much of an issue cancelling a game that has been in development for over a year, and shutting down the studio that was in charge of not just that game, but the entire series from its very inception.

It should be noted, that, that back in 2015, Sony Worldwide Studios head Shuhei Yoshida made comments that were quite positive about Wipeout. When asked about the future of the franchise in the wake of SCE Liverpool having been closed down, Yoshida said that there was always a chance the series could make a return. “Never say never,” he said. “There are many IPs that we kind of stopped iterating with new games. One of the reasons is we always love to work on new IP. From my standpoint I try to balance the number of games in a franchise. In the future there might be a chance to come back to a game like Wipeout.”

All of which is to say that as things stand right now, we’re probably not going to see another Wipeout title for a while. “There might be a chance to come back to Wipeout” is by no means a definitive statement- it leaves the door open for Sony in case they ever want to come back to the property, but it also tells us that for now, they have no plans to do anything with it.

And really, one simple look at their first party philosophies and lineup in recent years should be enough to tell us that anyway. Sony’s leaned very heavily into cinematic single player experiences, and it’s worked out very well for them. Their games receive widespread praise and sell millions following that direction, and it stands to reason that that’s what they’re going to continue doing. That’s where all their resources are being diverted- and it’s not like they even have a dedicated studio to work on the series anymore.

Sony has, to be fair, stated in recent months that it would like to focus a bit more on online gaming with the PS5, and that is something that Wipeout would definitely qualify for. But even if they were to make good on those words, wouldn’t it make sense for them to go to other, more financially successful properties first- such as Killzone, for instance? Sadly, it seems like Wipeout is going to remain in the shadows for now- which is a real shame, because when this series was at its best, it delivered some of the best racing games any of us ever saw.

August is looking like a good month for PlayStation Plus subscribers on PS4. Sony has announced that WipEout Omega Collection and Sniper Elite 4 will be free to download. Both titles will become available when the PlayStation Store updates on August 6th.

Developed by XDev, Clever Beans and EPOS Game Studios, WipEout Omega Collection alone is worth looking into. It’s a remaster of Wipeout HD, Wipeout HD Fury and Wipeout 2048, packing tons of tracks and ships into one single package. If you favour high speed, futuristic racing, this might be the game for you.

Rebellion’s Sniper Elite 4 is another strong addition to one’s PS4 library. It still carries the series’ penchant for long-range sniping and stealth but now includes more open-ended gameplay and larger maps. Movement has been revamped to encourage more verticality and there are even night missions to play.

Sony faced quite a bit of flak when it announced Pro Evolution Soccer 2019 for last month’s PlayStation Plus free games. So much so that it eventually replaced this with Detroit: Become Human Digital Deluxe Edition. We’ll see how the response is to this month’s offerings in the coming days.

Sony’s remaster collection of Pygnosis’ superlative Wipeout series, the PS4 only Wipeout: Omega Collection, was also recently updated to have PlayStation VR compatibility (which is freaking awesome, by the way, the games are singularly well suited to something like that).

If you want to see what that’s like for yourself, there’s some good news- the game will get a free, VR compatible demo tomorrow, so you can download it and see what it is like in VR for yourself. The demo also comes with all the PS4 Pro enhancements (so 4K resolution and HDR support), so you get to see it show off some good tech no matter what, basically.

You will be able to race on two tracks: the Vineta K track, and the Altima track. They’re both good tracks, and should show off the excitement of a VR race pretty well. Wipeout Omega Collection is available now exclusively on the PS4.

If you’ve been playing the stellar Wipeout: Omega Collection and decided to make things even more intense, then there’s good news. The promised PlayStation VR patch is now available, thus letting you race with Sony’s virtual reality headset.

All modes are available for VR play and it’s possible to experience the entire game in virtual reality. To make things even sweeter is the addition of three VR exclusive ships for Wipeout HD, Wipeout HD Fury and Wipeout 2048. The audio has also received the 3D treatment, which should make for a more immersive aural experience. A new remix of Shake It by Vieille Griffe has also been added to accommodate the 3D audio update.

Developed by XDev, Clever Beans and EPOS Game Studios, Wipeout: Omega Collection released in June 2017 for PlayStation 4. Along with commercial success, it has received critical praise for its graphical revamp, a large amount of content and responsive controls. You can check out our official review here for more information.

With a myriad of announcements at Sony’s PlayStation Experience keynote, it was surprising to hear the publisher announce that The Last Guardian would be heading to PlayStation VR. You can expect a free demo for the game to also release on December 12th for the PlayStation Store in case you’re on the fence about it.

That’s not all though. WipeOut Omega Collection will also be receiving a VR update in early 2018 and will see all the game’s tracks and modes playable in VR. New ships, interiors and much more will also be added for that VR immersion.

The announcements aren’t all that surprising to be honest – Sony announced that PlayStation VR had already sold over 2 million units worldwide since releasing last year. It’s since had over 150 titles and will receive even more games down the line. Whether any more third party developers will hop on the bandwagon remains to be seen but it’s good to see Sony supporting the device strongly.

The recent UK game charts are in courtesy of Gfk Chart-Track and while Wipeout: Omega Collection was recently in the top spot, it would be Horizon: Zero Dawn that won out this past week.

This is thanks to a price promotion that propelled the open world action adventure title from fourth place to first, making it the second time it’s earned the number 1 spot since it debuted in February. Nintendo’s ARMS recently released on the Switch and debuted in second place. The other new release was MotoGP 17 at 18th place.

It’s the fourth biggest Switch launch week behind The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and 1-2 Switch. Grand Theft Auto 5 is in third place followed by Dirt 4. Previous week’s Wipeout: Omega Collection dropped from first place to fifth.

What are your thoughts on Horizon: Zero Dawn’s rise back to the top spot? Let us know in the comments below and stay tuned for more information.