200w ago - As a follow-up to our WipEout HD news from earlier todat, SCEA's Producer Daimion Pinnock has announced the WipEout HD Fury Expansion Zone Tracks.

To quote: We're back with the fourth in our series of developer diaries featuring the WipEout HD Fury add-on pack. This week we have Rita Linsley, an artist from the WipEout HD development team. Enjoy!

1. ZONE: Intro & context

'Zone' is speed experienced in its purest state, with no weapons. From a poetic point of view Zone can be likened to riding an atom in a particle accelerator. The speed of the atom as it 'rides the torus' gets increasingly faster and faster, until ultimately it moves at such surreal speeds that it exists contiguously at all points along its path.

It becomes an omnipresent singularity along this path, a very peculiar entity with 'mixed dimensionality.' If we could become that little atom at that moment we would find ourselves connected to a psychedelic 'speed-dimension.' It would be one hell of a trip! So zone mode is all about surreal abstract geometries, and shifting landscapes of colour that create an otherworldly atmosphere.

2. Landscapes Inspired by Nature's...

201w ago - SCEA Producer Daimion Pinnock has shared another WipEout Fury Developer Diary today, covering new game modes, a date and price.

To quote: We're back with number three in our series of developer diaries featuring the WipEout HD Fury add-on pack. This week we have Zico Liu, Programmer on the WipEout HD development team.

This is Zico Liu, programmer on WipEout HD; you all might remember me from the "Beat Zico" trophy. Before I talk about what I've been up to on the WipEout HD Fury expansion pack, I would just like to let you know that the pack will be available from PlayStation Store on Thursday, July 23rd for $9.99.

The pack will provide three new race types - Eliminator, Zone Battle and Detonator, 12 new tracks, 13 new ships, 6 new music tracks, a redesigned menu system, a new campaign to complete as well a host of new trophies to win. Oh and let's not forget the additional ranks for you to achieve online. We are really excited about the content and hope you enjoy all the new features.

Also, on Tuesday July 21st, we are releasing a free update to the existing game. If you boot up WipEout HD at around 5pm GMT, you will be prompted to download the update. It will add a number of new features and tweaks to menus of the game including a brand new statistics...

202w ago - SCEA Producer Daimion Pinnock is back with number two in a small series of developer diaries featuring the upcoming WipEout HD Fury add-on pack.

This week, he introduces Marcus Tanner, WipEout Fury Art Director from the WipEout HD development team, as follows:

I'm here today to give you a brief insight into how a WipEout environment evolves from concept art to production geometry.

A WipEout track is set in a Utopian environment populated by stunning, cutting-edge architecture enhanced by contemporary graphic design. This aesthetic is created by designing architectural forms that are influenced by abstract sculpture, structure in art and science, futuristic architecture, mecha detailing and contemporary product design.

To create the WipEout aesthetic, our concept artists use a fluid design process that involves creating abstract shapes in 3D and bouncing work around the team from artist to artist to evolve and clarify the designs. This results in bold, abstract 3D structures, which are rendered and painted over with architectural detailing and placed into the context of a WipEout environment.

These concept images (below) use the structures as set pieces, trackside furniture, tunnels etc, and give the production team an idea of how they would look in game.

203w ago - SCEA Producer Daimion Pinnock has shared a peek at Ship Design in the form of a WipEout Fury PS3 Developer Diary today, as follows:

I'm happy to introduce some cool exclusive information about the making of the game and the Fury add-in, coming straight from Dave Glanister, WipEout Fury Ship designer on the WipEout HD development team.

Our main aim for the new WipEout Fury ships was to modernize their visual look whilst keeping the DNA of each existing individual team. On previous WipEout games, a key feature for ship design was its dynamic straight edge and triangular silhouette. For PSone and PSP this key element was the best way to achieve a great design without using a huge amount of polygons.

Our approach for the Fury ships was to keep the dynamic straight edge design but add to it by dividing the ships body panels up into three main layers. This new addition to the ships allowed us to overlap, interlock and weave the main ship panels together to achieve a more complex look.

By taking this approach it allowed the designs to show gaps, grooves and negative windows of space that were in-turn filled with real time PS3 self shadows. This made the ships appear lighter and more hover like without reducing the ships scale or bulk.

To evolve the designs...

208w ago - Today SCEA Producer Daimion Pinnock has announced WipEout HD Fury Expansion Pack PS3 Details, as follows:

The WipEout HD Fury expansion pack will increase the content of your current game with 8 new tracks, 13 new ship models and 3 new game modes, 2 of which will be available for online play! In addition there will be new trophies to attain, a re-styled front-end and a selection of new & improved multiplayer functionality!

The Eliminator game mode will allow you to release all that pent-up aggression as you use the full arsenal of Wipeout weaponry to destroy your opponents. Forget those racing lines; this is all about destruction, with the victor being the first to reach the target score!





Zone Battle is about risk and reward! Acceleration is automatic as you swoop over zone pads to fill your zone bar. Your choice is whether to use the bar to increase your speed and boost your ship ever closer to the target zone or absorb it to replenish vital lost energy. Warning, avoid the 'zone barriers', obstacles left on the track by your opponents as they boost towards the target zone, hitting these can literally destroy your hopes of victory!

Our Detonator mode introduces a brand new ship model to the game that will test both your piloting...