Prerelease:Wipeout Fusion

This page details prerelease information and/or media for Wipeout Fusion.

This article is a work in progress. ...Well, all the articles here are, in a way. But this one moreso, and the article may contain incomplete information and editor's notes.

To do: Get more info on what the game was like during its various stages of development: See if any coverage of the game from winter 2000/spring 2001 can be found - this would have been after the ECTS presentation but before E3 2001. See if any more footage of WipEout X exists.

"WipEout X"

The game's working title was WipEout X during its very early stages of development (presumed to be around early/mid 1999). This iteration of the game was developed on PC hardware, before Studio Liverpool's PS2 dev kits had arrived. Apparently they'd been last in line when it came to receiving development hardware, so the team started work on Fusion using high-spec PC's. Due to the PS2 having a completely different architecture to PC's, this early version had to be scrapped.

WipEout X's original design document can be found here.

(Source: Rob Foxx, WipEoutZone)

April/E3 2000 Screenshots and Footage

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• These screenshots (which hit the Internet on April 25th, 2000) show a very early Feisar design and an older version of the Florion Heights course.
  • Florion Heights is using a different skybox.
  • The lighting is much more bleak.
  • The "start" screen at the beginning point of the track uses a different design and font to the final game.
  • The early Feisar ship on display here is the same one found in two of the game's concept renders.

• The Mandrashee course is shown for the first time in the E3 demo tape.

Fall/Winter 2000

ECTS/Demo Disc Footage

To do: See if any other gameplay footage of this build exists.

A demo presented at the European Computer Trade Show in September 2000; according to Sony, the game is 75% complete by now and development of the game's courses and tracks has wrapped up. Strangely, the build presented here was in a playable state, but wasn't available to the public for play - it was only allowed to be demoed live by members of the development team. This footage appears to be of the game running in attract mode.

(Source: IGN, Gamespot)

A higher-quality version of the ECTS attract video, from Official Playstation 2 Magazine's Demo 2:

• Physics are noticeably different in this build; the ship shown here "floats" much more and doesn't stick to the track in contrast to the final game. As a result of this, it also bounces around a bit more and glides around corners in a manner similar to the older Wipeout games.

• Graphically, this build also differs a bit:
  • Tracks feature slightly more vibrant textures; this is especially noticeable on the rainforest course Alca Vexus.
  • The ship shown has a glossy surface material and is using reflective mapping, a feature mentioned several times in early coverage of the game as well as its original design document. The final version of Fusion uses neither of these features.

Screenshots

These are six of many screenshots that were uploaded to various sites between August 4th and December 8th, 2000; it's presumed all of these screens are of a slightly later build of the ECTS one, since ships are no longer using the surface effects mentioned above.

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• The HUD was largely identical to the final game's at this point, outside of it sporting more color variety (green ship health bar, purple speed indicator, etc.).

• The Van-Uber and G-Tech ships had different color schemes.
  • The G-Tech ship uses a slightly different design to the final game's.

• An early design for the EG-R ship can be seen.

E3 2001 Demo

A near-final build of the game playable at E3; two trailers were made using footage from this build.

• The HUD is now identical to the final game's.

• The camera briefly pulled back when going over a speed-up pad or using a Turbo pickup.

• It appeared any ship was able to use any Super Weapon, instead of each Super Weapon being team-exclusive like in the final game.

• The Van-Uber and G-Tech ships' color schemes have been changed from green/silver and red/silver to the final game's orange/silver and purple/white, respectively.

Concept Renders

Renders dating back to roughly February/March 2000 showcasing early designs for the FEISAR, Van-Uber, Auricom and G-Tech ships, as well as an unknown green ship that resembles WipEout Pulse's Mirage Mantis.

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Cut Features

• Side-Shifts, a feature allowing the player to tap the airbrake twice in rapid succession to shift the ship laterally, were mentioned in early reports on the game; this feature would not see the light of day until the release of Fusion's successor WipEout Pure three years later.

• In a similar vein to the above example, magnetic sections of track were stated by the game's lead designer Rob Francis to be present in early versions of the game. These sections would bind the ship to the track during sections such as loops, corkscrews and vertical drops, thus eliminating the need to keep the ship bound to the track at all times, the method Fusion's final version uses. This feature was cut early on due to technical restrictions, and eventually implemented under the name of Mag-Strips in WipEout Pulse.

• Ships were repeatedly mentioned in early reports as being capable of racing at whichever angle the player chooses, including upside-down sections of track. This feature was likely overhauled into the Gravity Flip Pad, which flips your ship 180 degrees onto an above section of track when driven over.