Geography Question

[Mobius]

Silly litte musing this, but does anyone know if the whole thing is based on Makana again, a neighboring island or worlidwide liek previous games?

I know it's not really the most important question in the world but it was worth a shot :)

[infoxicated]

'Tis worldwide.

[Fascia]

In a similar note to that question, from the screenshots i've seen so far all of Pulse's tracks are set in a neo-industrial style enviroments. Does anyone know if there will be a repeat of country-esque style tracks such as Blue Ridge, or Staton Park?

[Dogg Thang]

Well there was one early screenshot that looked like Arizona or somewhere. Looked very cool so I'm holding out hope that there will be quite a variety in the locations.

I didn't actually realise how enclosed many of the Pure environments are until yesterday. Even Blue Ridge has more tunnel than anything else and much of the outdoor bits are between two great big rock walls. With the lake and the mountain background, even just the snippets of outdoors can make such a difference. One thing I'll say for Pure - the environments are superb.

[Egg]

"Even Blue Ridge has more tunnel than anything else ..."

Aha! Keeps the framerate more consistent if you can't see massive stretches of track all the time. Tunnels are endlessly useful for hiding the 'pop-in' of the next chunk of scenery ... except for Sol 2, where the artists used thick clouds instead.

[Dogg Thang]

Yep, I remember that from the old Ridge Racer days. Wipeout 3 SE put a bit rock arch in one of the sections of Altima too which I would assume was to combat the pop-in of the original.

What Blue Ridge really shows is how it can be done while still giving people the feeling of space. It must be a balance thing. I do love my open spaces though. There are a couple of really impressive open sections in PSP Outrun C2C.

[Lance]

The original WO sures gives a great feel of open space. Not very high-resolution, of course.

[Medusa]

I am glad to hear it will be set in more locations than pure! Perhaps a bit more region/earth/topography inclusive than miscellaneous tracks which seem to be just plopped on even ground...or sky...
(BTW, glad to see you back Lancelot! thought you might have gone searching for the grail, which BTW it is not your destiny to find!)

[Lance]

My highly-unlikely-to-happen-except-by-cloning son is supposed to achieve the Grail, but I am far too earthly for such ethereal pastimes as grail-hunting.

Quail, perhaps. With a camera.

[Sausehuhn]

Shame there's again no track located in the jungle.

Hah! Fusion's Alca Vexus was so nice. Also had a nice feel of open space (and actually there was lots of open space).

[Dogg Thang]

I don't remember that one but I did always love Valpariso (spelling probably incorrect) from 2097. Do we know that there won't be any forest/jungle tracks? If they were all industrial Delta-style, there's be no need to have them spread across the world. I'm hoping there's a reason for that.

[Sausehuhn]

Alca Vexus :)

http://ps2media.ign.com/media/previews2/image/wipeout/wipeout_6.jpg

http://ps2media.ign.com/media/previews2/image/wipeout/wipeout_3.jpg

[Frances_Penfold]

Keeps the framerate more consistent if you can't see massive stretches of track all the time. Tunnels are endlessly useful for hiding the 'pop-in' of the next chunk of scenery ... except for Sol 2, where the artists used thick clouds instead.

Interesting. I hadn't noticed but now that you mention it...

Ah, the clever things you developers come up with :)

I've always been impressed with how "open" and "natural" the extra-track environments feel in Wipeout in comparison to other fast-paced futuristic racing games.

[RJ O'Connell]

Wait, Pure had draw-in/pop-up syndrome?!?!?

I'm usually too caught up in the actual racing to notice, as per usual. Of course in WO1 and XL it's almost too obvious - the draw distance in those two is amazingly short! Ah, advancing technology - don't you love it?

[Dr. Angryman]

Indeed, advancing technology has made us happy, in more ways than one! ;)

I had an idea of a circuit based in space. Not on a planet but rather floating in space or on a giant space station. ;) There was a circuit on XGRA just like that, the ERF. It was my favorite circuit. :hyper

[Fascia]

I guess there's this, one of the first screenshots to be released for pulse: http://images.eurogamer.net/assets/articles//a/7/4/6/1/2/ss_preview_Screen12.jpg?slideshow=true

Of course there's every possibility that that track hasn't made the cut to the final version. But remember guys, there's going to be 12 tracks in total on launch (Not counting reverse versions), and at most we've seen 4 or 5.

[Dogg Thang]

That shot is of the track featured in the most recent video of Pulse. It definitely made the cut.