Race start sequence

[P52Smith]

I would like to see a more realistic start sequence than a camera floating around.

For example we get the 'Welcome to ...' then we see the speed and weapon pads activate followed by any mag-locks. Then the start bar flickers into life as the ships rise out of the pits in a similar but shorter style to fusion.
Then it's "Ready..........3...2...1.....GO"

[swift killer]

Don't know about that, you know what they say, if something is'nt broken, don't fix it.

[P52Smith]

Not broken, boring.

How many people skip Pulse's opening? Most.
Why not have something more interesting, perhaps random camera angles on the above features which reveal skil-cuts which would otherwise be unnoticed.

These short clips could be useful to watch and less people would skip them as a result.

[Lance]

I suspect that no matter how interesting an opening sequence is, after a few run throughs, most people are just going to want to get on with the game and will bypass the opening as fast as possible. And if they can't bypass the opening, they will be frustrated and angry.

And start throwing things.


Like the game.


Out. :D

[Darkdrium777]

I did watch all of the intros a few times, but now I just skip them for the reason Lance mentioned.

[eLhabib]

Y'know, that was actually one of the things I adored about Fusion: seeing the ships being elevated to the track, out of their team hangars, just like the glorious intro FMV of the original wipEout pictured it. I would LOVE to see that return, and the 'switching on' the track, with pads, billboards and all, sounds like a very sweet idea, too. Of course, it does have to be skip-able.

[Hybrid Divide]

I actually LOVE the track descriptions. Gives me more insight into the WipEout universe.

(See my thread in The Pilot's Lounge "Retro Track Narration Descriptions" or something like that)

Wouldn't mind seeing the weapons pad activations and such. Though I don't think they need to be done on a Per-Track basis. Might be cool for an intro, though.

[P52Smith]

The track descriptions are the same as those found on www.wipeoutpulse.com. If they were different it might be more worth it.

I agree that the opening must be skip-able but there should be some incentive to watch, like the hidden skill-cuts I mentioned above.

Once the player has mastered the track and knows it back to front I see no problem with skipping in such cases.

When I play Pulse I let it get to "Welcome to 'X'" then press x to skip it, as this is the only bit I find realistic. For me, the whole floating camera which looks at the environment at the begining of a race is unrealistic, and slow.

I didn't mind Pure's openings but would have preferred to see the ships rise out of the pits as in Fusion. I only actually realised that they were pit doors when I played fusion at my friend's house, as Pure is the first WipEout I knew of, I didn't even realise there was a whole series until I first found this place.

Thanks for your thoughts, keep them coming.

[Medusa]

If there has to be an intro sequence, I just wish there was an on/off selection from the main menus, so I wouldn't have to press x each time to skip it. I don't mind seeing a sequence once or twice, but as Lance said, most just want to race already!

I found the length of the original WipEout's sequence just right. Fusion's was way too long for me and the sounds were incredible annoying (that beeping, aargh! I just wanted to put my earplugs in...). The sequences in Pulse just bored me to death, and I don't even remember Pure's - which probably means I was okay with them.:+

Keep the sequences short, I say, and then it doesn't matter too much what's going on in them. Admiring the track is what you do when you're TTing. :D

[Chill]

An intro that shows your craft with all the bots, and the hangar opening up, then following the craft rise up from underneath the track... Only one change from the first Wipeout's intro video... the doors wouldn't take so long to open and close, after all it is later in the future... and if their would be a pause before conting down starts, let the crowd's roars be the loudest and heaviest heard at this point... with even ghusts of wind and rain or relations of such play a role at this point as well as the grid flags flap with victory!!! RAAWW!!!!

Hearing random team chants would be a great addition as well...

[Darkdrium777]

the doors wouldn't take so long to open and close, after all it is later in the future...If only you had been a developper of Mass Effect... Damn the elevators in there are so slooooow... And it's set in the future too, on a very futuristic city. :x

Anyways, I also vouch for interesting intros that make the game feel more like a special event rather than a history class... Zzzzz

[andy]

maybe a track with fireworks that go off along the start grid when the screens say GO - but not all the tracks - just one.

Id like to see different 3,2,1,GO screens for each different track, and other things that make each track unique. Id like to hear different voices for different tracks too, like a russian voice on a russian track, maybe even in russian language, to say 3,2,1,GO.

as for the intro bit, i like wip3out's simple move around the ship and then straight into the race. ive never liked pulse's, doesn't seem like wipeout to have all that talking in it.

[Lance]

like a special event rather than a history class... Zzzzz

History is one of the most interesting subjects in the world if one pursues it on one's own, but there tends to be too high a percentage of history teachers who are lazy and dull. There is a tendency to simply parrot the book in class. Just my less than totally informed opinion.

[Darkdrium777]

I agree, history in itself is not boring. But the fact that the semi-robotic voice keeps hammering the same thing in our heads with the same monotonous tone makes it boring. And since what it says is the story and history of the track, well...
I've had many boring teachers in many different classes, I'm sure I have not seen the end of it. I had some cool history teachers, some a bit less cool.
Anyway the point is that the introductions in Pulse are boring, once you've heard them a few times it's enough. If it's the same in HD (Which I doubt, from what we've seen it's only the camera angles with sound effects) I hope you can somehow skip the intro so it doesn't have to load it before the track.

[trentdf]

i love the idea of different accents/ languages counting down. I'd also like to hear different warning accents depending on the nationality of the ship your racing in. This would probably send me back to Qirex if they had that sexy Wipeout 3 voice... rawwwwwket.. i love it :)

[Xavier]

Different languages would be perfect! Count the "3, 2, 1" in the language of teh course, and announce the incoming weapons and suchlike in the language of the pilot. Fun, realistic, *and* educational!

And I love Chill's idea of team chants too -- if you're the "home" team, imagine coming around the final turn with the fans singing and chanting your team name, a little Doppler effect as you whiz past them; maybe a little booing if the hometown craft hits the walls. How soundproof are these craft? How well would the pilot be able to hear outside?

[P52Smith]

We know that the craft can hear general crowd cheering as they fly past the stands and the sounds of the weapons, but otherwise we have no idea.

Having all the speech sounds in different languages would take lots of space on the UMD and may reduce the number of tracks etc avaliable. A way around this could be to make this a downloadable feature, free, from the PSN Store.
I think that it should be in the local accent to the area, but in English (or the language you are playing in).

I like the idea of an option to turn the start videos off, but I think the "Welcome to 'X'" should happen while you wait to start off. Alternatively, there could be different styles of opening, Full Start is like I said in my first post in this thread, Quick Start is just the pit doors opening and No Start is just the "Welcome to 'X'" whilst waiting to start.

[Xavier]

Each sound clip is only a few seconds long, if that, so I think many languages could be added at the cost of sacrificing a single music track -- and each Wipeout game seems to have at least one forgettable music track. ^^; They could even dump the audio files describing the features of the tracks (just leave the text only) and use that space. As many here have commented, nobody listens to those descriptions after the first time.

[Lance]

They don't think any of the music tracks are disposable when they first put them in there. ;)

[andy]

Having all the speech sounds in different languages would take lots of space on the UMD and may reduce the number of tracks etc avaliable. A way around this could be to make this a downloadable feature, free, from the PSN Store.
I think that it should be in the local accent to the area, but in English (or the language you are playing in).

im sure there's plenty of room on a blu-ray =) and when i said different languages, i meant just for the 3,2,1,GO - the weapons and alerts would still be in english for convenience, but still with different regional accents =)

[Darkdrium777]

There is plenty of room for sound effects on the UMD. A UMD can hold 1.8GB of data, and WipEout Pulse is around 400MB or so in ISO format ripped from the UMD. So there is plenty of room for that kind of sounds. WipEout Pure is even smaller.

[andy]

plenty of room then =)

how about the floor fades into a red glow, pulses 3 times and then green on GO, before fading back into the course colours again.

[P52Smith]

Good idea, but imagine having to make this work around the pits.

Having lights around the edge of each pit door and all the way down the length of each wall which do this would be simpler to implement, both realistically and digitally.

[andy]

i was gonna say that too but i didnt know how to word it =P but my idea would probably only needs some colour filtered flood lights on the sides or above the track so its not that hard to pull off.

also can we have some echo with the 3 2 1 GO?

and on an off topic note, i want pits back on the big console wipeouts xD

[Chill]

Mabye one day we could have the race start out with really hot girls washing down the crafts in wet shirts and bikinis with techno and flashing lights before the rise into the race... :o and have a choice not to of course...

[Kscorps]

I'd like the ships to be resting on the ground then you hear the the AG engines turn on, then it floats up in the air and the countdown begins.

It would also be cool if you were in a first person perspective, that it would look like the first part of the Pule intro. That would PWN.

[andy]

ooh, if they bring back the first person cockpit view, id love to see all your computers and lights in the cockpit turn on and say lots of cool futuristic computer stuff like "initiated" and "engaged" and "engine online" accompanied by the engine slowly revving up like a jet engine and the cockpit rattling due to the vibrations from the engine and a crosshair and speed readout projected onto the windscreen. Maybe even check your helmet, press a button and your hud appears on your visor. Then you start to hear the mufflled countdown through the cockpit window from outside, synchronised with a number in the bottom right corner of the screen, so as not to distract you by being a big number, right infront, blocking your vision, and the countdown on the big screen above the track. Then on GO you shoot off, camera knocks back as if your head was pulled back by the G forces, your computer screens turn red and flicker a bit while the whole cockpit shakes and rattles, strong sound of wind on the window and flash of flourescent blue light as the checkpoint beam passes through the cockpit.

[Lance]

Mabye one day we could have the race start out with really hot girls washing down the crafts in wet shirts and bikinis with techno and flashing lights before the rise into the race... :o and have a choice not to of course...

And a choice to have other sorts of hot folk washing the racecraft.

With slo-mo closeups. :D

[Chill]

Agreed Lance... both choices should be available if they are to be existent at all... ;)

I wouldn't imagine the cockpit having any more rattle than the F-16, as it'll be set even further in the future... but this should be the case if they were to re-do the F3600 racing series (which would be so sweet!!)...

[eLhabib]

Andy, you should definitely write some fan-fiction. I thoroughly enjoyed the read of that start sequence! :+

[P52Smith]

Good but it may have to wait for a full blown PS3 WipEout.

I think the extra camera view could be an option easily enough.

Now, you know the lights down the edge of the start grid? How about they start off all lit but turn off a pair at a time with the last 3 accompanied by 3...2...1....GO and a 'wave' of light passes from back to front before they take on a pattern like they do all the time now.

[WolfKill01]

I don't know about you guys but I'd love to see Curly from
wipeout 3 comeback...3...2...1...GO! He was just so amusing.

[jimsin]

I love the panning views of the circuits that come up before the race - it's good to be able to go straight past them, but nice to see them - gives you a feel that you're racing somewhere real, which adds to the experience.

One thing that I'd love to see added to that sequence is an internal cockpit view of the pilot on the grid, the sound would change to the hum of the cockpit noises - just for a few seconds, like the other views that currently come up in Wipeout HD. Think it would really add to the 'calm before the storm' atmosphere.

Obviously this would be better still if you could choose male/female pilot model, and maybe a style/colour of race gear.

Ha - all sounds very sad, but I think that the atmosphere of Wipeout is almost as important as the racing, and I reckon that this would be a nice improvement.

[LOUDandPROUD]

I like that idea! That would be really cool!

[IH8YOU]

I second the Wipeout 3 count down announcer - think that was my favorite one to date.

[Aeroracer]

lol....maybe they should put racing babes in hot pants on the track raving flags for a start to a race.:donut:donut:donut

[Xavier]

lol....maybe they should put racing babes in hot pants on the track raving flags for a start to a race.:donut:donut:donut

Hot pants!? The babes should be wearing mini-skirts!

http://image.www.rakuten.co.jp/asktrading/img10487162867.jpeg

http://pds.exblog.jp/pds/1/200608/09/16/b0098616_2311326.jpg

[Aeroracer]

no no no

they should put drama cat in the start sequence..as soon as he looks around you gotta press x for a turbo start.:dizzy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7urjbKDE14

[Lance]

Historical note: "Hot Pants" were extremely short shorts. As short below the waist as a minidress, and non-existent above the waist.