WipEout HD a success or not?

[ProblemSolver]

Usually we would have to define a metric in which we can messure 'success'
(or the lack of), first. And let me tell you, there are many valid metrics one can
define. Of course there is the trivial metric, investment vs. profit, but this metric
can be rather shortsighted.

It's obvious that any further support depends on whether WipEput HD is a
success or not. How many copies were sold? Judging from the leaderboards of
SR, TT, SP; all at VINETA K, VENOM speed; and ZONE a tight upper bound can
be estimated. We have about 240k entries on these leaderboards (date: 08/01/04),
hence 240k copies of WipEout HD were sold, at best, up until today. What does
this tell us? I don't know.

Personally, I consider WipEout HD as a success according to my very own metric. :)

[IH8YOU]

While I have no idea as to the sales figures, or profit margin this game may or may not have generated, this game has been a smashing success in stealing the past 3 months of my life!

I absolutely adore this game.

[eLhabib]

I'm afraid it sold worse than Sony / SL hoped for.
...which is strange really, given that Pure sold how much? A million?

[IH8YOU]

Thing is - what kind of sales were they hoping for in the States - with ZERO marketing? I'm not talking about minimal marketing - I'm talking about an absolute NULL .

If not for the fact I've got some type of mental AG disorder that I caught in 1995 - I would have been none-the-wiser about this games release.

To the casual AG racer - this games existence likely still eludes.

Making this game physical, I'm sure would increase sales too. Not everyone has a credit card, or desire to find a PSN card. If it were on a Disc, in a store - it would catch the eyes of passers-by, AND, capture the demographic that isn't heavily networked into PSN. (i.e. people who reside in reality)

I'd have no hesitation about going out and purchasing a hard-copy - should one become available. (in spite of already having a digital copy already)

[swift killer]

I think Sony have lost the plot, i think it might be time for them to throw in the towell because in terms of console and game sales, it's having it's teeth kicked in at the moment. I started a thread on this over in the off topic section, it's the same reason i ended up buying a Wii and putting my PS3 back in it's box as a warning of what happens when you believe the hype.

[Darkdrium777]

i ended up buying a Wii and putting my PS3 back in it's box as a warning of what happens when you believe the hype.I think that about sums it up :lol What you think the Wii doesn't sell on hype?
I'd expect stuff like that on sites like the three (http://www.ps3fanboy.com/) fanboys (http://www.xbox360fanboy.com/) blogs (http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/), but here? Disappointment. :/

[RJ O'Connell]

I think Sony have lost the plot, i think it might be time for them to throw in the towell because in terms of console and game sales, it's having it's teeth kicked in at the moment. I started a thread on this over in the off topic section, it's the same reason i ended up buying a Wii and putting my PS3 back in it's box as a warning of what happens when you believe the hype.
Except this thread isn't about PS3 sales, it's about the sales for Wipeout HD. We would be having this same discussion if the game sold poorly on the Xbox 360, Wii, PC, Mac OS X, iPhone etc....why did you have to bring this shiat up here?

As for Wipeout HD being a "failure"? OK, it doesn't look like it will sell a half-million "copies" after all, but I have full confidence that SCE and Studio Liverpool will continue to back the series until SL gets bored with making it. The numbers may not reflect it but HD is one of the marquee titles of PSN.

[Dark_Vincent]

240k copies is a lot for a downloadable game. Didn't Burnout Paradise sell about 30k through the PSN?

[RJ O'Connell]

But Paradise has sold a LOT more on its physical copy. I've debated the idea of downloading this upcoming "ultimate edition" that will have all the downloadable extras available once you download it...assuming I have enough money left over...

[Dark_Vincent]

But Paradise has sold a LOT more on its physical copy. I've debated the idea of downloading this upcoming "ultimate edition" that will have all the downloadable extras available once you download it...assuming I have enough money left over...

Yeah but WipEout doesn't have the development cost of a "physical game" (thus the low price). See, when EA presented the sales numbers for the digital copy of BP, they considered 30k sales to be a success, probably because it didn't cost them almost anything to get those extra bucks. Considering how a good chunk of WipEout HD's content comes from previous entries, 240k sales should guarantee WipEout HD's success..

[Frances_Penfold]

As pointed out elsewhere, the ~250,000 figure is guestimate because some purchasers may not have gone online (one of my IRL friends is in this camp) and because some game copies may have multiple users. At least these factors affect interpretation of the figure in opposite directions!

Speaking for myself, I am disappointed with the sales but comforted in knowing that the game should "have legs" into the future because of digital distribution. In that regard it seems like an excellent title to have put up on the PSN :)


I'm afraid it sold worse than Sony / SL hoped for.
...which is strange really, given that Pure sold how much? A million?

Pure did really, really well. I suppose Pure was positioned perfectly on the launch of a snazzy new handheld system, when it had been some time since other Wipeout releases?


Except this thread isn't about PS3 sales, it's about the sales for Wipeout HD

I hate system wars stuff but hardware sales are relevant here because of installed base, or lack thereof. Low sales of PS3 hardware means fewer copies of PS3 software-- something that Sony and SL are no doubt aware of when evaluating how well WOHD has done. 250,000 sales means a lot more on PS3 than on Xbox360 at the moment :)

I really do wonder what SL is up to these days. The PSP and PS3 platforms seem saturated with the Wipeout franchise-- are they working on PSP2 Wipeout or something new altogether? :banzai

[Wellington86]

Yes, not only is that number unreliable for the reasons given by Frances_Penfold, it is also unreliable because we know that people have been removed from the leaderboards for inactivity. I would suspect the number of these people is quite high because the game was originally bought by a large number of trophy whores. They move on very quickly to other games once they have got as many trophies as they think they can get with a certain amount of effort. I would hazard that the total number of copies sold of wohd is much higher than 250k.

Also, the entire game is recycled content. This means that a) the game was much cheaper to produce than usual, and b) expected sales will not have been very high.

To be honest I doubt that the pessimistic tone of this thread is shared at SCEE.

[bik3rluke]

WipEout HD is amazing. The best game I've ever played.

[Frances_Penfold]

To be honest I doubt that the pessimistic tone of this thread is shared at SCEE

Probably not, though the overall mood at Sony's electronic entertainment divisions is probably not very upbeat ATM :(

[IH8YOU]

Probably not, though the overall mood at Sony's electronic entertainment divisions is probably not very upbeat ATM :(

:::Takes wad of cash out of pocket:::

Sony - this can be yours if you play your cards just right. (read below)

More DLC for WOHD. = Pair
Wipeout 3 SE ported / updated for the PS3 - and sold in the US. = Royal Flush
An entirely new Wipeout on the PS3. = I'll (@*k your d*@ks

[ProblemSolver]

@Frances_Penfold
The probability that you've got WipEout HD without never being online after
a race on VINETA K is very, very low. And that 'multiple user' argument will
likely remove 1% from the estimate.


... it is also unreliable because we know that
people have been removed from the leaderboards for inactivity. I would suspect the number of these people is quite high because the game was originally bought by a large number of trophy whores. They move on very quickly to other games once they have got as many trophies as they think they can get with a certain amount of effort.

I monitor the amount of entries of the ZONE leaderboard rather closely.
VINETA K ZONE had about 170k entries after about one and a half month
and AP ZONE had about 180k entries. But that situation has changed.
VK has now 240k entries, but on AP we can see a drop down to 110k due to
people being removed from it. Hence, about 70k people were removed from
AP. If we assume, at best, that the same amount of people were removed
from VK, then we would theoretically have 310k entries on VK, leading to
310k copies sold. Really? Don't know. If we factor in that 1 out of 5 copies
were being shared (my guess), then the given number drops down to about
250k again. Why is it possible to share that game, anyways?

But I can't see, on the information given, how we would get a figure of about
"I would hazard that the total number of copies sold of wohd is much higher
than 250k"? 400k? Anyways, who said that 250k copies is a bad result? What
is the metric?

I simply want to know if WipEout HD is a success for SL, such that we
can expect DLC or whatever. And maybe some people on this message
board know a little bit more about it. ;)

[Laeke]

I think that the fact it is a PSN game sold at 20 Euros (more or less) is pretty telling: maybe Sony wanted to experiment and to have a flagship title for the PSN, but it sure seems like they didn't expect to sell a ton of them on discs at full price. It sold well on the PSP but then again there was no installment on an home console since 2002... and we are speaking of the PS2, most successful home system ever at this point.

Expectations probably changed quite a bit since game went into development, because the PS3 sales numbers were very under what was expected at the beginning.

I have no idea if it is a "success" for Sony or SL: You make sound points ProblemSolver, but fact is that the leaderboard thing is a bit in the air... quite a lot of people in the world do not go online with their PS3. While you have to go at least once to download the game, well, who knows? But the 250k seems like a good estimate. It seems OK if you compare with the installed user base and activity around the game in non-gaming message board. The game also had little marketing and I think it should have some legs.

In my case, WOHD is the title that convinced me to get a PS3 (not the only one, but the one that caught my interest a bit before I had the financial means to acquire a new console system).

[ProblemSolver]

@Laeke:
"... You make sound points ProblemSolver, but fact is that the leaderboard thing is a bit in the air...

Yeah, right. But that's the only information we have.

If anyone can make a better estimate, don't be shy. ;)

[Laeke]

I'm french and a cartesian, so I have a tendency to doubt, even when I consider an assumption reasonable given the little info we have: i do agree that 250-300k seems about right as far as we can tell.

Although my main point was that the Wipeout series is not really what you would call a "blockbuster" and this should be taken in consideration (not that anyone said the game bombed). And I don't remember a lot of marketing for the title: maybe Sony tought that for such a title (which is, I guess, "niche") word-of-mouth would suffice. Marketing and advertisement are extra -and heavy- costs.

My wild guess would be that the game is doing OK in the context of the PS3. I do not know when development started, they had maybe far larger objectives to begin with before the system release... but the game is not really at fault there, heh?

[Frances_Penfold]

Pretty much all sales data that consumers have access to are estimated-- even Media Create and NPD :)

My guess, ProblemSolver, is that your estimate is pretty close. As you say, it's hard to *interpret* the values because it depends on the efforts that went into development and Sony's expectations. Generally AAA first-party efforts-- which is certainly what I would consider WOHD to be-- sell more than 250,000 copies. At least, that's my sense from following sales data (via Media Create or NPD numbers) on neoGAF and IGN and other places. So I'd agree with elHabib that WOHD sales were ok, disappointing but not awful. Not that I'm an expert on this or anything ;)

For possible DLC, what's maybe the biggest concern is this :(
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/technology/article5446963.ece

[Laeke]

I do not know if WOHD can be considered an "AAA" title, in the different meanings of the word. I do not know what budget was invested in, so maybe I am far off on the financial side.

Not to knock SL off, as I think the game is fine and with a good level of "polish", but I wouldn't say the content of the game is "AAA". Yeah, they could have easily put the game on a disc and sell it for 50-70€ and it wouldn't be a ripoff. For 20€, I think the actual value of the game is excellent. But I'd say we are far off what is actually considered an AAA game content-wise. The game is "only" 8 tracks (and an half, with reverses), online play is very basic. When the Gran Turismo game is gonna be released (:lol 2015 maybe?), there will be way more than 8 tracks and 12 vehicles.

So again, not a way of knocking the game, I do think it is very good and that SL did a wonderful job. Magnificent graphics, absolutely awesome artistic direction, great sound, good game. But it has a "limited scope" compared to something like GTA, Gran Turismo of MGS4 (as far as comparing apples and oranges go).

My opinion is that WO is somewhat a "niche" game although it is part of the "Playstation brand" and that WOHD obviously serves as a forefront image -for Sony, for the HD graphics of the PS3, for the PSN-. But maybe Sony and SL think differently, I cannot really tell...

[kanar]

Thanks for the link, Frances Penfold. Still playing? I hope to race you one day on Ps3. Of course 250k or 300k copies sold is not enough, for the best game ever. As many of us said, this is great when you know there was no ads, only the word of mouth... I'm not surprised, they haven't money to spare for the best game ever promotion... So it seems it's all up to us... We have to spread the new through this world, by any means necessary : wipeout Hd rules. A lot.

[H3avyM3tal]

I think all things cosidered, the game sold quite well. It is a downloadable title, nothing new in it to offer, and it is cheap. Besides, how many people are working on this game?

Frances Penfold, SONY and SCE are not the same thing (Same parents, but different children).

[kanar]

I remember that fact, more than 10 years ago now (already said that in the past). One night we went out to party with friends in a huge nightclub complex near Montpellier (nice city cos' lot of universities=chicks:P). I passed the whole night on wipeout 1, IN the nightclub. Fantastic advertising campaign : nightclubs. So fun, and what a coincidence guys, I weared a blue AG-SYS shirt that particular night... I still remember that moment... The music, the dancing crowd, & guys like me playing wipeout (by the way, it was your dream Mad-Ice!). It was written for many of us, we would go back to Wipeout one day. Now it's done, it would be great that wipeout franchise invade nightclubs again. Wipeout is a transcendant experience, like music. Of course this is my 2 euro cents lol.

[Frances_Penfold]

SONY and SCE are not the same thing

My understanding (maybe wrong!) is that the Sony as an "electronics group" is in trouble, and that the gaming division is one part of the group that is most contributing to the trouble. Financial losses in the gaming division are on the order of 5 billion dollars since 2006, and the underwhelming performance of PS3 (and to a lesser extent the PSP) suggest that investment made to hardware won't be recovered anytime soon.

Of course, it may be that Stringer and other upper management value the future potential of the gaming divisions too much to touch it! It's hard financial times, here's hoping that the gaming industry isn't too much affected ;)


Still playing? I hope to race you one day on Ps3. Of course 250k or 300k copies sold is not enough, for the best game ever.

WOHD is indeed awesome! Not playing too much at the moment due to workload but hopefully later in January!


I do not know if WOHD can be considered an "AAA" title, in the different meanings of the word. I do not know what budget was invested in, so maybe I am far off on the financial side.


Yeah, you are right. Maybe it's AAA for a PSN title though ;) Here's hoping that it continues to sell well through the PS3's lifespan.

[Laeke]

Yeah the whole nightclub-music thing is important, in a way. I think I read on this board that Wipeout was mostly an European thing, sales wise. I think the original game(s) really tied in with an European (and English) culture. Watching the soundtrack of former games is a proof of that. I believe that techno or electronic music had a lesser "impact" culturally in the USA even though American artists are major players in the history of this music. (Very general statement thus a bit simplistic: basically what I mean is that Derrick May or Juan Atkins are much smaller stars in the US than KLF in the UK).

But maybe the game is past its "prime". The first Wipeout game were fresh & hip but that was ten years ago, so I do not know if such marketing was considered and brushed off...

[kanar]

Damn Laeke your english is quite perfect wow... Yeah, wipeout was "hype" ten years ago, I was just wondering how it could be hype again... I'm too much intoxicated with this game after one year of pulse & hd now... I'm not fair enough in my statement lol.

[blackwiggle]

Sony is losing money hand over fist in it's music division.
This has been the case for years.
Sony decision to set up it's own music download sites [using ATRAC] was a disaster,it's now shed it's self of ATRAC and all products that supported it and closed the useless download service.[Now all it's got to do is get rid of all those mooching sycophants in SONY MUSIC that pat each other on the back signing god awful rejects from idol and the like]

If it wasn't for the former head of Warners becoming the head of Sony we would still be in a format war with HDDVD [that's how Sony won that one].

PIONEER has stopped making it's own Plazma screens,I think SONY might be doing the same on it's big ticket items,which it would never have considered doing previously just for saving face.

[Axel]

The problem with Sony is in the way the organisation structure is set up. How that affects SL is not known. But remember SL should be fine after Studio Leeds was closed a couple of years back. So I think them guys should be fine. But I also do think their roster of games will expand. Put it this way, they may and try to diversify into other genres or games or different racing games.

They need to justify why Sony should still keep them. With the Credit Crunch and everything, no one is safe. Even the big companies. I'm sure SL will pull through, but I also have a feeling that certain design choices would be made to insure maximum profitability. So we may see more stuff like Pilot Assist etc which is not bad, but you get my drift :P

[eLhabib]

Well actually, SL have given away the F1 series (afaik) which used to be their bread and butter once... :?

[Axel]

They did? Oh right hmmmmmm well least hope they come up with something new then.

[LOUDandPROUD]

Want to start by saying I'm a first time poster here and I'm completely addicted to WipEout HD. What an incredible game, especially at $20. I went through the campaign on novice difficulty first, with a Gold in every event. Now I'm replaying the campaign on elite difficulty...I'm halfway through, so far, with gold in all the events. I imagine it's going to get increasingly harder to get gold on elite the farther I get...especially when I hit the Phantom events, but I welcome the challenge. Anyway, for me, the replay value of this game is super high and you can find me playing online pretty much daily. I can't get enough of it!

So, I tried to find SCEA sales data for this game, but was unsuccessful. I was, however, able to find some data regarding SCEE, via PS3 Fanboy, which sounded promising. Here it is, for those who haven't seen it already:

"Sony's just informed us that WipEout HD's been a pretty big success story. It is SCEE's best, and fastest, selling PSN download for the month of November. But SCEE's still not happy. It wants more people to enjoy the game, so it's releasing a demo version onto the European store next week. On Christmas Eve, to be precise

The demo will include a single track from the game. Once you've played that through you'll then be given a preview of all the other tracks. If that sufficiently tickles your fancy, you can buy the full version directly from the demo for a temporary reduced price. SCEE doesn't say what the cheaper price is, exactly. Only that it will return to its normal price on January 8th. We're betting this lower price and demo will persuade a good number of people, drunk on festive cheer, to part with their cash."

Now, if only SCEA had done something similar, I imagine sales here in the U.S. would have been MUCH better. What were they thinking? No demo? It's beyond me...

Well, I've gone on enough. Here's hoping for some DLC in the near future, as well as an all new WipEout down the road.

Hope to see you all online!

LOUDandPROUD

[kanar]

welcome here, LoudAndProud, great intro, & still another fresh exemple of the wipeout hd effect : total addiction from the start lol

[LOUDandPROUD]

Thanks, kanar! I'm psyched to have found this forum! Reading through this thread, I also happened to recognize someone I played against (and beat) online a few days ago...he goes by the ID of IH8YOU. Not sure if he remembers me, but his ID is unforgettable...and hilarious. You out there, IH8YOU? Rematch maybe? :D

[IH8YOU]

Lowell MA? You're less than 20 minutes down the road from me!

Haah.

You beat me, and I do remember your name. I tend to when I'm beaten.

Rematch is definitely in order, maybe loser buys dinner? :lol

[Axel]

Sounds like a date :P

[kanar]

LOL yeah this is speed dating mate! (War & Love guys!)

[LOUDandPROUD]

Lowell MA? You're less than 20 minutes down the road from me!

Haah.

You beat me, and I do remember your name. I tend to when I'm beaten.

Rematch is definitely in order, maybe loser buys dinner? :lol

Not sure about dinner (unless you're a girl, of course...haha)...as the other posters "date" comments insinuated, that would just be weird...LOL. That's cool that you're so close though...small world. Ok, so a rematch is on then...I'll shoot you a friend request when I get home so we can get something set up (the race...note a dinner date lol). You're going down...AGAIN. Wait...that just sounded WRONG. :lol

[H3avyM3tal]

Lol, looks to me WOHD is a huge success!

"Lets have dinner on Sebenco Climb!"

"Ok, you'll bring the food and I'll bring the ammunition! We can shoot those pilots as they pass through! Scored 2 Icarass last week!"

"Haha, your hilarious man, Icarass!"

WOHD - The place where love CAN happen!

[IH8YOU]

I don't date AG Pilots.

No worries! :P

[pildog]

I have no idea about sales figures, but my take is that Wipeout HD was undertaken more an experiment rather than as an attempt to make a full-blown game... an experiment that has worked better than anyone could have guessed.

As it stands WO HD does not warrant a full blown release, its far too basic for that, but with several DLC (original content) releases and fixes, it may be.

Sony need all the good games that it can get its hands on, and should support the Wipeout HD fanbase as much as possible.

[LOUDandPROUD]

I don't date AG Pilots.

No worries! :P

LMBO! That's right! I was using AG that day, huh?! You remember! Too funny. I actually don't have an allegiance to any particular team though (I admit I may have developed a bit of an attachment to Auricom, however)...I can appreciate the strengths, weaknesses and challenges of them all. Lately I've been switching between them to unlock every skin...that day I played you just happened to be AG day. I've still got Qirex and Goteki to go, then maybe I'll finally settle down with a favorite or two...or three...or four. I have to say though, that an expert Icaras pilot is unbeatable for the most part...probably the best team, as I'm sure many would agree...and I do use them quite a bit myself, though I feel a bit dirty afterwards...lol. However, when faced with a bunch of Icaras pilots in a race, I take much pleasure in beating them with a different team lol.

Anyway, see you soon on the track!

[leungbok]

Icaras is a very fast ship and some of the world's best pilots are using it with success...

...but...the fastest pilot i know on hd, is actually racing a feisar, so the icaras supremacy... :rolleyes:

To choose the most efficient ship you have to consider the track too ;)

[ProblemSolver]

Why wasn't there a demo of WipEout HD in the first place? I think, due to the
delay, they (SL) weren't right on schedule any longer and hence releasing the
game as fast as possible was of utmost importance. Do you remember bugs like
the 'PRESS SE...' in photo mode, the debug info, or the friend list problem? ;)

I've done a lot of advertising for WipEout HD. I even got some PC gamers
to buy themself a PS3 for WOHD -- after they have seen me on ZONE. They
were absolutely delighted on how that game was running in all its glory.


Ah ... welcome to teH zone, Mr. LOUDandPROUD! :)

[LOUDandPROUD]

To choose the most efficient ship you have to consider the track too ;)

Yes, I've discovered that to be very true, hence my lack of a true love affair with any particular ship...



Ah ... welcome to teH zone, Mr. LOUDandPROUD! :)

Thank you very much, Sir! Happy to be here! :D

[TheFrostE]

yeah, icaras is good, but the ship is only as good as the pilot, the right ship for the right track doesnt really mean anything either. in a battle with weapons and other racers, its anyones game. You could be eliminated, not get a lot of turbos...anything, its luck of the draw when it comes down to that. ive raced blazing times with triakis on sebenco reversed. its possible, you just need to practice.

my wipeout loyalty through the years stays with feisar though. because everybody knows that the future is Euro.

[yeldar2097]

You could be eliminated, not get a lot of turbos...

you mean that's not meant to happen every race? :|

i had to turn off sfx due to the woman repeating: "bomb", "quake", "missile", "rockets", "quake", "unlucky" every time i race. stupid woman.

[darkfaerytales]

the game is out by only three mounths, maybe it is yet too early for judge it a success or not, anyway it's a good thread to argue an interesting thing who touch everybody us, anyway back on topic i think maybe as a phisical copy it would have sell far better , i've just noticed that some ps3 owner even don't know nothing yet about its existence, my cousin for exemple and my cousin isn't the type of occasional player who had bought a ps3 just for fight boredom and cannot acces the net, he is exatly oppose! when i've just let see him the game his reaction has been :eek

ok maybe the psn exclusivity is the ONE big factor that made wipeout hd such particular game, the fact that even without a phisical blu ray copy and among such " little " games are on psn it KICK MAJOR ASS to the most of the games around

[yeldar2097]

definately agree there, physical copy would sell like hot cakes. my brother's had a ps3 for about a year and he introduced me to wipeout in the first place. he saw i was playing HD and was like 'WTF!?? where'd you get that?'. put it in shops (or promise us a nice, shiny, new wipeout for next year)!

[blackwiggle]

I don't think WOHD will ever come out on disc,if you watch that "Making of WOHD"it mentioned that it was only ever going to be download able, SL guys repeat that fact several times.

One thing I think nobody would want is to go back to the loading times if it were on disc.
I know I wouldn't,imagine loading times for an online tournament,no thanks.

There seems to be quite a few new players online since Xmas,of the few I've messaged,it seems most only know WO from XL/2097 or WO3,and are in their 30's,a lot of these new players are women.

So HD seems to have a broad appeal over all ages and both sexes.
Not many games can say that.

[darkfaerytales]

naahh yelard the woman computer voice is dead sexy! c'mon!!!

anyway back on topic i think pure was a major success for some key factors
first was been, as another friend has already pointed one of very first games in newly fresh system, second was a sort of " reborn " new & fresh game from the ashes after the supposed failure who was fusion, most wiper has smell the scent of " redemption " by SL just from the reintrodution of teams like ag sys, assegai,qirex & company and the simple overall presentation of the game;
third very very important WAS A HUGE SUCCESS IN JAPAN
fourth- WAS FULL & HUGE OF DOWNLOADABLE CONTENT

[Laeke]

There seems to be quite a few new players online since Xmas,of the few I've messaged,it seems most only know WO from XL/2097 or WO3,and are in their 30's,a lot of these new players are women.


That would be me. Except the women thing. And it was before Christmas. I'm a tad below 30 too.
I always liked WO a lot, but I jumped right from the 2097 (still have it at home) to this one.

The online is not overcrowded: I feared it would "die" first time I connected, but the number of people and lobbies seems consistent, which is good.

[Connavar]

According to this interview, Wipeout HD was a (financial) success:
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/sony-new-studios-will-help-us-innovate



"Evolution and our Liverpool Studio have now merged in terms of management structure and using combined resources. Liverpool had great success this year with Wipeout HD and they also helped on MotorStorm as well," revealed Denny.

[darkfaerytales]

ok then SL BRING US DLC!!!!!!

[blackwiggle]

Just before I posted at 8.24am yesterday there were 255,370 Venom/Vintea K times posted.

35 hours later there are 267,491.....or a bit over 12,000 units sold if one were to go by this as a sales marker.

Just thought you might like to know.

[rdmx]

Actually I think that's because the demo also uploads times.

[blackwiggle]

That's a bit of a bad joke isn't it having the Demo list your times,I think/hope your wrong about that.
Can you actually look at the records from the demo?
If not,what would the point be of recording peoples demo race times?
And if they can't play online then their times will not be sent to SL servers for recording.

I just checked the numbers again....267,879 UP another 389 since my last post......anybody got the demo to confirm that times are recorded?

[rdmx]

Some people find time leaderboards to be an exciting feature, and I wouldn't be surprised if it uploaded the times. Neither do I see why it's a bad thing for demo times to be uploaded - it's fundamentally the same game minus features.