Wipeout HD is a 2008 racing video game developed by Studio Liverpool and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 3.

It was originally released digitally on the PlayStation Network in September 2008, before a major expansion pack titled Wipeout HD Fury came in July 2009, followed by a retail version made available in Europe in October that year.

Wipeout HD, along with its Fury expansion pack, was also chosen as a free offering as part of Sony's "Welcome Back" programme due to the 2011 PlayStation Network outage.

In "Photo Mode", the player can take screenshots of the completed race and may change the exposure, saturation, lens focus, or add effects such as depth of field or motion blur.

[16] Offensive weapons include machine guns, missiles, rockets, and a "quake" – which comes in the form of a devastating earthquake that damages all opponents situated in front of the player.

[27] David Reeves, CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE), stated that it was a technical problem with the game that they were yet to solve.

[28] These reports were addressed by a SCEE representative, who claimed that the delay was due to numerous improvements and added features, which included the reverse tracks, four extra ships, two new heads-up displays, the addition of a two-player offline split screen mode, and trophy support.

[29] A comparison video between the preview and final builds later showed greatly toned down equaliser visuals in the game's "Zone Mode".

[32][33][34][35] The same update released alongside the Fury expansion pack introduced in-game advertisements, found in the loading screens before a race.

[3] Chris Roper from the American IGN praised the lighting effects and the attention to detail made to the ships and tracks, which he thought was visually impressive in 1080p and 60 frames per second.

Furthermore, Cocker opined that "all of the [PlayStation's] horsepower" was concentrated on producing very firm visuals, which he alluded to as one of the reasons for the game's prolonged development time.

[9] Tom Orry from VideoGamer.com commended the highly smooth 1080p visuals and detailed HD graphics, saying the game's powerful presentation leads to such appearance.

[45] Locke Webster from UGO Networks thought that the efficient visuals and variety of features justified the merits of an expensive downloadable title.

[42] Jesse Costantino of Game Revolution said that Wipeout HD "joins an elite class of current-gen racers" due to its 1080p visuals and a nearly constant 60 frames per second.

Robinson recognised that techno music featured played an important part in the Wipeout series, opining that the entire game is set to a traditional pounding soundtrack.

In cohesion with other critics, Cocker recognised that music was important to the franchise, and commended the mix of techno, dubstep, and drum and bass soundtracks.

[47] Although Davis noted the lack of successful artists like The Prodigy, Daft Punk, or The Chemical Brothers (all of whom were featured in Wipeout 2097), he did acknowledge that there were still "plenty of chilly synths" and throbbing background beats to listen to.