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WipEout: Futurism
Limited Edition

The definitive illustrated history of the cult videogame – a heart-thumping fusion of groundbreaking graphic design, architectural futurism, electronic music and high-speed racing

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Overview

WipEout crashed onto the scene in 1995, shifting games into the cultural fast lane with its unique 3D visual designs. It propelled a wondrous hit of anti-gravity, hyperspeed racing into the heart of the freshly-released PlayStation console and, over time, the series – developed by Psygnosis, later known as Studio Liverpool – grew into a cult phenomenon amongst graphic designers and gamers alike. With its club-land branding – devised by cutting-edge Sheffield agency The Designers Republic, and its on-the-pulse electronic soundtrack featuring artists such as The Chemical Brothers, The Prodigy and Orbital, WipEout was not only a racing game – it was a vehicle for art. 

WipEout: Futurism chronicles the iconic game’s vision, struggles and achievements – from first conception to future plans, in a distinctive union of trailblazing artwork and graphic design. The extraordinary, and rarely seen, concept art created for the game is beautifully reproduced throughout the book, while The Designers Republic’s peerless vision for an alternative future – with its roots planted in the rich earth of sci-fi iconography – weaves its way throughout the pages, making this publication a densely packed expansion to the beloved series. 

Created by Read-Only Memory and art-directed by The Designers Republic alumni Michael C Place/Studio Build, this book is for those who are well-acquainted with the delights of WipEout and for whom this futuristic, epoch-defining creation is yet to be discovered.

Specification

280 × 250mm
320 pages
Hardcover

Choose-your-team logo cover
Clamshell box
Holofoil stamping

Update #5

Shipping soon, confirm your details

11 comments Oct 01, 2024

Attention WipEout pre-order pilot!

We are pleased to announce that we're expecting copies of WipEout: Futurism to arrive at our warehouse in mid-October, which means we will begin shipping orders towards the end of this month.

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Update #4

TH3 B1G R3V34L

17 comments Aug 29, 2024
Get ready WipEout pre-order pilot...

TH3 T1M3 H45 C0M3! We have in our clutches a finished copy of WipEout: Futurism – a riot of tDR(emixed) iconography, fax-era design documents, interview-rich videogame history and countless fluro and metallic inks... it’s a thing of B34UTY.
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Update #3

A glimpse at our production prototype

11 comments Jul 12, 2024

Attention WipEout pre-order pilot!

In November 2023, Read-Only Memory asked whether you’d be interested in owning a copy of a book about the creation and legacy of the WipEout series. You clearly not only said ‘Yes’ but did so pretty sharpish, since the entire Special Edition run of just one thousand copies was reserved within days.

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Update #2

WipEout Futurism art director Michael C Place 5P3AK5!

20 comments Jan 26, 2024
This is a big one personally for Nicky and I. We met whilst working on WipEout, Nicky on the WipEout art team at Psygnosis in Liverpool, myself at tDR™ in Sheffield. I think it is fairly safe to say that we were not thinking then that the game would have such a big impact on so many people. I have lost count of the amount of times that when speaking to people about WipEout, they go all misty-eyed and share stories of playing it all night after clubs and nights out, and of being obsessed with shaving that 100th of a second off their best time.
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Update #1

Welcome to Team Futurism

35 comments Dec 01, 2023
Greetings, anti-gravity pilot!

Welcome to the very exclusive WipEout: Futurism Limited Edition project. With just 1000 pre-order pilots on board for this journey, youre part of an elite team of WipEout fanatics – all of whom will be receiving regular updates as this one-of-a-kind book comes together over the coming months.
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Estimated delivery
Autumn 2024
Last update:
Oct 01, 2024

Last date to check addresses: 31 August 2024

How it works

This book will be on general release in Autumn 2024. This limited edition is available only from Volume and will ship alongside the publication of the general release version.

Expected delivery

Autumn 2024

Shipping

Tracked worldwide

The book

Working its way through the fascinating creation story and cultural footprint of the WipEout game series, WipEout: Futurism offers unprecedented access to the game’s visual archives and reveals the creative processes behind the teams, tracks, vehicles and iconography that define the series. Within these pages you will find original concept art, promotional materials, in-game photography, the monumental graphic design work of The Designers Republic and much more.
The book also includes exclusive interviews with electronic duo Orbital’s Paul Hartnoll, sound designer Loïc Couthier, writer Damon Fairclough, game director Stuart Tilley and more. 
The layout showcases a specially-crafted, WipEout-inspired design – with art direction by Michael C Place, whose graphic-design roots lie in tDR during the years WipEout was created.

Our designs for WipEout had to work in ‘the future we were impatient for’ to be credible. We wanted our work to exist in the approximation of the ‘real’ world PlayStation’s technology was about to deliver.

Ian Anderson, The Designers Republic
Publisher

Read-Only Memory

Profile

Founded in 2012 by Darren Wall, Read-Only Memory publishes beautiful books on videogames and their surrounding subcultures.

Read-Only Memory is offering WipEout: Futurism as a pre-order of 1000 copies only. This is your chance to own a version that will not be available anywhere else. 

Each edition will be housed in a holofoil-stamped clamshell box, with a custom book case design. There are eight exclusive designs to choose from, each modeled on one of the WipEout racing teams; AG Systems, FEISAR, Goteki 45, Auricom, Piranha, Qirex, Assegai and Icaras. The teams all have unique founders, histories and objectives – make sure you choose wisely.

I would love to tell you that I was first introduced to dance music in underground Berlin clubs ... But that would be a lie. My first introduction to dance music came in the form of a futuristic 90s racing game called WipEout.

Keza MacDonald, The Guardian
Meet the author

Duncan Harris is a game industry artist who has worked for companies including Sony, Square Enix, Bethesda and EA. His writing has appeared in such places as Edge, PC Gamer and Rock Paper Shotgun.

He also runs a website, Dead End Thrills, which explores the art of games through the hobby of taking screenshots. He hasn’t played a game properly in years.

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