Wipeout which is apparently stylised as wipE′out″because how fuckin’ 90’s is that shit is a series that revolves around whipping floating cars around a mile-high race track as thumping techno does it’s best to bring the hype from the tinny CRT speakers it’s likely connected to. A game that, believe it not, owes pretty much it’s entire existence to Angelina Jolie.
Specifically, Jolie’s appearance in the cult 90’s hit Hackers in which she plays the character, Acid Burn. No, we’re not making that up and yes the movie is as cringeworthy as you’re currently imagining.
So what has Wipeout got to do with hacking the planet? Well at some point during the film Jolie’s character is shown playing a videogame which is obviously something the film’s main character has to comment on like a patronising misogynistic shithead because how could a woman possibly control a video game without her, vagina getting in the way?
Said main character then proceeds to crush Jolie’s score because of course he does, before awkwardly hitting on her which inexplicably works and the two end up fucking. If you’re currently thinking this sounds like some self-insert nerdy wankery, it’s worth noting that the guy playing this character, Jonny Lee Miller, actually ended up fucking Angelina Jolie in real life so we guess his character really did have game. In both the literal and metaphorical sense.
Anyway as you’ve probably guess the game Jolie is playing is Wipeout, or more accurately, an unplayable beta version created specifically for the film by Psygnosis perhaps known better to Brits as Studio Liverpool. To be clear, the game did exist at this point but the version of it seen in the film was basically a CGI tech demo created by Psygnosis to look as balls-to-the-wall bombastic as possible. You know, the kind of game you could be seen played in a dingy bar full of misogynistic, anti-social weirdos in a time before League of Legends existed.
Following the release of Hackers several changes would be made to the game and it’s look but the impact it’s brief but memorable cameo in the film can’t be overstated. Perhaps the biggest example of this being the fact that Sony just up and bought the studio to secure exclusive rights to publish the game. A game that helped define the entire PlayStation brand in it’s earliest days, helping sell the console as the cooler, more adult alternative to Nintendo. Which, looking at how people dressed in Hackers makes perfect sense and we have no notes.
