PlayStation classic WipeOut has been ported to browsers

A fan has created a port of the iconic racing title that is fully playable in a web browser, requesting that Sony either leaves it be, or creates a remaster.

The details:

• Dominic Szablewski, a programmer, has announced that his rebuild of WipeOut is now available for all to play. The rebuild required rewriting the entire game from its original source code, which was leaked in 2022.
• The overall quality of the leaked code was "abysmal," according to Szablewski's in-depth blog post about the port, and consisted of code from multiple ports of the game simply "haphazardly piled on top" of the previous ones. As a result, sorting through it all was a difficult task for the developer.
• The developer also claims that since the rewrite did not involve directly copying the original source code, it technically falls under fair use laws and that the game is now classified as "abandonware" due to Sony's refusal to re-release it on modern devices. It's unclear whether this will deter the gaming giant from ordering its takedown, but if it does, it'll almost certainly find a way.
• Sony has ignored the WipeOut franchise as a whole since 2012's WipeOut 2048, with the only releases since being a compilation of WipOout HD, its expansion HD Fury, and 2048. As a result, fans have worked on ports such as Szablewski's rewrite, WipeOut Phantom Edition, and an unnamed version of the game from programmer XProger.
• Szablewski also mentions in his blog post that the port contains both new and old bugs and that he is open to receiving community assistance in patching them. He concludes his post by addressing Sony directly: “If anyone at Sony is reading this, please consider that you have (in my opinion) two equally good options – either let it be or shut this thing down and get a real remaster going. I’d love to help!”

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