Link: https://gardinerbryant.com/the-wipeout-game-you-had-to-buy-a-movie-to-play/

I stumbled across this while looking through old PSP physical releases and ended up going down a bit of a rabbit hole. In 2005, Sony released a version of the movie Stealth on UMD that also had a playable, exclusive version of WipEout Pure on the same disc, complete with a Stealth-themed track and a craft based on the film's fighter jet.

I ended up writing a little piece about what was on the UMD, why Sony was experimenting with movie/game hybrids at the time, and what survives of this very strange release today. It is a super light little read, but when it comes to PSP's these days, there's woefully few of those!

Hopefully some in here find it amusing :)

$30 to watch a movie on your PSP. I can't believe SONY thought UMD video was going to work

I'm almost ashamed to admit that I just bought Hackers (1995) for $45.00 AUD a few days ago.

Almost, but not entirely.

The WipEout Game You Had to Buy a Movie to Play

Unless you rent it. :-) Back then we had Blockbuster (and equivalents in other regions of the world.)

There was even movies on Game Boy Advance: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_Boy_Advance_Video Which is kind of dumb, compared to UMD. And if you think about it, we watch movies on mobile devices. The first iPhone came out years later, so we wasn't used to smartphones yet.

But...why?

Acquiring Hackers is never a cause for shame!

At that price it is.

Should have hacked the Gibson.

We have a lot more pixels today.

That movie is legendary! I freaking love it!

Why don't we have a Wipeout for PSVR2‽

Why almost ashamed, or why buy Hackers?

Hilariously, the video cartridges are blocked from working on GameCube Game Boy Player. We can't have you watching videos you paid for, on the TV!

Sony closed Studio Liverpool 14 years ago.

well open it the fuck back up!!

Reminds me of CLI ASCII star wars

telnet towel.blinkenlights.nl

probably because the video resolution has been abysmal to begin with to fit it on the cartridge

That movie was such a product of the 90s. It was glorious. Also Angelina Jolie was a goddamn smoke show.

I'm 100% sure that they placed the artificial block not because of the bad resolution but because the copyright holders gave a license for portable viewing and not for home video (probably cheaper at the time)

makes sense