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I don't think a month has gone by where I haven't read an article somewhere or another that related to the death of innovation in the gaming industry. In fact, I have probably obsessed over it more than once myself. But after some deep introspection and about five hours of Wipeout Pure I have come to the conclusion that innovation is highly overrated.
Don't get me wrong, I love innovative things. When I go out to dinner I try to order something new off the menu. When I go to buy games I sometimes just pick up a title I've never heard of. But a lot of the time I don't want to try crazy new things, I just want to be distracted.
Sure, there are a zillion real time strategy games, and there are about fifty zillion first person shooter games, but I don't see a problem with that. It's the same as with food, if every restaurant tried to serve new and unique foods where the hell would I get a hamburger when I needed one? If every single television show tried to be Twin Peaks what the hell would I do when I needed a cheesy sitcom?
So it is with great shame that I admit that when I got my PSP I overlooked Wipeout Pure, shunning it with a look of contempt. I turned up my nose and thought, "Been there, done that." But when I saw it was on for $40 at Future Shop I broke down and grabbed it. And I'm glad. As soon as I started barreling along those tracks I realized what I had loved about Wipeout XL when I first played it on the original Playstation. Solid controls, good learning curve, fun tracks, Pure has it all. The reason I played the original was because it was fun, this one is no different, it doesn't need to be. Sure, they added a binch of stuff to keep it fresh, but it's a formula that works, and sometimes I think people need to relax and realize that sometimes there is comfort in a certain level of repetition.
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