Muzax 11, 4th and final part – WipEout, Destruction Derby, Formula One, the successes of Psygnosis

In the fourth and final part of this Muzax episode dedicated to the games developed or published by Psygnosis, you will hear music from the games WipEout, Destruction Derby, Formula One, WipEout 2097, Colony Wars, Rollcage and Lemmings Revolution on PCs and the Playstation.

Listen to this podcast : (comments in French)



Download this podcast in MP3 format by clicking on this link. (comments in French)


Content of broadcast:
Welcome to Muzax, the video games music broadcast.

Let’s continue our exploration of the music world of the games of the company “Psygnosis”.

In 1995, Psygnosis developed and published one of the most famous imaginary racing games: “WipEout”.
Psygnosis, which was bought by “Sony Corporation” two years earlier, focused its activity more and more on developing games for PCs, for the Saturn and for the first Sony game console, the “Playstation”.
These devices offer new technical possibilities thanks to the addition of a CD player.
Until then, music was generated by sound processors. Real audio tracks replaced them.
WipEout illustrates this with its electro music style.

“Destruction Derby” was released in 1995 on the Playstation and PC.
This new hit is a car racing game or, more precisely, a stock-car game.
The aim is not only to win races but also to destroy your opponents’ vehicles.

“Formula One” was developed by “Bizarre Creations” and was released in 1996.
The key to a successful console is to offer a large range of games.
With the purchase of Psygnosis, Sony was able to release high-quality games on its console.
Formula One is one of the Playstation’s blockbusters. Its success led to the release of a sequel each year.

Still in 1996, the sequel to « WipEout » was released on the Playstation.
Named « WipEout 2097 » or « WipEout XL », the game was also released on the Saturn, Windows PCs and the Amiga.
Moreover, this game is the last one published by Psygnosis on this machine.

« Colony Wars » is a space shooter game and was released in 1997.
Surprisingly, in the same year, Psygnosis released another game of the same genre called « G-Police ».

« Rollcage » is another imaginary racing game and was released in 1999.
That year, Psygnosis which had 250 employees became a subsidiary of “Sony Computer Entertainment Europe”.
Lots of reorganization took place, some studios were sold or closed, others merged.
The famous development studio located in Liverpool was renamed “SCE Studio Liverpool”.

The Lemmings were back in the year 2000 in “Lemmings Revolution”.
This cult series was made up of about ten episodes which sold more than 20 million copies.

After 16 years of existence, Psygnosis stopped developing games .
After having produced or published many games that significantly influenced the videogame world, the purple owl took its leave.

This broadcast dedicated to Psygnosis is now over. Thanks for listening and tune in soon for a new episode of Muzax.

Muzax 11, part 3 – The Lemmings, the first great success of DMA

In the 3rd part of this Muzax episode dedicated to the games developed or published by Psygnosis, you will hear music from the games Lemmings, Awesome, Leander, Shadow of the beast 3 and Lemmings 2: The Tribes on the Amiga and Microcosm on the Amiga CD32.

Listen to this podcast : (comments in French)



Download this podcast in MP3 format by clicking on this link. (comments in French)


Content of broadcast:
Welcome to Muzax, the video games music broadcast.

Let’s continue our exploration of the music world of the games from the company "Psygnosis".

The "Lemmings" appeared on the Amiga in 1991 and was a real hit.
Developed by "DMA Design", this game of strategy was brought out on around twenty different consoles.
The Lemmings are small green-haired creatures who wear blue dresses.
The player has to guide them to the exit of each level by making them dig, climb or build steps etc as necessary.

"Awesome" is a action/strategy game which takes place in outer space.
Before even starting to play, the player gets the feel of the game thanks to a pre-calculated 3D introduction.
The capacity of the consoles of the time were not able to support detailed real-time 3D animations.
That is why pre-calculated 3D is used in order to give optimal graphical execution.

In 1991, Psygnosis released "Leander".
This game is the first one to be produced by the British studio "Traveller's Tales".
Right from the beginning, the production quality attracts attention.
Like most action/platform games, the scenario is pretty basic.
Leander is very pleasant to play and stands out from the others by its graphics, its animations and its music.
"Shadow of the Beast III" was released in 1992 on the Atari ST and Amiga.
This third and last episode of the series is, once more, exceptionally well produced.

Despite this, it was not such a big success as the first episode.

In 1993, Psygnosis published "Lemmings 2: The tribes".
The success of these tiny creatures allowed the British company to invest in research and development and to fully contribute to the creation of the new generation games on CD-Rom.

"Microcosm" is a shoot’em up.
This game, developed and published by Psygnosis, is released on platforms equipe with a CD player such as the 3DO, the Mega-CD and the Amiga CD32.
The bigger companies were envious of Psygnosis’ fame.
In 1993, at the dawn of the 3D era and of the CD-Rom, Sony Corporation bought out Psygnosis.
This is how the Japanese company got ready to release its first television console: the Playstation.

The third part of this broadcast dedicated to Psygnosis is now over. Tune in soon for the next and last episode of this series about Psygnosis!

Happy new year 2009

On behalf of Muzax, I wish you a very happy new year 2009 filled with happiness and passion!

Tune in soon for the next episode of Muzax!