The best launch titles ever: Wipeout Pure on PSP

This week it seemed appropriate to look back at some of our favourite launch titles ever. And today we have a real treat.

Just before the new school year began in 2005, I took some birthday money and whatever was left over from selling my PS2 (a STUPID decision, yes) to purchase a PSP, a device I'd been salivating over for almost a year. As my brother went into Toys R Us to buy his own toy (a flashy, Sony MP3 player), I was waiting with my mum in the car.

I couldn't resist opening the box up, slowly slotting in the handheld's battery and tying up the included wrist strap. And then I couldn't resist firing up the most recognisable game I had in my bundle - and ignoring Mercury and Lumines until I got home. Wipeout Pure. The anticipation and relief almost made me pass out.

The gorgeous colours and speed of Vineta K, a track which involves driving through an underground tunnel with water above you, as if visiting a psychedelic aquarium, made me say "Oh my God!" which made my mother think something had gone very wrong. And something was wrong. Because it should not have been possible to play something that dazzling. And if you look back at the speed and polite, confident fury with how the game still plays today, it's easy to remain dazzled by how effortless it all looks.