TheSixthAxis has our second Sony rumor of the day, but this one isn’t quite as exciting as the one we had a few hours ago. Y’know WipEout HD, that deliciously sleek futuristic PS3 racer we’ve been looking forward to for ages, the one that’s delayed?

We might have the reason for its delay, and it’s not a pretty one. Hit the jump for more.

Allegedly, David Reeves commented that the reason for WipEout’s delay was that “there is a specific technical problem with WipEout that we have to solve” and hence wasn’t able to deliver a release date for the genre-defining racing game on speed. They’re speculating that WipEout HD’s combination of flashing strobe lights in the background of the racetracks and the constant bobbing up and down of the brightly-lit spacecraft is causing people with photosensitive epilepsy to suffer seizures as a result.

Epilepsy sufferers reacting badly to videogames is no new thing, with pretty much every instruction manual on the planet warning players to take care when playing in case they happen to have the ailment, and there have been cases of players suffering seizures when playing. However, WipEout HD could be a step to far, especially if the graphics (and the strobe lighting) are ramped up to the max at 60 frames per second.

The chances are, this could be the “specific technical problem” that David Reeves was on about, especially since he also remarked that the issue was “a really, really tricky technical problem that no region has been able to solve at the moment.” If this definitely is the problem – we’re getting in touch with Sony’s PR office to get some sort of confirmation – then the company and Studio Liverpool, the developer, have got their work cut out in eliminating the issues with the graphics without completely destroying the WipEout stylings.

This is all rumor at this point, but it bears watching.

Fingers crossed that this alleged issue (if it is the issue at all) is fixed soon enough and we can get down to playing the game. As much as I want my WipEout fix, I’d much rather the game was genuinely safe to play before I got my mitts on it.

Source: WipEout HD causing seizures? – TheSixthAxis

For more information on photosensitive epilepsy, hit up the website of UK epilepsy charity Epilepsy Action.

[Note: We have contacted Sony for comment, but as of the time this article was published, we have not received a response.  If/when we hear back, we will update this article.  --Rothbart]

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