PSOne, the restoration team behind the recent PlayStation Home revival, has brought back the servers for the PS3 releases of Ratchet Deadlocked HD and Wipeout HD.
One of the key issues with game preservation is how many titles are reliant on servers being online. The older a game or console gets, the more likely that its servers will get shut down and a big portion of a game will be completely inaccessible. At the best of times, this just removes the online functions, but at the worst of times it can completely shut down a game.
Thanks to the efforts of PSOne, the servers for both Ratchet Deadlocked HD and Wipeout HD have been restored. The first of these restoration projects is 2012's HD remaster of Ratchet Deadlocked (or Gladiator, if you're in Europe). Although Deadlocked's single-player content has remained online since the servers shut down, its online multiplayer was shut down back in 2018.
Alongside a video showcasing the restored servers in action, PSOne said, "Today the PSOne Online Network team would like to announce that our player-base can re-experience Ratchet Deadlocked HD enhanced online multiplayer that features 5 modes of play and 12 levels - Conquest, Deathmatch, King of the Hill, and more back on their original PS3 & as well as RPCS3 thanks to PlayStation Online Network Emulated DNS servers".
Perhaps even more impressive than bringing back 2012's Ratchet Deadlocked HD, PSOne has also managed to restore the servers for 2008's Wipeout HD. PSOne said, "Time to wake up WipEout Racers – it is time to re-experience the future of anti-gravity combat racing at 60FPS/1080p with online multiplayer support! This fan-favourite classic PlayStation 3 racing title is now available in 2021 to play online through PlayStation Online Network Emulated DNS servers, on the original PS3."
Those hoping to play Deadlocked and Wipeout online will have to follow some specific steps in order to connect to the private server. PSOne has posted guides on getting started, as well as showcasing it through video at the start of the Wipeout showcase.