Of all the sports available to game developers, tennis appears to be the simplest. No more than four players are on the screen at one time. The ball needs to move realistically but has only one purpose: to bounce back and forth. It's all so basic that most gamers could never imagine how addictive it could be until they themselves pick up the controller.
Few realize that underneath the generic exterior is a game development cycle of great complexity. It takes just the right balance of gameplay features – playability, physics, speed, challenge, and the overall feel of the game – to keep players from wondering, "Is this a tennis game or a next-gen version of Pong?" Top Spin 3 succeeded in these areas on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, which featured quick gameplay that was reminiscent of Virtua Tennis 3. The 2K Sports gem was less of an arcade title than Sega's latest, instead focusing more on the real-world challenges a tennis game could provide.
OPM: Thousands of Brits will be inspired to pick up a racket this week on the back of Andy Murray’s success at Wimbledon – but in this heat, and given our hand-eye co-co-ordination, we’ll be sticking to the virtual type. Looking to fill your week with some ace-smashing antics? Then join us in revisiting PlayStation’s finest tennis efforts…
Not really, most of those games were available on multiple platforms.
Just so happens that the PS magazine wrote the article so makes sense it would be 'Playstation's greatest games' :)
Gamepyre writes: "When Virtua Tennis 2009 first came out I was very excited about the game; I was so excited that I actually went and got it on release day.
Virtua Tennis 3 has been one of my favorite PSP games, and I could not wait to see what the 2009 Xbox 360 version of the game brought to the table. After playing the game, I was very disappointed in Virtua Tennis 2009; not because it was a bad game per say, but because it wasn't anything new from the previous release."
Another week and another episode of Distributed Failure is here for your listening pleasure. This week's "What They've Been Playing" features discussion on Top Spin 3, Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood, Fight Night Round 4, Battlefield 1943, Final Fantasy IV: The After Years, and much more! They follow that up with some gaming news including the latest update on EGM, the addition of prizes to 1 vs. 100, and the announcement of a new Mechwarrior game.
