Veggie Jackson writes:
''To quote the late, great George Carlin, "tennis is Ping-Pong played while standing on the table. Great concept, not a sport." While I may not agree with him on the "not a sport" aspect, conceptually, he's pretty much got it right. By extension, therefore, video game tennis should be Pong played while standing on the table. 2K Sports apparently does not agree with this, as they have crafted Top Spin 3 into the most complex and realistic tennis simulators ever. It definitely isn't for everyone, but for hardcore tennis enthusiasts with plenty of patience, it might just be the perfect tennis game.''
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.
It's a shame the 360 version is lacking the world number 2 and 2008 French Open and Wimbledon champion, Rafael Nadal.
To anyone who's looking to get this game, but hasn't played a Top Spin game before, be aware that there is a steep learning curve. The game includes a very good training module though, so you'll get up to speed with what's required from the off.
When you do get the hang of the positioning/timing aspect of the game you'll feel right at home and realise what a great game this is.
So hang in there, you'll need a bit of patience, but it's all worth it in the end :)