Although the Xbox 360 version of Top Spin 2 has attracted plenty of good reviews, this is the next-gen tennis sim announcement many of us have been holding out for: Sega will be showing off Virtua Tennis 3 in Los Angeles this May. If you, like me, wasted many hours of your life playing out tense doubles matches in the masterful Dreamcast original, I'll let the press release seduce you for a bit...
"With Virtua Tennis 3, the series returns with enhanced photo-realistic graphics and advanced player animations that perfectly match the behaviour and mannerisms of individual professional players. Next-generation systems allow gamers to see the most detailed expressions on the faces of their selected players as they battle to win heated tournaments around the world"
Imagine the difficulty Sega must have had simply identifying individual mannerisms or expressions in the top players, let alone replicating them in digital form. Unless of course Andrew 'Angry Outburst' Murray is on the roster.
Anyway, we can expect all the usual modes - including the mini-game splattered World Tour - as well as some newcomers. The publisher is also promising improved player AI and loads of new professionals to play against. They pretty much had me at "with Virtua Tennis 3..."
It's due out in Spring 2007
