Rockstar Games presents Table Tennis Comments by Tom Bramwell

Wow, so Sensible Soccer 2006 or Table Tennis? (Not really a question, I'm gonna pick Sensi off the shelf as soon as it's released. And I'll probably stand in line to get it too).

Two cheap games to look forward to.

Darren - reasonable points. I would very much have liked an extensive tournament for this game too BUT that would most definately have made it "pricier". Perhaps they considered making it an arcade game at first, but then changed their minds?

@ LeDilettante

I would be *very* surprised if the 360 doesn't have at least a small price drop before this Winter, when the other 2 consoles are launching (is that right for Wii? I'm not sure of the exact date). Particularly given that the Wii will probably go on sale for a similar price point to the Gamecube (about £130, if I remember correctly).

for me ign felt exactly the same way as this review but they took marks off for having no season mode etc.

but they didnt take into account the reduced price

Nice review, I like simple games that are easy to pick up, addictive, and hard to master. Perfect for quick sessions online with mates or post pub instead of pro evo.

Glad Tom liked it as IGN was getting me down this morning, shame on me.

"...apart from some idiot Darren (now ignored) who thinks because IGN marked it down EG got it wrong."

@Perry - Oh well excuse me for daring to have a personal opinion!!! LOL

I didn't say EG were wrong at all, I haven't even played the game yet so how would I know? The review itself seems very fair but I can't agree with the score at the end that's all... /wink/

I gave my reasons why I thought IGN's score seemed fairer - I'm someone who prefers games that offer decent single player modes but Table Tennis was clearly made with multiplayer in mind, something that is less important to me but might be fine for people who like to just play a game for an hour at a time.

I'm still getting the game, the price makes it very tempting, but I'm a bit disappointed that the game doesn't offer more for a solo player like me but at least I have the Achievements to aim for...

Dude, stop /wink/ing at everyone. Sexual terrorist.

For what it's worth, I'm also disappointed about the lack of decent single player 'career'. Barely any of my mates are that into gaming, apart from a bit of PES after closing time. It'll be hard to convince them to try this.

Dont hold your breathe for a 360 price drop, not when the ps3 will be £425 and MS are loosing money on it anyway. There will only be a drop if a) sales slow down b) they reduce manufacturing costs c)Sony drop there prices. As it stands with a great line up of games and loads more quality titles on the way the 360 is selling it self in a way even with halo the xbox never did. I think in most part due to thefact there are a range of games on 360 rather than just shooters and racer that the original seemed to only attract.

darren the game is £15 cheaper than every other game, its not like rockstar are trying to rip us off

the gameplay is great and cannot be faulted, i an many others are happy to pay less and have less of a game

Rockstar does ping-pong? And gets a nine?!

I feel ill.
This is some sort of sick, twisted joke.

/seeks medical assistance

"darren the game is £15 cheaper than every other game, its not like rockstar are trying to rip us off"

@alpha-0ne - Yeah, I know. It's only costing me £23.75 from Gameplay.com, it's just that I'd gladly have paid an extra £10 to have had a more fleshed out game that's all with a career mode, a create-a-player tool and doubles matches, etc., etc. But it would seem that I'm the only one that thinks that though... unless the other reviews from GameSpot, etc. say that too...

I'm still looking forward to playing the game though but I've a feeling it won't last me as long as Top Spin 2, a game I'm still playing extensively after several weeks...

I'm sorry Darren, but c'mon!
At one point you have a go at the reviewer for the score and the next you say "I didn't say EG were wrong at all, I haven't even played the game yet!!!"

One moment you are critisising the game for being too short with no carreer mode and the next you're complimenting it for the price!

Has the entire point of the price vs. game content/experience thing passed you by? That is the WHOLE point!

Reviews will always be subjective of course, but you can express an opinion without contradicting yourself.

Personally, I wasn't considering thi game until I read the review. Obvioulsy it has many good elements, and that attracts me to it a lot. I can totally see this as a 'party' game that I will sneakily play for hours on end alone or on Live so that I can whop my mates next time they come over (or next time I play then on Live). Considering the price and what the game delivers I am now ver very tempted to use up all those GAME loyalty points on it (I just bought 360s there OK!?).

However, a recent trip to game wa quite shocking. "Destroy All Humans" new for £15 you say - damn. Lot of other titles for similar prices too. Sure is a good time to pick yourself up an xbox bargain!

@Darren.

Just imagine the 9/10 as 8.5/10 and it's a lot closer to IGN's score :)

idiots maybe, corrupt for sure. IGN's scores are all over the shop. There is a sense of backhanders going on.

Do they also have the massive double-banner adverts for this game splashed over their site too? Kerr-ching!

edit: obviously not if they gave it 7.8...

@jamesphilp - Why can't I compliment the price and voice my concerns at the game being too short for solo players?

Most Xbox 360 games are overpriced anyway so any game less than £39.99 RRP is going to get praise from me for its lower pricepoint! In my opinion all Xbox 360 games should cost £34.99 RRP or less but that's a discussion for another day...

£30 is hardly budget priced though when you consider that most full-priced PC games cost that and anyway I'd always thought the lower price was to tempt people to buy a table tennis game, something most people probably wouldn't do had it been £45-£50 RRP, not an excuse to make a shorter game...

For what it's worth, I'm also disappointed about the lack of decent single player 'career'. Barely any of my mates are that into gaming, apart from a bit of PES after closing time. It'll be hard to convince them to try this.

Ever heard of a thing called Xbox LIVE? ;)

A 360 without LIVE is like a Wii without a Wiimote.

"sensi or table tennis?"

they're both budget priced, you could get them both for 51.98 on play.com, play sensi with your mates and play table tennis on the net :)

"Jethro"

i used to pick him too, he had cool dreads

I had a strange compulsion to buy this as soon as i heard about it. The fact its turned out to have great gameplay is a bonus.

Think this is going to get way more play with my mates than any other game i own. I remember the good old days of Virtua Tennis on Dreamcast, we played that to death.

@Darren

"In my opinion all Xbox 360 games should cost £34.99 RRP or less but that's a discussion for another day..."

I'm sure how you factor "should" into any of this. Games cost what people are prepared to pay, just like cars, mobile phones and turnips.

Value to the consumer is something we as consumers decide. The sellers job is to predict that value, not set it.

@kangarootoo & ManicMinerUK- My "ideal" price point for Xbox 360 and, indeed, all console games really is based on how much a typical full-priced PC game costs, which is £34.99 RRP. Developers must surely take as long to make games for the PC as the consoles yet console owners are typically asked to pay £5-£15 more, often for the same game! Why?

So my perception of value for money stems from how much I generally pay for PC games (online I pay around £25, shops £30-£35) so a £30 "budget" Xbox 360 game isn't really a budget game at all to me. Certainly I would not consider Table Tennis an impulse buy if I had to buy it from my local GAME shop for £29.99... £19.99 maybe but not £29.99...

Darren.
Apart from ignoring simple economics by your argument, you can get Table Tennis for £25 from amazon pre-order right now. Still not tempted?

@jamesphilp - You've obviously missed what I said earlier... I've *had* Table Tennis pre-ordered for over a month now... £23.75 from Gameplay.com with a 5% discount, which is sufficiently near my £19.99 budget price to have made it a tempting buy!!!

Mind you I was expecting a proper career mode when I pre-ordered it, akin to that of Top Spin 2, but sadly that is not to be...

also don't think you're smart just because you worked 'this is brilliant, whichever way you spin it' into a tennis review

Well we should be paying less for Xbox 360 games then because I've lost count of the number of games that I've bought for it that had bugs/glitches that required (or do require) a patch to fix them... e.g. Ridger Racer 6 (Windows Media Connect bug that slows down online games), Call of Duty 2, Ghost Recon: AW, Perfect Dark Zero, Oblivion, etc. etc. I'm not 100% convinced that Xbox 360 games go through any sort of quality control either! LOL

Darren
So if you've got it preordered, for a price you can live with - what's with the bitching and moaning!? Suddup already!

EDIT: What was the patch for Oblivion? I didn't notice.

Because it doesn't have a lengthy single player mode!!! How many more times do I have to say it? Don't people bother reading properly these days...? /rolls eyes/

P.S. There isn't a patch for Oblivion yet but there is one on the way... apparently... to fix the caching issue and the numerous quest bugs, etc.

I always looked at Table Tennis as a lazy bastard's version of Tennis. How lazy do you need to be to play a Table Tennis video game? :)

Do't you roll your eyes at me darren! :P
All I'm saying is it's a bit obnoxious to complain about a game that has a limited single player experience when it has a reduced price expressely to compensate for this issue.
I know you don't think that £30 is cheap, but you cannot argue that £30 is reduced - it IS! It is less than the average, this might not be the price you waant but it is still LESS! Your issues with suppy/demand/price mechanics are pretty much entirely separate.
It is a 'smaller' game. It is a 'smaller' price. - Simple enough?
/rolls eyes!

Do't you roll your eyes at me darren! :P
All I'm saying is it's a bit obnoxious to complain about a game that has a limited single player experience when it has a reduced price expressely to compensate for this issue.
I know you don't think that £30 is cheap, but you cannot argue that £30 is reduced - it IS! It is less than the average, this might not be the price you waant but it is still LESS! Your issues with suppy/demand/price mechanics are pretty much entirely separate.
It is a 'smaller' game. It is a 'smaller' price. - Simple enough?
/rolls eyes!

Do't you roll your eyes at me darren! :P
All I'm saying is it's a bit obnoxious to complain about a game that has a limited single player experience when it has a reduced price expressely to compensate for this issue.
I know you don't think that £30 is cheap, but you cannot argue that £30 is reduced - it IS! It is less than the average, this might not be the price you waant but it is still LESS! Your issues with suppy/demand/price mechanics are pretty much entirely separate.
It is a 'smaller' game. It is a 'smaller' price. - Simple enough?
/rolls eyes!

Do't you roll your eyes at me darren! :P
All I'm saying is it's a bit obnoxious to complain about a game that has a limited single player experience when it has a reduced price expressely to compensate for this issue.
I know you don't think that £30 is cheap, but you cannot argue that £30 is reduced - it IS! It is less than the average, this might not be the price you waant but it is still LESS! Your issues with suppy/demand/price mechanics are pretty much entirely separate.
It is a 'smaller' game. It is a 'smaller' price. - Simple enough?
/rolls eyes!

Do't you roll your eyes at me darren! :P
All I'm saying is it's a bit obnoxious to complain about a game that has a limited single player experience when it has a reduced price expressely to compensate for this issue.
I know you don't think that £30 is cheap, but you cannot argue that £30 is reduced - it IS! It is less than the average, this might not be the price you waant but it is still LESS! Your issues with suppy/demand/price mechanics are pretty much entirely separate.
It is a 'smaller' game. It is a 'smaller' price. - Simple enough?
/rolls eyes!

Do't you roll your eyes at me darren! :P
All I'm saying is it's a bit obnoxious to complain about a game that has a limited single player experience when it has a reduced price expressely to compensate for this issue.
I know you don't think that £30 is cheap, but you cannot argue that £30 is reduced - it IS! It is less than the average, this might not be the price you waant but it is still LESS! Your issues with suppy/demand/price mechanics are pretty much entirely separate.
It is a 'smaller' game. It is a 'smaller' price. - Simple enough?
/rolls eyes!

Do't you roll your eyes at me darren! :P
All I'm saying is it's a bit obnoxious to complain about a game that has a limited single player experience when it has a reduced price expressely to compensate for this issue.
I know you don't think that £30 is cheap, but you cannot argue that £30 is reduced - it IS! It is less than the average, this might not be the price you waant but it is still LESS! Your issues with suppy/demand/price mechanics are pretty much entirely separate.
It is a 'smaller' game. It is a 'smaller' price. - Simple enough?
/rolls eyes!

@Darren - for the sake of your sanity, don't argue against rabbid fanboys who seriously believe that select developers (like RockStar) have to pay for their dev kits...

And it's nice to know that the FUD coming out of some developers, Microsoft and Sony has worked so well (just google and you'll find plenty of nonsense about "how this next-gen is going to push costs through the roof and why won't someone think of the children..."). Meanwhile, on planet Earth, DVD prices are tumbling (in real terms) even though films are becoming more CGI-heavy and expensive to produce.

Buying this :D

And to believe I laughed when I first read about it... and laughed again when I saw a poster for it.....

I feel so ashamed.



Is it it me or does the X360 seem to be getting more attractive these days?

pre ordered now. not bad for £24.99, i was holding on to see reviews for this incase it was a turkey, cos i had been impressed with everything i had seen of it.. and for the price too!!!
cant wait for this to arrive through the letterbox...!!

I always looked at Table Tennis as a lazy bastard's version of Tennis. How lazy do you need to be to play a Table Tennis video game?

@tengu, the 360 would be very lazy and on the new Nintendo a wii bit less.

/Puts on flame retardant suit on and grabs the garden hose.

/ponders
Have some of these people ever played table tennis?

I doubt it!

Anyhew definately one to be added to the ever growing 360 collection.

Great review, Tom.

I wonder why there isn't a create-a-player - seems kinda mandatory doesn't it? A decent degree of customisation is expected these days, and yes I like it in a game. Looks like a fun game though, but not really a 9.

TeamXbox reviewed it somewhere between IGN and EG ... 8.5.

Ok, I'm looking forward to this but the reviewer must get a grip. Talks absolute sh*te for most of it. Is he 12 or something?

"Ok, I'm looking forward to this but the reviewer must get a grip. Talks absolute sh*te for most of it. Is he 12 or something?"

Why yes he is. All Eurogamer staff are under 13 but it's been kept under wraps for years.

They operate from a tree hut in Kristan's back garden and get paid in Curly Wurlys and Sherbert Dib Dabs.

You have exposed their secret. Well done you.

Excellent game. Worth more than almost all of the other 360 games out at the moment.

Good review. Just preordered from Amazon for £25. I get a £5 voucher as well, which I'll put towards Battlestar DVD. Such a geek!

"The only thing, if I have to be mean, is that with just four single-player tournaments."

Thats realy low, replyability must be crap. :( Then again its not full price game.

This looks really good.