Virtua Tennis 3 for PS3, Xbox 360
Smashing news.
SEGA's begun its E3-teasing with a very welcome announcement - Virtua Tennis 3 is on its way to PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
Due out next spring and on display at E3, VT3 is the most visually detailed VT game yet - SEGA's promising "photo-realistic graphics and advanced player animations" including detailed facial expressions. See screenshots to make your own mind up. SEGA's creative director Matt Woodley reckons "the quality is so sharp and clear you can even see the veins on the players' necks". And the whatever-else on Maria Sharapova, my dad will be hoping.
There'll be new gameplay features too. Although the fundamental tennis game is unlikely to change a great deal (given how brilliant it was anyway, we can't say we mind that much), we can expect a host of new mini-games to join the most popular from previous VT titles.
Mini-games of course contribute to VT's Career mode, which will be back here, taking you all over the world and across every court surface - with new players and refined artificial intelligence for the ones you're up against. You'll also be able to customise your own character to a previously unachievable degree.
No word on online multiplayer yet, but it seems like a bit of a shoo-in.
We'll bring you our thoughts on Virtua Tennis 3 when we get to E3. Well, Kristan's thoughts - it's not like he's going to let anybody else near this one.