VT4 Refreshed Career Mode

[DMG100]

http://www.digitalspy.com/gaming/news/a ... nis-4.html

[Cro Morgan]

"Mini-games have been given a complete reboot, opting for eight brand-new activities, such as returning balls under high winds, creating a poker hand and collecting hatched chicks strewn across the court."

Collecting hatched chicks strewn across the court? Kinda wish they didn't include stuff like this - hard to take the game serious.

Still though, Virtua Tennis 4 looks beautiful (better than TS4, I think).

Anyway, here's to hoping it's a good/popular game! One the ITST will be able to support!

[djarvik]

I will buy the game. I buy all tennis games....so....yeah.

I don't think it looks better then Top Spin 3 or 4. It is very vivid, colors are very bright and shading is done well. But it also has that "fake" Sega look. You know right away by looking at the game that Sega made it and that it is a game.

I had random people confuse TS3 with real tennis on TV while walking into the room, for a few seconds at least. With VT that doesn't happened. The colors are just too bright and unreal - you can see it is a game right away.

That said, I LOVE VT animations. So much smoother and simply better done that Top Spin. And they actually look and feel like "signature" animations should. You really "get into it" while playing with a certain Pro. In TS series, Pro players never excite me. Never actually feel like I am navigating one.

Anytime I want to play with a Pro - I play VT3.

[JJ_DUBZ_87]

Well said Djarvik and I agree the animations look better on VT.

When I played Smash Court Tennis a while back people thought it was real tennis as well. I wish they'd invest in that game more I liked it a lot.

...I"m not really sure about that career mode though...

[Cro Morgan]

The career mode in Virtua Tennis was confusing as hell (looks bad in VT4, as well). The only thing worse than the career mode: the character create. Aie yie yie, that was awful.

Visually though, Virtual Tennis is awesome! While the colors may be a bit storybookish, Sega's attention to detail is second to only a few.

[VillaJ100]

i agree, however on TS3 with federer, i don't know what it is but most people who i have played with will agree (especially fedfan), my style of play with him is exactly the same as federer plays in real life, i dont know why this is but it just seems to 'work'

[Cro Morgan]

Seems 2K was right in not supporting Kinect. Everything I'm reading about Virtua Tennis and Kinect is, err, not good.

IGN just posted a "Virtua Tennis 4: Move vs. Kinect" article.

Sample:

"I appreciate the technology Kinect employs, but in this situation it seems that the PlayStation Move version of Virtua Tennis 4 has the advantage. Not only are you holding a physical controller during play which roughly emulates holding a racket, but the Move controller will supposedly measure the twist and angle of your swing. This is not possible on the Kinect version. It's disappointing, but the Kinect hardware just can't track minute body motions like wrist rotation."

What most will soon discover, I believe:

"Playing two versions of Virtua Tennis 4 with motion support reminded me how much I love traditional control schemes. When I finally switched from a Move controller to a DualShock, I immediately felt more comfortable with the experience. Having full control of your character's movement is also more challenging and much more liberating. While motion controls might be useful for introducing a non-gamer to the world of Virtua Tennis, I suspect most veterans of the series will stick with tradition."

Finally mention of a release date:

"Virtua Tennis 4 is scheduled to launch this April for the PS3, 360, and the Nintendo Wii."

Full article:

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/114/1148549p1.html

[JJ_DUBZ_87]

I actually liked the career mode in VT2009, the calendar layout was fine... this ticket thing sounds like it'll be more frustrating than a calendar layout... but I'll be interested to try it and see

[Cro Morgan]

I keep forgetting there was a VT 2009 (easy to do, all considered). The version I'm referring to is Virtua Tennis 3.

[JJ_DUBZ_87]

I keep forgetting there was a VT 2009 (easy to do, all considered). The version I'm referring to is Virtua Tennis 3.

oooh... in that case idk... I hated career in VT3 lol

[jayl0ve]

I don't get the whole motion-gaming thing...I mean seriously if you are standing there with a fake racquet in your hand basically using real tennis techniques...why don't you freaking go outside and hit some real life tennis balls?

[Sherlock 117]

I don't get the whole motion-gaming thing...I mean seriously if you are standing there with a fake racquet in your hand basically using real tennis techniques...why don't you freaking go outside and hit some real life tennis balls?

I would like it because you can play "almost" competitive tennis against anyone, anywhere in the world, whenever you want...maybe for someone who can already play outside in the winter it's different, but where I live the winter, and time off from tennis, is long

[JJ_DUBZ_87]

I don't get the whole motion-gaming thing...I mean seriously if you are standing there with a fake racquet in your hand basically using real tennis techniques...why don't you freaking go outside and hit some real life tennis balls?

I would like it because you can play "almost" competitive tennis against anyone, anywhere in the world, whenever you want...maybe for someone who can already play outside in the winter it's different, but where I live the winter, and time off from tennis, is long

LOL jayl0ve good point... and then there's the issue of racket specs if you really want to get anal about it...

@Sherlock - no indoor courts??? Or are they STUPID expensive like in NY

[Sherlock 117]

Well, they're not stupid expensive. But I just meant, with motion controlled games, if I feel like playing "sorta-tennis" I can just go turn on the Xbox and start playing. In the winter to play real tennis you have to find someone to hit with, find some horrible open court time, and pay a nice chunk of change. It's not like in the summer where I can easily play 10-20 hours of tennis a week if I feel like it.

[JJ_DUBZ_87]

Well, they're not stupid expensive. But I just meant, with motion controlled games, if I feel like playing "sorta-tennis" I can just go turn on the Xbox and start playing. In the winter to play real tennis you have to find someone to hit with, find some horrible open court time, and pay a nice chunk of change. It's not like in the summer where I can easily play 10-20 hours of tennis a week if I feel like it.

Gotcha and I totally understand. I hope that VT4 captures the realism of the mechanics of an actual racket swing for when you play with the move or with the xbox kinect... bc I feel like Wii sports version of tennis was an absolute fail in that regard.