As I've mentioned before about my lack of enthusiasm for sports games tennis seems to be one of those clear representations in film or TV where your actual participation in the sport itself would be a million times more exciting than playing it in a digital recreation. That being said some of the most fun I've had with playing video games with my family was way back when I first bought my Wii and showed them Wii Tennis.

Wii Tennis, this ain't, with the producers of EA Sports creating Grand Slam Tennis 2. One of the most realistic and accurate depictions of a Tennis match I've ever seen. That's not me being a condescending jerk about my disdain for sports, but merely a technical proposition which most sports games seem to have. During a LiveStream presentation the game and it's modes were shown off by the lovely people at EA Sports who then answered a few questions on the new game, which were answered by game producer, Liam Millar and the Communications Director of EA Sports, Jen Riley.

The game was shown off to have a specific focus on total racket control with Move and Kinect support for motion controllers on HD consoles.  While there was little talk of how the game would be played out on the Wii, there was some discussion on how it may be integrated with Wii Plus. Grand Slam Tennis 2 will be focusing on a lot more superstars and even has John McEnroe training you in the game's tutorial mode. Speaking of different modes, the game has several tournament based standards such as Exhibition, Grand Slam Champion, Practice Court and Battle of the Nations but also the Grand Slam Classics where you can re-write history with some of your favourite Tennis stars.  And better yet they are in their original sporting arenas recreated digitally from classic photographs.

There was a preview following their opening powerpoint showing a spot on recreation of the current Australian Open Rod Laver Arena which was apparently reconstructed from over a thousand photographs taken at the original sites. With recreating from the photographs, everything from the seating arrangements down to the flowers outside of the venue were taken into consideration. The game even has an option where you can take a picture of yourself, either via Playstation Eye, Kinect or simply uploading a photo and recreating yourself in the game in something known as Game Face.

There was a really strong focus on control in the game as the producer took centre stage to show off the PS Move control and the PS3 control of the game. Someone brought up in the chat about the use of flicking the controller (much like in FIFA Street) was not dissimilar to that of Skate's Flickit function and how different flicks and turns on the left stick would give you different shots. However, the game and playing it looked incredibly intuitive despite the fact that I feel if you had a motion control you would just play it that way.

The game has Nadal, Andy Murray, the Williams sisters, Federer, John McEnroe and many more playing in classic licensed venues in high profile Grand Slam courts. They kept stressing how "authenticity" was a key thing and from the looks of the game they've done well. The players glide swiftly on the court and you can see the ruffles of their shirt move in time with their movements, showing off the prowess of both the technical strength of these games as well as it's realism.

With that realism there are grunts, tantrums and very detailed reactions from the players depending on how their game goes down. The animations in their faces and movements show off how incredibly important their motion capture and focus on creating the best experience for the gamer was. Something they didn't really talk about but I noticed was the beautifully crafted HUD system for in-game. Gone are any pretension of it being a video game as the court itself lights up and shows your skill and power before you serve and upon any strike against your opponent you are graded from bad to great on your technique with each hit.

With the online mode you can do Battle of the Nations, which was not discussed if that was Geo-IP specific or if you could play in any country you chose.  Also the question on Online Pass was humbly unknown at the time of the stream despite the close release date. Despite the stream coming straight from the US, there was a real focus on treating the Oceanic Guests with respect and even announced the Australian release date for February 9th while the US would get the game five days later on the 14th.  

Overall the game looks and plays really well and despite my aversion to sports games I highly recommend it. The game itself looks incredibly fun to play and it's the heart and emotion they've added to the game, as well as their technical advancements that really push it towards a new standard of Tennis games. I think we've come to that ever weakening gaming crossroads where the Wii was the last gasp of showing that games didn't have to be visually superior to be fun, and it's true they don't have to be, but we have reached a point where games can look amazing and play amazing and I think Grand Slam is a point in that right direction.

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