It seems that in the age of "next gen" consoles, games are trying more and more to simulate realism. This is most apparent when it comes to sports games. Since most of these titles take place in a small variety of closed environments, it's much easier spend more of your pixels on other things like sweat and facial animations without skimping on environments. Smash Court Tennis 3 may not have beads of sweat dripping from its players brows, but it makes up for it in other ways like a deep character customization area and creative playing courts.

Smash Court Tennis 3 differs from many other sports titles in that it runs on an "RPG Lite" system of play, allowing your player to gain experience and add to their collection of skills as they improve their games. It all starts with the character customization area where you can adjust everything form height, weight and facial features to your characters emotional level. Will you accept your failures with grace or will you throw a McEnroe tantrum and pitch your racket across the court? The choice is yours! But be careful, throw too many tantrums and sponsors won't want to represent you. And unlike some games, the skills and characteristics with which you imbue your character have an effect on how they play they game.

Sega Superstars Tennis Double Faults At Retail, Now Just $19.99

Sega Superstars Tennis 2? Hahahahaha! That's a good one! With the game just five weeks old in North America, GameStop is already slashing prices on Sega and Sumo Digital's Sonic-filled answer to Mario Tennis, with Sega Superstars Tennis bottoming out at $19.99 USD for the Wii, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 2. The Nintendo DS version? Just $14.99 USD.

If you're in need of a GTA IV hype deflection shield or you're now willing to bite at this price—even I am, despite my bitterness about a lack of Space Harrier or Cosmic Smash Guy—you can pick it up in-store or online as of right now.

GameStop Weekly Ad

Sega Superstars Tennis Trailer

On the fence about which version of Sega Superstars Tennis to grab? Then you'll "love" this trailer. Get it? Tennis! Not sure if I'm frothing for essentially another go at Virtua Tennis, but maybe I'm just bitter about Shadow and Pudding taking up valuable slots in the roster. At least they got Gilius Thunderhead and Alex Kidd in there. My inner Sega fan is being torn apart by the struggle...

Sega Superstars Tennis Gets Chu Chu Rockety

Sega Superstars Tennis gives us the most conflicted early feelings of any game we know of in development. On the one hand, it's Sega. On the other, Sumo Digital is actually doing the work. On the original hand, it's going to prominently feature Sonic the Hedgehog and Shadow the Hedgehog. On that other hand again, it has Ulala and Gum and Beat. But back on the negative hand, this is certainly not how we expected to hear from Space Channel 5 and Jet Set Radio's main players. Returning to the positive hand, we are pleasantly surprised to see how well Chu Chu Rocket mini-gameplay seems to be integrated.

My brain is about to be ripped in half as I struggle to come to terms with Sega's answer to Mario Tennis. Do we hate it to death or smother it into oblivion? Someone! Do the thinking for us!

British PM Gets Arse Kicked By His Four Year-Old Son

Sega Superstar Tennis Won't Take Wii Online

Sega Superstar Tennis Debut Trailer

Move over Mario and friends, you aren't the only collection of characters that can have a sports game. Sonic and friends are taking to the court in a new tennis game entitled Sega Superstar Tennis. While sports games don't really intrigue me, I do like the collection of characters they've gathered for this game like Nights (from NiGHTS), Amigo (Samba De Amigo) and my personal favorite, Space Channel 5's Ulala. Of course Sonic and Dr. Eggman are on hand as well because after all, what would a Sega title be without Sonic. But this trailer really begs the question: Who would win in a tennis match, team Mario or team Sonic?

Nintendo Sponsors Aussie Open

Once again Nintendo uses Wii Sports to get themselves prominently displayed at a major sporting event. First Nintendo of America holds court at the U.S. Open, and now Nintendo Australia has announced that they have signed on as the "Official Gaming Console Supplier" of the 2008 Australian Open tennis tournament. Visitors to Melbourne Park during the January 14-27 event will be able to participate in the Wii Championships, a Wii Sports tennis tourney, with daily Wii console prizes and one grand prize - a chance to play Wii tennis against Australian tennis vet Mark Philippoussis. Visitors will also be able to get their eyes on Sight Training for the Nintendo DS, with daily prize packages up for grabs.

Nintendo sponsors Australian Open [GameSpot]

The latest shots of Sega and Sumo Digital's console and handheld tennis effort, Sega Superstars Tennis, have sparked great conflict within. Should we be angry at Sega, firing off bitter, expletive laden e-mails and befouling its name on message boards for taunting us with a half-assed reintroduction to seemingly forgotten characters like Jet Set Radio's Beat? Or should we just be content that the publisher isn't handing off development duties on a third stylish futuristic inline skating adventure to a Western developer who specializes in boxing games? Still haven't decided. Help us figure out if we should be grumpy or simply thankful with 20 new screens of Sega Superstars Tennis for Xbox 360.

While I have no doubts that Sega Superstars Tennis will be just another throwaway Sega title that kids will love but critics will pan, there is just something about seeing Samba De Amigo that warms my heart and takes me back to a better place. Back to the year 2000, when the Dreamcast was still a going concern. When I lived as one of three roommates in a spacious apartment and could afford 2-3 new games every weekend. Back when games still came in jewel cases...I think I prefer the smell of a new jewel case to the plastic of a DVD case. Don't look at me like that - you know the smell. As you look through this gallery of screens for the Xbox 360 version of the game (due out in March in case you were curious), think about the sights, sounds, and yes - the scents of gaming. Where do they take you?

Sega, capitalizing on the two things it does best, creating original tennis games and pumping out Sonic the Hedgehog appearances, is bringing the two together with Sega Superstar Tennis. Like the PlayStation 2 EyeToy cash-in Sega Superstars, the tennis game brings together franchise leaders Sonic, Ulala from Space Channel 5 and Amigo from Samba de Amigo, puts them in various Sega themed tennis courts and lets them duke it out. Other franchises are sure to be represented in Sega Superstar Tennis, in good hands at Sumo Digital, and we have our fingers crossed for representation from House of the Dead and Altered Beast.

It's coming to everything—PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii and Nintendo DS—for maximum profit. A handful of screens await you.

Walking through the Panasonic booth at CEDIA, I saw plenty of Playstation 3's being used to demonstrate the high-def screens. Panasonic is all about the Blu-ray so they nixed the Xbox 360 I was told... yes, I know that make no sense. As I rounded a corner I saw this, two guys playing Wii tennis on a 103-inch high-def television. My perspective is all screwed in this shot, but trust me it was impressive. Nearby a Panasonic rep fidgeted.

"I thought you were just using PS3s in here because of the whole Blu-ray thing?"
"Yeah, we have a PS3 hooked-up to it too, but everyone wants to play with the Wii on this television."
"Are you worried about people accidentally throwing their remotes into that screen?"
"Yes, but that's why they're wearing the straps."
"That would really suck."
Sickly smile.

2K Puts Top Spin On The Wii

"We are excited to bring our popular Top Spin series to the Wii," said Christoph Hartmann, President of 2K. "Given the Wii's unique controllers and the fun family-oriented gameplay, Top Spin Tennis effectively bridges the gap between a sports and a party game."

Rockstar Games Quietly Mumbles GC Presence

Now this is going to be fun, Rockstar Games presents Table Tennis is heading to the Wii this fall.

Developed by Rockstar Leeds in collaboration with Rockstar San Diego (which made the original version), the Wii version will of course use the Wii Remote's motion sensing. No screens yet, but it can't help but be sexy hot. I loved the game on the 360. Expect more broken televisions, like lots more.