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Knight
10-30-2002, 12:31 AM
Microsoft Serves up Tennis on Xbox
Our in-depth interview reveals first details about Microsoft's Top Spin.


October 29, 2002 - Tennis. While hockey, basketball, football, soccer, and baseball are all well-represented on Xbox, tennis remains the odd-man out. With only a one lackluster third-party tennis games available for Xbox in its first year, Microsoft looks to strengthen the sporting depth of its big green box. Top Spin is Microsoft's first foray into tennis and with no Virtua Tennis in sight, has quite a good chance of being the dominant force on the court next year.
Developed by Power & Magic and set to ship fall 2003, Top Spin will feature some true goodies, things you'd expect from a first-party sports game. But rather than tell you all about it, we asked Matthew Seymour, Program Manager for Microsoft Game Studios and Francois Giuntini, Producer for Power & Magic Development about Top Spin. Expect more detailed information in the coming months, but this initial interview should give your salivary glands a workout.



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This is the first we've heard about a tennis game for Xbox, so how about giving us just an overview of the game. The title, the style of play, and what we can expect from it.
Francois Giuntini: Power & Magic Producer
Depth and realism is the central focus of Top Spin coupled with a big dose of style and attitude. Currently, tennis on the console is missing major elements of realism and being a truly immersive experience. Good "arcade" tennis is fun but it does not let you live the fantasy of being a professional tennis player.

We are tackling the depth and realism in a number of different ways: thousands of motion capture animations from the pros themselves, an expansive shot arsenal, attention to detail for all the environments, interactive 3-D crowds, and an extensive career mode.

The attitude and style in this game comes from within the gameplay itself, not from the music or [user interface], clothes or full motion videos. It's about being able to play how you want, to take risks, push it, and to rub your opponent's face in their own mediocrity as you take risks, build momentum, and pull off one wicked shot after another. Suffer the consequences of your risk-taking or win in a blaze of glory.







Will there be online play and/or downloadable content?

Matthew Seymour: MGS Program Manager
To us there absolutely has to be online play because tennis begs to be online with its one-on-one fast action competition and inherent ladder system. Users will be able to get into the action quick with matchmaking or customize through Optimatch. Match play will be very heated and competitive with the existence of our real-time worldwide ladder.

Will we see licensed tennis players or are these all fictional players? And if there are licensed players, can you tell us some of the people in the game?

Matthew Seymour: MGS Program Manager
We actually have 16 of the top-ranked men's and women's pros. We will be announcing these stars at a later date. In addition to the 16 licensed pros we will have at least another 32 fictional and unique characters that will have their own "career" agendas, thus defeating rivals will be paramount to making it to the top. On top of all this, the game will feature a robust Player Creator that will allow complete player customization to the point of actually being able to sculpt your player's face! Our hope here is to have such a powerful player editor that no two players will look alike and you'll be able to recognize an online opponent by his or her face rather than his or her gamertag.







What are the modes of play? Will there be any sort of career mode? Give us a little rundown of each.

Francois Giuntini: Power & Magic Producer
At this point in time I can't reveal too much. This game is going to blow the competition away and we don't want to reveal too many secrets too early. In addition to online, there will be five modes of play. There will be both singles and doubles play, tournaments, and customizable play. The Career mode will be the deepest ever created for a tennis game. The user creates a novice player who climbs the ladder of both amateur and professional circuits to reach the pantheon of tennis legends. Improve your skills through training, find coaches to learn special advanced techniques, get sponsored, receive the adoration of the crowd and media to become No. 1 in the world. But you're done not yet... not until you become a legend!

Up until now Microsoft has only had basketball and football games, what brought about the idea to branch out into other sports, and why was tennis picked to lead the new pack?

Matthew Seymour: MGS Program Manager]
I feel one of the responsibilities of being a first party publisher is to create and produce your own sports titles that will push the hardware as far as it will go, and as I touched on earlier, tennis is a perfect game to be on Xbox Live. The tennis genre has a lot of room to grow, and games like Virtua Tennis have proven there is quite a big audience out there. We felt that we could create a tennis title that not only surpassed Virtua's feel and fun factor, but could take the tennis genre to new heights with a much more realistic look and a much deeper experience.

What do you think Power & Magic can bring to the game of tennis that other companies cannot?

Matthew Seymour: MGS Program Manager
Power & Magic has a lot of experience in creating sports titles but more importantly it's their understanding of the subtleties of tennis, and the desire and know-how to translate them to the console. They are also very experienced using motion capture in sports games and intend to take it a step further with Top Spin.







How will the game play? Will it be arcade or sim? Will we see things like court surface affecting gameplay?

Francois Giuntini: Power & Magic Producer
Top Spin is going to be easy for a novice to pick up and get a rally going but it will require a lot of dedication to master. A bit of a clich?, perhaps, but in addition to a very expansive shot repertoire, what really makes this game different is having to manage both your player's strengths and weaknesses, as no single player will be able to master all the tennis techniques/skills offered in the game nor top off all their stats, so to speak. At some point during your career you may have to decide if you want to become the greatest of clay court champions or if your game is more suited to grass.

It's about maximizing your strengths, covering your weaknesses and being a wholly unique player/character, which we feel is critical for a realistic, immersive and, I think, fresh experience both online and offline.

Like no other console tennis game out there today, Top Spin will have all the different court surfaces (grass, clay, hard court and carpet) and each will affect gameplay, including player movement and ball physics accordingly.







Are there any extras, any really cool things in Top Spin that make it stand out from other tennis games?

Matthew Seymour: MGS Program Manager
I'd say at the top is the online element with the worldwide ladder. Next would be an element we are calling being "in the zone" where you take risks and build momentum during the course of play and draw energy and adrenaline from the crowd. Finally, it is the ability to exhibit and control your player's emotions in-between points including pumping your fist, arguing calls, throwing your racquet in disgust, or raising your arms in victory.

What's the one thing you hope to achieve with Top Spin?

Francois Giuntini: Power & Magic Producer
We want to offer a tennis game on Xbox that not only appeals to a broad audience but is so deep and immersive that it allows one to realize the dream of becoming a professional tennis player without ever leaving one's living room.

What's been the toughest thing in developing Top Spin for Xbox?

Matthew Seymour: MGS Program Manager
Ensuring it will be the best tennis game ever created on any platform.

http://xbox.ign.com/articles/375/375739p1.html