Xbox 360 Fanboy writes: " one likes riding in the middle of a car's backseat area. You're sandwiched in, crushed from one side and into the other regardless of which way the driver has to turn, and worst of all, the position is often associated with a derogatory term for the female dog.
If you're cunning, though, the role of middle-backseat passenger can be used to harness the strengths of both your fellow rear passengers for your own good. Forge a temporary alliance during one turn so that you and one passenger crush the other against his door. Then, on an opposite turn, revoke the ceasefire and cause much harm to your former ally.
Namco Bandai's Smash Court Tennis 3 makes similar use of its middle position against its two primary competitors, SEGA's Virtua Tennis 3 and 2K Sports's Top Spin 3. "You've got Virtua Tennis at the arcade end of the spectrum, and you've got Top Spin at the Simulation end," explained Smash Court Tennis 3 producer David Geudelekian during a recent preview event. 'Smash Court Tennis very intelligently tows the middle ground. You can jump right into the game and [within] 30 seconds, you can play an arcade-style match: lots of powerups, sensitive aim. But there's also a really deep experience if you want more of a simulation.'"
Another week and another episode of Distributed Failure is here for your listening pleasure. This week's "What They've Been Playing" features discussion on Top Spin 3, Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood, Fight Night Round 4, Battlefield 1943, Final Fantasy IV: The After Years, and much more! They follow that up with some gaming news including the latest update on EGM, the addition of prizes to 1 vs. 100, and the announcement of a new Mechwarrior game.
Britxbox writes: "Once every year I effectively enter a 2 week state of hibernation. Don't get me wrong, tennis is a great sport to watch; after all where else can you hear 2 grown women moaning and groaning without waiting up till 11pm and entering a pin number?! But with tennis comes Wimbledon, which ends up grinding the BBC's television schedule to a complete standstill for what can only feel like an eternity.
Anyway, away from my gripes of a broadcaster's 2 week summer holiday, I have kindly received a copy of Namco's latest tennis title, Smash Court Tennis 3. Will it be ace, or simply a double fault? "
Console Monster writes: "Smash Court Tennis 3 for the Xbox 360 is a port from that released on the PlayStation Portable (PSP). Not a direct port, but still a port nevertheless. So with that in mind, I wasn't expecting too much when I grabbed my racket controller for a spot of tennis.
Upon loading the game you are met with a neat looking menu screen where you can select a various amount of gamemodes. You have the usual modes expected; Exhibition, Tutorial, Arcade and Pro Tour Mode. Being a fan of tennis the first thing I wanted to do was to see what players there were available to play, so I jumped straight into an exhibition game to find out. The roster isn't that bad considering the game doesn't hold many licenses, but it could be better. The pick of the bunch are the mens world No's 1 & 2, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer (at the time of writing this review), as well as many top women professionals including Amelie Mauresmo, the smoking hot fans favourite Maria Sharapova and Justine Henin..."
