Top Spin 3 Developer Call

By Joe Haygood | May 9, 2008

Yesterday, Ryan Jones of 2K Sports, was nice enough to invite Aeropause to a developer conference call with the lead producer of Top Spin 3, Anthony DeLuca.

Anthony let us know that the Top Spin franchise has become the number one rated tennis game among fans and that it was only natural to continue the series.

2K Sports took the franchise back to the drawing board looking at the changes that needed to be made to make Top Spin 3 stand out among its competitors.  This time around the development team would be focusing on the shot mechanics, service mechanics as well as the graphics for the game. 

After this brief introduction to the changes and the statistics of the franchise, the questions were read by the moderator of the session. 

One of the first questions dealt with how close has the game come to modeling realistic tennis, to which Anthony talked about the the nuiances of the game that have been captured to show off the detail and realism of Top Spin 3.  Some of the examples that he put forth were the accuracy of the environments, the motions of the player and the physics of the ball.

When asked about the biggest challenges to the developers of a multiplatform title, The talk was how they broke up the development into two versions.  The Wii version would have lesser graphics then the PS3 and 360, but would have a family fun focus about it.  The game is defintely more friendly on the Wii over the other two consoles.  The 360 and PS3 version are focused on the gameplay and mechanics of tennis, as well as providing top notch visuals.

One of the questions I asked was about cooperation from the pro players, since there is no actual league license that you negotiate.  Anthony mentioned that they had great cooperation from all the players that they approached, as they did nave to sign agreements with each of them.  They were happy with some of the legends that they got for the game as well.

When asked about the DS version of the game, we were told that the shots and servicing would be done by the stylus.  There was no mention of the orientation of the screen, but I could see one court being on the upper screen and the other side on the bottom, but this was not explained, so it is just speculation.

Anthony was asked if the 360 Vision camera or PS3 camera attachments would be used in a way similar to games like Burnout or for face mapping like the Rainbow Six Vegas games.  Alas, there will be no camera support, so no pictures of people or other parts that shall remain unmentioned.

When asked about unlockables in the game, the development team was originally going to have some characters locked, but in the end, they will allow for all characters to be used from the start of the game.  However, new animations, clothing, equipment and venues are unlockable.

The single player mode offers an exhibition mode as well as a career mode.  In career mode, you start on local tennis courts with second rate equipment, and work your way up to the top of the tennis world, playing in the major tournaments like the French Open, US Open and Wimbeldon.  There is also the Top Spin school, which works like a training mode, but you get what amounts to focused tennis lessons.  You will learn with everything from service mechanics to shot selection.

Looking to make the play experience unique with each character, the development team introduced the new Signature Style modes for each game character.  What this does is allow a Federer to play differently than a Sampras or Nadal.  With this new mode, you should be able to somewhat recognize a player by the style that they use on the court.

All the major venues that the pro tennis tour visits will be in the game.  Wimbeldon, Roland Garros and Arthur Ashe Stadium are just some of the stadiums that they got the rights to recreate, but Top Spin 3 will also have some custom designed stadiums for the game as well.  Weather effects will be available on all of these courses as well, which will affect play.  Overcast, rain, cloudy or darkness are just some of the elements that can affect your play on the court.

While the sound effects on the court have been beefed up to add to the realism factor, the developers decided that a color commentator would not add to the experience.  One problem is picking a person, but the other is having the commentary keep up with the play on the court.  There is music that plays at times, although it was not specified whether the music is playing while you are playing.

The controls for the 360 and PS3 have been changed a bit to add to the tennis experience.  Now, your service is controlled by the right analog stick.  If my understanding is correct, you will pull back to throw the ball up and then push forward to make contact as it comes down.  The speed of the forward push will give the power behind the ball.  If you are a bit initimidated by this control mode, the old button press service mode is there, but it is not the default mode. 

Taking the game online will have you playing in two mentioned modes.  One is the simple exhibition mode, where you pick up a player and play a game, but the developers and 2K Sports have developed a whole new mode for the game called World Tournament.  Every two weeks, a World Tournament will be started.  You then can enter to try and get to the top of the tournament.  At the end, a champion is crowned and they move on to the next tournament.  There are several online achievements that will be linked to this mode as well on the 360 version of the game.

In the final moments of the call, there were a few last minute questions that got answered.  Dual Shock support for the PS3 is built in, no patches needed.  The 360 will see a dearth of downloadable content in the form of new equipment, clothing and even some new legend.

As you can see with some of these pictures, Top Spin 3 is shaping up to look great, and if it delivers on all the promises that 2K Sports talked about today, Top Spin 3 could be a huge seller at retail.