Table Tennis

By Morgan Bates

When Rockstar games, the infamous developer of GTA and Manhunt, announced that their first next-gen title would be a Table Tennis sim, they sent shockwaves of “WTF?” across the industry. It seems as though Rockstar are taking “playing it safe” to new extremes. And in doing so, they will probably drive away their most loyal fans – the GTA crowd. On the other hand, if they include some exploding table tennis balls, scantily clad women, decapitations, and guest appearances from GTA characters such as Tommy Vercetti they could be onto a winner.

"Our goal was to create a game that is perfectly addictive in its focused simplicity, a game that showcases the true possibilities of a next gen experience, not just in looks but in feel and pace," stated Sam Houser, Founder and Executive Producer of Rockstar Games. "We wanted to use the power of the new hardware and the resolution of new televisions to give the game an immediacy, an intensity and a sense of physicality and reality, resulting in a purer, more visceral experience that simply was not possible previously." Houser continued, "It is a distillation of game design philosophy, focusing on removing the traditional areas of compromise inherent in managing size and scope and concentrating the hardware's entire power on one activity, with the aim of doing that better than it's ever been done before."

A simple Table Tennis game wouldn’t be able to compete with the likes of Halo 3 or Perfect Dark Zero, even if they release it as a budget title. Rockstar will need to do something very different with this game to avoid disappointing their fan base. If not they’ll be greeted with scolding reviews and a table tennis paddle in the face.

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