As I’ve said in the past, the Virtua Tennis games hold a special place in my gaming history – the simple controls, the gorgeous 60fps graphics and the pure arcade presentation go a long way to make up everything I love about video games.  That said, 2009 is looking like an altogether more realistic proposition, with more photo-realistic visuals (drifting close towards the Uncanny Valley) being showcased in these brand new screenshots of the PS3 version.

Let’s hope then, that Sega stay true to the root of the series with the gameplay and don’t try to overcomplicate matters with daft Top Spin style analog controls; I’d rather have Ulala’s crazy shots than have to worry about remembering which button is slice.  Hopefully we’ll be able to get a hands on with Virtua Tennis 2009 sometime soon so we’ll report back on what will hopefully be this Summer’s perfect multiplayer game.