Table Tennis Preview: How to Smack Balls like a Rockstar

by Andrew Podolsky on September 19, 2007 at 6:15 pm

Leagues beyond Wii Sports Tennis

This week Rockstar Games held an informal get-together for game journalists in the San Francisco Bay Area to hang out at a Metreon sports bar, have some drinks, and learn to play Table Tennis on the Wii.

Despite Rockstar’s controversial reputation, there was nothing in any way shocking about the event. No strippers, jello shots, or grisly stealth executions marred an evening with one of the safest bets on Nintendo’s family friendly system. Wii Table Tennis plays just like its Xbox 360 counterpart, with the obligatory motion control that is either extremely satisfying, or overly simplistic, depending on who you ask.

Some could be seen bopping along to music that nobody else heard, “dance fighting” their way up to a 90 hit rally. Others were more seriously involved, putting a Serena Williams-like grunt into every swing of the paddle. Either way, the result seemed to be the same.

There are three different control schemes for Wii Table Tennis, one of which even allows you to hold a drink in one hand and the controller in the other. This basic setup doesn’t use the nunchuck, so to put spin on the ball you use the D-pad at the top of the Wiimote. Holding the B button performs power shots, and you can serve the ball by making a subtle lifting gesture followed by a harder swat.

For more finesse, there is the Control Freak setup, which uses the nunchuck to position your player around the table. Sharpshooter mode lets you target corners, with a slight rumble to indicate if you are aiming out of bounds.

Table Tennis seems to be as basic as they come. All the players and arenas from the 360 version are included, and the graphics use a modified version of the 360’s RAGE engine. They’re not the most realistic graphics, but they’re decent and sure beat the heck out of those funky looking Miis. The visuals won’t blow anyone away, but the gameplay is everything you’d expect from a Table Tennis port on Wii.

A lot of games for Wii seem to be remakes of various Wii Sports games. Bowling, Golf, and Boxing all have full-price retail remakes coming to Wii, so it’s apparent that Nintendo really got the ball rolling, so to speak. But Table Tennis predates Wii Sports by a good six months, so it’s apparent that Rockstar had the idea for a simple family sports game long before Wii became a smash hit. The time is now right to bring Table Tennis out on Wii, as the sport hasn’t been this hot since Nixon sent Forrest Gump to China. Table Tennis hits the Wii in October.

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