AO Tennis
AO Tennis Coming January 16 For Xbox One and PlayStation 4
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Big Ant Studios has announced AO Tennis, scheduled to arrive in Australia and New Zealand on January 16, 2018. No official word on a release date here in the US.
AO Tennis is the most advanced tennis game ever produced. It combines fully licensed, photo realistic players with a decade’s worth of historical shot data that enhances their AI so that they play just like their real-life counterparts, right down to shot selection at any given point of time in a match. Comprehensive career, tournament and online play modes make this the most in-depth tennis game ever created, and sets a new standard for what a tennis game can offer fans.
Check out the features below.
- PLAY THE AUSTRALIAN OPEN – AO Tennis is the officially licensed game of the Australian Open. Take the title in Singles, Doubles or Mixed Doubles.
- LICENSED PLAYERS and STADIA – Dozens of fully licensed male and female players, including Rafael Nadal and Angelique Kerber in licensed tennis stadia such as Rod Laver Arena.
- ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE – Based on ten years of ball tracking data taken from Australian Open championship matches, players behave as they would in real life.
- MOTION CAPTURE – Professional players have been 3D scanned and motion captured in order to bring the most authentic tennis game to date.
- HARD COURT, CLAY OR GRASS – Play on your surface of choice, each has a distinct play style and presents different challenges.
- CAREER MODE – Start out as a star, or work your way from the bottom, climbing through the rankings, all the way to #1 in the world.
- PLAY ONLINE – Challenge the world and become the world champion from the comfort of your living room.
- PLAYER CREATOR – Comprehensive player creator allowing you to create yourself or anyone else – bring your game to the world’s best!
- CUSTOMISATION – Comprehensive Clothing, Stadium and Logo creators. Bring any element you want from the real world into the game for maximum customisation and authenticity.

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https://www.bigant.com/all-game-list/ao-tennis/
Looks exciting. It doesn't mention a PC release, but I've been assured by Big Ant that there'll be one later.
Hope we get a decent creator so we can create all the missing Pros!
It should be available digitally on psn & Xbox stores
The word from Big Ant is that the worldwide release will be later. Probably in the Spring.
Hope we get a decent creator so we can create all the missing Pros!
From IGN:
Like Ashes Cricket, AO Tennis will feature 3D scanned player likenesses and authentic play styles, and it will also feature the extensive customisation options Big Ant traditionally includes in its sports series, like Rugby League Live, Casey Powell Lacrosse, and Don Bradman Cricket/Ashes Cricket. In AO Tennis we’ll be able to create our own players, sponsorship logos, clothing, and even stadiums to play in. The game will also feature an “in-depth career mode”, where players will need to work their way from being ranked 1500th in the world to number one.
Sounds good to me...
Big Ant Studios are a small Dev shop and don't have the budget for an extended PR campaign. Generally most of their info about a new game is shared over the last 2-3 weeks.
=O
Like Ashes Cricket, AO Tennis will feature 3D scanned player likenesses and authentic play styles, and it will also feature the extensive customisation options Big Ant traditionally includes in its sports series, like Rugby League Live, Casey Powell Lacrosse, and Don Bradman Cricket/Ashes Cricket. In AO Tennis we’ll be able to create our own players, sponsorship logos, clothing, and even stadiums to play in. The game will also feature an “in-depth career mode”, where players will need to work their way from being ranked 1500th in the world to number one.
Sounds good to me...
awesome. maybe finally a real 128 player grand slam on consoles
https://press-start.com.au/features/2017/12/19/played-ao-tennis-serves-top-spin-4-levels-greatness/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=GP0AfCSH6u0
nobody said it here but he posted his gameface on instagram and it looks amazing
13 days to go and still no official player list...cant wait
13 days to go and still no official player list...cant wait
Who cares about the players list? Where's the gameplay? This screams out cash grab from Big Ant. Good luck to them and those who will buy the game which btw will be very expensive.
I can't see how Big Ant can recreate a good tennis simulation. They keep showing the animations in their insight videos. Hardcore tennis videogamers don't care about the animations. That's why we play Tennis Elbow.
How to make a very good tennis videogame:
1. Unforced errors
2. Stamina
3. Rallies
4. Player individuality
5. Shots placement variation
If they have really managed all that I will right away post here and apologize. My bet is this will be another Virtual Tennis clone.
I can't see how Big Ant can recreate a good tennis simulation. They keep showing the animations in their insight videos. Hardcore tennis videogamers don't care about the animations. That's why we play Tennis Elbow.
How to make a very good tennis videogame:
1. Unforced errors
2. Stamina
3. Rallies
4. Player individuality
5. Shots placement variation
If they have really managed all that I will right away post here and apologize. My bet is this will be another Virtual Tennis clone.
Great post. Agree 100%
Roster includes:
Men's
Rafael Nadal - Spain
Roger Federer - Switzerland
Grigor Dimitrov - Bulgaria
Alexander Zverev - Germany
Dominic Thiem - Austria
Marin Cilic - Croatia
David Goffin - Belgium
Jack Sock - United States
Stan Wawrinka - Switzerland
Pablo Carreno Busta - Spain
Juan Martin Del Potro - Argentina
Novak Djokovic - Serbia
Sam Querrey - United States
Kevin Anderson - South Africa
Jo-Wilfred Tsonga - France
John Isner - United States
Lucas Pouille - France
Tomas Berdych - Czech Republic
Roberto Bautista Agut - Spain
Nick Kyrgios - Australia
Albert Ramos-Vinolas - Spain
Milos Raonic - Canada
Gilles Muller - Luxembourg
Diego Schwartzman - Argentina
Fabio Fognini - Italy
Adrian Mannarino - France
Philipp Kohlschreiber - Germany
Damir Dzumhur - Bosnia and Herzegovina
Richard Gasquet - France
Pablo Cuevas - Uruguay
Mischa Zverev - Germany
Filip Krajinovic - Serbia
Women's
Simona Halep - Romania
Garbine Muguruza - Spain
Caroline Wozniacki - Denmark
K. Pliskova - Czech Republic
Venus Williams - United States
Elina Svitolina - Ukraine
Jelena Ostapenko - Latvia
Caroline Garcia - France
Johanna Konta - Great Britain
CoCo Vandeweghe - United States
K. Mladenovic - France
Sloane Stephens - United States
Julia Goerges - Germany
A. Pavlyuchenkova - Russia
A. Sevastova - Latvia
Ashleigh Barty - Australia
E. Vesnina - Russia
Madison Keys - United States
M. Rybarikova - Slovakia
Angelique Kerber - Germany
Serena Williams - United States
B. Strycova - Czech Republic
D. Kasatkina - Russia
Daria Gavrilova - Australia
Dominika Cibulkova - Slovakia
S. Peng - China
A. Radwanska - Poland
P. Kvitova - Czech Republic
Lucie Safarova - Czech Republic
K. Bertens - Netherlands
M. Lucic-Baroni - Croatia
E. Makarova - Russia
· Rafael Nadal
· David Goffin
· Kevin Anderson
· Thanasi Kokkinakis
· John Isner
· Angelique Kerber
· Karolina Pliskova
· Johanna Konta
· Daria Gavrilova
· Agnieszka Radwanska
· Sam Stosur
· Caroline Garcia
Others will be included later on via free patches later on.
AO Tennis will be released on January 16th in New Zealand and Australia
Although I'd love to get my hands on a new tennis game, I'm just not that confident in this one
Although I'd love to get my hands on a new tennis game, I'm just not that confident in this one
Same here. I'm a little apprehensive about the game given it's 4-5 days before the launch and there's no gameplay released yet. I read on another site that devs need more time to scan faces and perform motion capture for more players. This would concern me more as adding players is not simply about face scans or motion capture. The challenge is adding the player's playing style in the game.
As an example you can add Federer's face or his forhand/backhand motion but his unique playing style is what really sets him apart. I don't want a game where the gameplay is the same for all the players with the sole exception being appearance and forehand/backhand motion. Tennis, or any sport for that matter, is much more than that. I guess I will wait it out and see how Tennis World Tour is coming along.
edit - nevermind see it
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/218104055##
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/218104055##
It better, yeesh:y9:
Hope there's at least a demo because this looks incredibly barebones for a PS4 title. I don't think the ball boys even move.
Hope there's at least a demo because this looks incredibly barebones for a PS4 title. I don't think the ball boys even move.
The game needs a lot of work and looks unfinished IMO. The issues are not merely cosmetic or minor but gameplay related. For starters the AI "faults" too much while serving. AI's go to shot seems to be some sort of weird forehand slice which loops up and more often than not lands out. Then there are animations like the backhand "poke stab" and plenty of one-handed backhands from Nadal.
The net play is broken and as for doubles, I've seen better and deeper gameplay in a mobile game. I can't for the life of me understand how someone tested the doubles gameplay and didn't call it out as broken after a few minutes. The players standing at the net and not moving an inch letting the ball pass within their reach looks hilarious. And as for different stadiums and courts, it has to be a joke of some kind. The clay and grass courts act and play the same way as the hard court. There's no change in bounce, speed and any gameplay related aspect of the game. In fact you don't even get to see one single mark on the clay court which remains preistine throughout. The players don't slide on it either.
I had high hopes from the upcoming Tennis games but if this is the kind of game we are going to get a whopping 7 years after Top Spin 4 I say don't bother. It's a cruel joke that we are getting this sort of game on PS4/Xone when we had better ones on PS2, forget PS3/X360. This game, and the way it looks, is not just a step back from Top Spin 4 but a whole generation back from TS4. Shocking and Disappointing are the two words which come to mind after watching this incomplete beta of a game and how Australian Open could've licensed this game and put their name on it is beyond me. I guess Tennis World Tour is the only realistic option for us Tennis game starved fans coz I don't expect any number of patches to polish this turd and change it into something else.
P.S. - And WTF with celebrating every single point, including double faults?! I mean who does that? First point of the match, double fault and Nadal is fist pumping & celebrating as if he just won the Australian Open! Come on devs, at least this shouldn't have been too hard to nail down. Oh and this game was supposed to have "motion capture". Maybe they got some random guy come in for "motion capture" coz I sure haven't seen Nadal play that "poke stab" backhand or a one handed one too much.
http://ca.ign.com/articles/2018/01/18/ao-tennis-review
IGN's video review...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1GqZAkRvy8
IGN called the game broken and rated it Bad (4.5/10). I guess waiting for Tennis World Tour later this year is the only viable option.
Well, I guess the one positive for me is that it was only released in Australia/NZ and prevented a guaranteed impulse purchase.
https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/ao-tennis-review/1900-6416839/
I didn't think it was possible to get a worse review than IGN but this one rates the game 3/10. Looks like the game is fundamentally broken and no amount of patches can fix it.
same boring animations after every single shot, the crowd don't go oooooo or ahhhh during rallies it is a total mess. the other Tennis game coming in May better be better.
Australian Open
Patch Notes:
- Improvements to player shot timing and feedback.
- Improvements to player movement.
- Improvements to doubles.
- Improvements to sound and game atmosphere.
- Increased number of career mode tournaments.
- Changed online quick match to 3 games 1 set plus tiebreak.
- Improved Stability.
- Added Serve and Rally Statistical information to pause menu.
- Added extra morph options to player creation.
- Added extra hair types to player creation.
- Added Yuichi Sugita to playing roster
- Added new Paris courts
Patch Notes:
- Improvements to player shot timing and feedback.
- Improvements to player movement.
- Improvements to doubles.
- Improvements to sound and game atmosphere.
- Increased number of career mode tournaments.
- Changed online quick match to 3 games 1 set plus tiebreak.
- Improved Stability.
- Added Serve and Rally Statistical information to pause menu.
- Added extra morph options to player creation.
- Added extra hair types to player creation.
- Added Yuichi Sugita to playing roster
- Added new Paris courts
Problem is that the game is so behind the times that patches can't do much. For example even with the latest patch all the courts behave exactly the same way. The clay courts don't even have the ball marks on them though TS4 did it 7 years ago!
Doubles gameplay is still broken and career mode is a chore with no variety whatsoever. And when you factor in all the players playing the exact same way and no distinct playing styles, the game belongs to the PS2 era coz it will need a rehaul just to reach the level of TS4.
Doubles gameplay is still broken and career mode is a chore with no variety whatsoever. And when you factor in all the players playing the exact same way and no distinct playing styles, the game belongs to the PS2 era coz it will need a rehaul just to reach the level of TS4.
Well, we'll see. There are more patches to come according to this tweet from yesterday:
Tennis Aus have been great, actually awesome. Any deficiencies in the game are down to us - we are working 7 days a week to make sure we make it up to you all and go beyond even what we had planned. We are likely going to release a patch nearly every week until the global launch.
and the CAP is garbage to even create players close to them