Rockstars Table Tennis Q&A

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• Saturday, August 26, 2006 | 12:15 PM
• 4 comments

Xbox 360

Thanks to the XCN Community network, we had the chance to ask the Table Tennis developers some questions together with other Xbox fansites. All the questions had to be focused on Table Tennis, so don't except any new GTA info to be in here. Read more inside, and see if some of the questions we gathered in the forum made it into the interview.

Questions answered by William Rompf, Lead Analyst of Table Tennis.
When you finished Developing, did you imagine, that the Game would be such a success?
Of course we're always hopeful of success. Its not just time and energy that we put into making Table Tennis, we've said all along that we're huge fans of the sport and know that it's not as high profile as more mainstream sports like football and basketball. So to make a game that does the sport justice while winning over new fans was the mission. It's massively rewarding that the overwheling majority of people appreciated what we accomplished.

Why didn't we get a comprehesive tournament modus in the game?
We wanted to provide a honed, simple, yet intese table tennis game. Think of it along the lines of a sports game that is also a fighting game. In terms of competitiveness and reaction speed, we really wanted to focus on one on one competition only. The one player modes were only ever meant to serve as a way of building your experience and knowledge for that big game against your on or off line real-life opponents. We feel you only really get the best out of all the classic sports games in the multiplayer mode - that's when things get exciting.

How did you come up with an idea of a table tennis video game?
Quite simply we're crazy about table tennis. Every Rockstar office has a table, we've got a league table where youre only allowed to challenge people immediately above or below you, and you play for your position. We've thought about a table tennis game for a long time, but the 360 provided us with the hardware to make one that matched our vision.

Why didn´t you sell table tennis directly on xbox live arcade?
The game is simply too big for most to download, it wasn't designed to be downloaded so we didn't want people to try and download it.

Probably one of most important "Rockstar Games" strengths is the ability to learn from its previously developed games: however, how did you came across the astonishing idea of using a sort of automatic "Max Payne's bullet time" in a sport game based on speed and reflexes such as "Table Tennis"?
I'm glad you liked it, it's a feature we think works really well. With Table Tennis being a sport that is played at such a blistering pace it was the perfect way to allow players the time to absorb and marvel at the level of dexterity and athleticism in shots. It was also a great way to showcase the phenomenally lifelike animations that really captured the true essence of the sport.

"Table Tennis" seems to have been a bet: it could have been the less played game in the world as well as one of the greatest sport-videogames ever made (which has been the case). How important has been the support from a publisher like "Take Two Interactive" in the choice of developing or not such a game?
It might have been percieved that way by others, but Table Tennis was always a game we believed had to be made, we just needed the power of the next gen hardware to realize our dream. Rockstar and Take2 have a great working relationship and they support all our creative decisions.

Have you looked to other recent hits in the tennis genre for inspiration, and how?
We tried to approach the development of Table Tennis as an entirely new concept. We drew from our personal and professional knowledge of both the sport and videogames with the goal of making as flawless a Table Tennis experience as possible. The end result is a game that feels remarkably fresh and innovative even as certain elements feel familiar and easy to pickup and play.

Do you think this game could open up a new sub-genre in the sport category, with future updates or sequels?
That's difficult to tell. Hopefully we've proved that you can take a relatively low profile sport and bring something fresh, new and exciting to the genre. I think Table Tennis is a sport that many many people feel some connection with on some basic level.We couldn't be more pleased with the overall reaction to the game and it's success, but as for the future plans, we'll have to wait and see.

Are there are any plans for downloadable characters, arenas, even new types of matches?
At this point no, but we are continually revaluating the game and its progress.

Again, a big thanks to XCN for making this interview possible.