Ubisoft's Women's Things
Jacko! Just Dance! Racket Sports.
There's no doubt the budget price point was also a bit part of Just Dance's appeal, and Grant says the sequel will be in the same ballpark. You'll be able to add to the content on the disc with downloadable tracks later in the year, and pricing will be in line with iTunes and SingStore tracks.
Even if Just Dance 2 came with 900,000 tracks on the disc and cost 15 pence, it wouldn't appeal to everyone. If you're innately repulsed by the original, the sequel won't change your mind. But if you secretly wonder what all the fuss is about, and whether it might not actually be quite fun in the right circumstances, you might want to give JD2 a go when it hits the shops this October.
Racket Sports
It's hard to visualise the brainstorming meeting at which the idea for Racket Sports was born, but perhaps it went something like this. (You'll have to imagine the French accents, this isn't 'Allo 'Allo.)
"So. PlayStation Move is the new Wii remote. We should make a PlayStation version of Wii Sports!"
"OK! But we only have the budget to develop one mini-game. What is the best mini-game in Wii Sports?"
"Tennis! Everyone likes the tennis. The boxing's too tiring, the bowling is too fiddly for women and old people to understand and the golf is just boring. And we have no idea what a baseballs is. Let's do tennis!"
"OK! But we can't just have one mini-game. Wait! I've got it! We'll do one tennis mini-game but give it five different sets of graphics! No one will ever know! And we'll call it Racket Sports!"
"Um, catchy."
The five tennis mini-games in Racket Sports are tennis, table tennis, beach tennis, squash tennis and badminton tennis. Up to four players can take part in matches and there's an online mode. As with Wii Sports, there's a cartoony, knockabout feel to the whole thing.
But unlike with Wii Sports, your avatar replicates your movements with precision and you can't get away with quick flicks or wild swings. "This is the Move, it's not the Wii," says brand manager Ombeline Wallon. "If you just shake your wrist it's not going to move. It tracks the ball on the controller so if you move only your wrist, you'll see your avatar move only their wrist."
Racket Sports also gives you more control over where your avatar is on the court, providing you're playing on the Expert difficulty level. You still can't move left or right, but pressing circle makes your player run to the net. Plus, you can press the trigger button to perform more powerful but potentially trickier shots. (These options are AI-controlled if you're playing on Easy, to ensure the game still appeals to casual players.)