October 30, 2002

Microsoft Game Studios slams a cross-court winner with the announcement of “Top Spin” for Xbox

Have you ever wondered what it takes to be the world’s best tennis player? How about ripping a crosscourt winner on center court for championship point? You think you have the skills? Now you can find out.

Microsoft Game Studios today announced its first tennis title for the Xbox™ video game system is in development and will be available in the fall of 2003. Developed by Power and Magic Development, “Top Spin,” an Xbox exclusive and Xbox Live™ enabled tennis experience, will offer gamers and tennis fans a pulse-pounding glimpse into professional tennis.

“Top Spin,” featuring 16 tennis superstars, challenges each player to master all the shots including slices, lobs, drops and spins while playing on various surfaces including clay, hard court and grass. In addition, gamers can create their own tennis players to achieve superstardom complete with their own unique personalities. Do you prefer to play it cool, or are you more of a hot-head? Do you like the crowd on your side, or do you prefer the bad boy image? Slam your racket to the ground, argue calls, pump up the crowd and talk to your racket. How you play is up to you.

Xbox Live enabled, “Top Spin” is truly a global tennis experience. Play against the best and climb worldwide ladders to achieve the much-coveted No. 1 online ranking. Along the way, “Top Spin” encourages you to take risks to beat your opponents. Just like on the real courts, players are searching for “the Zone,” where every forehand, backhand and overhead slam overpowers the individual on the other side of the net.

“Tennis games have always been lacking the intensity and realism of playing on center court,” said Matthew Seymour, producer for Top Spin at Microsoft Game Studios. “’Top Spin’, with all its features and gameplay, is the complete tennis experience for all gamers who want nothing less than the world’s No. 1 ranking. It is an excellent addition to an already stacked line-up of sports titles exclusive for Xbox.”

Xbox ( http://www.xbox.com/ ) is Microsoft's future-generation video game system that delivers the most powerful games experiences ever. Xbox empowers game artists by giving them the technology to fulfill their creative visions as never before, creating games that blur the lines between fantasy and reality. Xbox is now available in North America, Japan, Europe, Mexico and Australia.

Xbox Live is the first comprehensive, online game arena fully dedicated to fast-action broadband gaming experiences. Xbox Live will allow gamers to play multiplayer Xbox games with other gamers everywhere via a high-speed Internet connection. With a built-in hard drive and Ethernet port, the Xbox console was built from the ground up to be an online gaming system so there’s no need to buy additional peripherals.

Xbox Live will enable all gamers to find and play with their friends easily; talk to other players during game play through the Xbox Communicator headset; and download current statistics, new levels and characters to their Xbox hard drive.

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