Picture this: You've reached the finals of a local tennis tournament. As you close in on victory, you hit a perfect lob, only to have your opponent leap 12 feet into the air and smash the ball directly into the centimeter-wide section of the court that you can't quite reach.
No one would put up with, or even believe, a real opponent who will stop at nothing to beat you, even if it means discarding the laws of physics or demonstrating superhuman strength. Thus, it is rather unfortunate that video game players have often been expected to play against virtual opponents that seem to accomplish these feats on a regular basis. Sega's Virtua Tennis franchise has made a name for itself by restoring the word ?realistic? to tennis video games. Although the latest installment of the series, Virtua Tennis 3 for PSP, can sometimes seem a bit unrealistic in terms of off-court matters, the fluid gameplay and depth of strategy ultimately make this game a champion.