Underserved for Wimbledon

Our hopes are pinned on Andy Murray this year at Wimbledon, and with Nadal hobbling off into the sunset we're starting to believe this is more than wishful thinking.

Wish the same could be true of the latest batch of tennis games for console, a paltry four -- count 'em -- racket and ball releases to generate excitement. Look on the bright side, there looks to be no sign of rain for at least a week so tennis fans will be glued to the real thing anyway.

Both Electronic Arts' "Grand Slam Tennis" and Sega's "Virtua Tennis 2009" for Nintendo Wii stand to 'benefit' from the curious Wii MotionPlus add-on. Sadly the consensus is that Grand Slam is more of a wayward rim shot, with your actions feeling inaccurate and temperamental with or without the promised enhancements of the Wii MotionPlus.

At least Virtua Tennis succeeds in highlighting the pros of Wii MotionPlus but the series is more straightforward with its moves - less of a simulation, and closer to Wii Sports Tennis for 'arcade' thrills. If you're a fan of the VT series, and you only own a Wii, it's worth playing. However if you're simply looking for a fun game of Tennis, stick to Wii Sports or take a look at the remake of "Mario Power Tennis". Nintendo's cartoon court game lets you attempt forehand, backhand, topspin, backspin, lobs, drop shots, lunges, and Power shots all with the standard Wii remote.

We're missing 2K Sports' "Top Spin" series on consoles this season to put pressure on Virtua Tennis and offer more in-depth control. As it stands, Virtua Tennis 2009 on Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 is the one to go for if you want your game to look real and feel convincing. But you can probably tell we were hoping for much more.

Come on Andy, give us all something to cheer about.