Hot Shots Tennis: Get a Grip Message Board

Sony is still putting out new UMD dual packs for the PSP. Adding to previous packs are three new bundles, once again packaged by genre. Each will be available as a download through PSN or at your favorite brick-and-mortar in January.

For $14.99, you can snag one of these new Dual Packs: Patapon and LocoRoco; Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee and Hot Shots Tennis: Get a Grip; or Motorstorm: Artic Edge and Twisted Metal: Head On. If you've been waiting to pounce on these PSP classics, now may be the time - unless you're waiting on the Vita. Of course, if you've waited long enough for these PSP games, odds are you're waiting on the Vita, too.

And to think your mom said you'd never be a smart shopper. Way to show her!

Back in June we introduced the PSP “Dual Pack” that offers a selection of PSP Favorites. We’re happy to announce the availability of three new PSP Dual Packs featuring MotorStorm: Arctic Edge and Twisted Metal: Head-on; Patapon and LocoRoco; and Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee and Hot Shots Tennis.

These PSP Dual packs will be available at retailers nationwide in January as well as downloadable via the PlayStation Network for $14.99 (MSRP).

At an affordable price of $129.99 (MSRP), PSP continues to offer consumers the ability to enjoy console quality gaming on the go. PSP Dual Packs are a great fit for those who want to play and access a wide variety of PSP classics.

Which of these PSP Dual Packs are you looking forward to most? Let us know in the comments below.

I’m biased, but I think last month’s E3 Blog meet-up went pretty awesomely. You may have seen the amateur video of the event (and Kojima’s suprise visit), but the Hot Shots Tennis team went a step further, producing a really cool video featuring the attendees of our meetup.

Things to look out for: Frawlz and Dave from Sarcastic Gamer, Mr. Destructoid, Hiphopgamer, longtime PS Blog commenter Delriach, Hot Shots US Producer Chris Hinojosa-Miranda, Hiphopgamer’s championship belt, Rey Gutierrez’ awesome PlayStation tat, and yours truly, tired, sweaty, and hopped up on a cocktail of caffeine and adrenaline.

Were you there? Did you see yourself?

Hot Shots Tennis: Get a Grip is now available on UMD and PlayStation Store download for $19.99. In true Hot Shots form, it’s also really addictive.

Everybody's Tennis served up on PSP.

Get out your brightest highlighter and draw a big circle around today’s date, Tuesday, June 29, 2010, aka The Best Day in PSP Tennis History.

This is the day that Hot Shots Tennis: Get a Grip (as a UMD or PSN download) makes its North American debut, and for the wallet-friendly price of $19.99!

That’s right, the wait is over… all your portable tennis needs are finally answered! Get ready to spend countless summer nights unlocking characters, costumes, courts and secret levels. Oh, the joy.

But I don’t have to sell you on this… you’ve already gotten a taste of the supremely awesome gameplay with the demo (released last week!) and your thumbs are sore from maxing out both your points and loyalty level. You’re gotten a glimpse into to endless (hyperbole!) rows of customization options. Your smash hits are unstoppable and you are ready to name your first child Emily (or Hugo, it’s up to you).

Fifteen new tennis Hot Shots; exotic locations and brand new courts (like the colorful World Television Studios); hundreds of matches and weeks worth of gameplay; a bajillion costume combinations and crazy outfits; fierce, in-your-face ad-hoc competitive and co-op multiplayer matches… is there a better way to spend your summer?

So it’s settled: head out (or click out) and pick up (or download) your very own copy of Hot Shots Tennis: Get a Grip before you go mad with envy and end up looking like this dude… sheesh… he definitely needs to Get a Grip.

Put on your panda suit and volley for serve.

Playing Hot Shots Tennis: Get a Grip at E3 gave me a small taste of the frustration 16-time Grand Slam winner Roger Federer must have experienced after failing to beat his rival, Rafael Nadal, the past several years. Regardless of how prepared I felt going into a match, Hugo (clearly the greatest computer-controlled tennis player of all time) found a way to not only achieve seemingly impossible comebacks, but to make me look like an uncoordinated fool in defeat.

I've never been this bad at a tennis video game, leaving me to wonder if Get a Grip is supposed to be a precise simulation, or if something's wrong.

What better way to celebrate the Tennis season than by picking up your own very copy of Hot Shots Tennis, out next week, on June 29, as a digital download from out every own PlayStation Store or as a UMD from your local retailers.

Check out the video below to get a glimpse into some of the new Hot Shots Tennis features!

There you have it folks:

• Brand new RPG styled gameplay.
• One-of-a-kind gamesharing features
• Ad-hoc multiplayer (Singles or Doubles matches)
• Multiple customization options with a touch of the Hot Shots flare
• Great new zainy characters and one menacing Helgasht soldier.

If that isn’t temping enough… we’ll then here is a little bit of extra love from us: the Hot Shots Tennis: Get a Grip demo is out now for downloading madness! So what are you waiting for? Plug-in, log-in and get your download on! FYI, it wouldn’t hurt to have a couple of vuvuzelas at hand to help with the ear-drum busting celebration!

That's hot.

It feels like it's been too long since the last Hot Shots game. That'll change in late June, though, with the arrival of Hot Shots Tennis: Get a Grip for PSP. According to PlayStation Blog, this isn't a port of the 2007 PS2 Hot Shots Golf spin-off, but rather a new Hot Shots Tennis game, featuring an "all-new tennis adventure." And by adventure, they mean it. The new Story Mode will require exploration, as you travel the world "spreading tennis love to everyone and anyone you meet." Sounds a bit like Mario Tennis, no?

New to the US version of Hot Shots Tennis will be the Killzone Helghast charater (pictured). Finally -- a Killzone game filled with color! Get a Grip will launch simultaneously on UMD and PSN on June 29.

Happy Thursday Bloggizens! I don’t know what the weather is like over where you are (sitting/standing/sleeping), but in this part of the world it is as cold-as-sin and overcast to boot. Good thing I have my trusty copy of Hot Shots Tennis: Get a Grip to magically transport me to evergreen lush landscapes and exotic locations (where the temperature is a constant 82 degrees Fahrenheit).

That’s right, I said Hot Shots Tennis: Get a Grip.

I know, I know… you guys are probably already asking yourselves if today is your birthday, what with this bit of great news and all. Do you feel that ray of sunshine beaming down on you yet? I know I do!

So enough teasing, you want to get the when, what and how… so before the PlayStation.Blog (sorry Jeff!) staff goes into conniptions that the launch date is not on the top part of the post — Hot Shots Tennis: Get a Grip is ready to serve a court-full of fun for PSP systems, and will be shipping to retail stores on Tuesday, June 29, 2010! And it will also be available for purchase on the PlayStation Store on the same day!

There will be plenty of posts coming down the web with further details, but let me share this golden nugget of information: this is an all-new Hot Shots Tennis cast in an all-new tennis adventure of the likes that you’ve never seen before (ever-ever times infinity).

First off, there is the new Story Mode, where you will travel the world spreading tennis love to everyone and anyone you meet. Part of the gameplay will require a certain level of exploration — its like Indiana Jones with a racquet, but with less ophidiophobia and more giant reptile costumes. Yeah, it’s something like that.

Of course there will be items to unlock, this is the heart and soul of Hot Shots, so prepare your senses to manage the cornucopia of costume items, courts, and characters that will be coming your way (more on that later!). Just remember, every challenge will grant you new items to customize your character, and there are bajillions of items to unlock (ok so more like hundreds).

Yes, your Hot Shots Tennis: Get a Grip adventure will pit you against a variety of different characters. Some big, some powerful, some cunning, and some Helghan.

What the what?

And I leave you with that bit of amazing news and, well, one more thing: keep an eye out for the demo!

Everybody's Tennis, which will be known in the States as Hot Shots Tennis: Get a Grip, releases this summer on PSP, according to an announcement from Sony Europe. The game appears to follow the Hot Shots tradition of cutesy graphics with accessible gameplay mechanics.

Players will have access to 500 customizable items to spruce up their avatar. The game also comes with the expected campaign and four-player multiplayer modes. Despite there being no official announcement for North America, GameStop has a placeholder date of Tuesday, June 1.

Ready for an on-the-court RPG?