'Retrogcads' shared this on Tumblr, another advertising that was printed in the UK by Philips Media. It is again a combined advertisement of CD-i and CD-ROM, published by Infogrames France in 1991. International Tennis Open was one of the first games by Infogrames on the CD-i and it was graphically very impressive. Controls were more accurate compared to other CD-i titles. Philips also noted this and International Tennis Open was included in games bundles and even as a give-away with the system. It was used for promotion in kiosk systems as well. Anyone who is vaguely familiar with the Philips CD-i will remember the visually stunning CD-i golf game 'The Palm Springs Open'. While the gameplay was a little slow-paced and unresponsive at times, the graphics of The Palm Springs Open really let the CD-i shine. It was also one of the first CD-i titles to hit the system. The game had one main gimmick: It used digitized golf players and also digitized real scenery, mixed with full motion video to make it look like a real game of golf! It was a success on CD-i and Philips was keen on getting more sports games using the same techniques. They collaborated with french CD-i developer Infogrames to produce the first tennis game on CD-i: International Tennis Open.
You won't find big tennis players here, and I even think some names are fictional: (Victor Player? Robert Garett?) But it did have in-game commentary from the well-known tennis commentator George Eddy. Another impressive feature in International Tennis Open is its rotoscoped animation, which they borrowed from friends at Delphine and their game Flashback. The game International Tennis Open is graphically impressive, a great sports game on CD-i but without the great tennis events and great tennis players. Recently the original storyboard popped up thanks to The Conservatoire National du Jeu Vidéo:
"The storybook you have in your hands is presented in the form of a "book of which you are the hero": the reader can choose the issues he wishes to pursue, thus allowing a form of interactivity which reproduces the desired effect in the game and the different possibilities of the tree. This presentation format was particularly interesting to present the product to the teams of Philips. The act of purchase was even scripted as well as the launch of the game. The particularity of International Tennis Open was to offer both "a game and a show". A heavy box of archives from the International Tennis Open remains to be explored. Among them are the famous yellow, green, light blue and dark blue files required by Philips to formalize the different stages of production and the content to be created."
We are in close contact with Bertrand and we are invited to visit once the virus allows us to ;)
[Thanks, Bertrand, retrogcads, Luis, Kieren Hawken]