Do you know that you can play quite some CD-i games on your PC via the Steam platform: Litil Divil, Chaos Control, Flashback and Myst are all available via Steam. Of course (or probably), these Steam versions are not based on the CD-i version as these games were ported to CD-i from the PC platform. But recently UK publisher Pixel Games is surprising us with the re-release of original CD-i games as well. Since August they released conversions of CD-i classics like Mystic Midway: Rest in Pieces, Voyeur and now International Tennis Open. All three are based on the PC CD-ROM version by the way, but the originals were released first on CD-i by Philips Media. 'International Tennis Open' was originally released in 1992 by Philips Media on CD-i. The game was originally developed by Infogrames and served as one of the launch titles in Europe. In 1994, the game received an update to play with two players simultaneously, as well as a port on PC CD-ROM, PC floppy's and on Mac.
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International Tennis Open gave us CD-i owners one of the first wow-effects: It was a hyper-realistic game that was actually playing pretty well, a large difference when we compare it to other first generation CD-i titles like Text Tiles, Battle Ship and Dark Castle. 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.
This game marks the third re-release of CD-i games of which the rights have been obtained by Subvert Ltd. The first one was Mystic Midway: Rest In Pieces (launched August 20) and the second one was Voyeur, released on October 12. Possible other CD-i games that will see a re-release through Pixel Games are:
- Alien Gate
- Kether
- Mystic Midway: Phantom Express
- Voyeur 2
You can buy the game on Steam here. If you like the title library by Infogrames on CD-i, you might be interested to find that Chaos Control is also available on Steam, published by Classics Digital in 2018
[Thanks, Pixel Games UK]
