Helping us poor (ever-so-slightly-rabid) news hounds out ahead of the E3 rush, have opted to this week announce the existence of Virtua Tennis 3, which will be playable at E3, according to the latest release from the Japanese publisher. The game will be crafted for the and 360, and is currently mooted for spring 2007.

Unsurprisingly, Sega are promising the most richly detailed Virtua Tennis outing ever, going so far as to tout "photo-realistic graphics and advanced player animations." The game's director even speaks of being able to see the veins on the players necks, which we assume is a good thing, alongside super-detailed facial animations and expressions too.

Whilst Sega won't be tampering too much with the winning gameplay former (and why would they), they will be introducing a splash of new mini-games, and of course generally polishing everything. Additionally, there will of course be the full globe-trotting career mode, which should be good, whilst AI will also be improved in opposition players. No doubt some kind of mode will also be present. We'll keep you posted as the big show nears and we learn more.

By Luke Guttridge