Tennis games have never been a cash crop for the video game industry.  You never see a line of caffeinated teenagers standing in the December cold eagerly waiting to throw down some mad aces.  That doesn’t mean there isn’t a game for the tennis aficionados.

EA has announced it is resurrecting the Grand Slam nameplate for a second coming, hoping to fill the tennis game void.

“We are very excited to bring the EA SPORTS Grand Slam® Tennis franchise to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 platforms and leverage the graphical power of these high definition consoles,” said Line Producer Thomas Singleton. “Players will now get to experience the excitement and drama of serving it up on prestigious tennis venues such as Wimbledon’s famed Centre Court.”

But EA isn’t filling that void with just another swing-and-a-miss tennis game, o no.  They are including things like PRO AI, where real players play like themselves.  There is also the inclusion of Wimbledon, the crème brulee of tennis locales.  Though the Xbox 360 version won’t be sporting Kinect playability.

To modernize the tennis playing fun EA is introducing its Total Racquet Control system, where buttons become nonexistent and everything is played through the joysticks.  The right stick controls the racquet while the left controls your player on the court.  EA sights this as, “…the first true innovation in the tennis genre in years.”
 
We shall see.

Expect Grand Slam® Tennis 2 to hit store shelves sometime in 2012.  Until then, check out the teaser trailer below.