The primary main skilled tennis match of the 12 months, the Australian Open, is underway now in Melbourne. New for the 2025 occasion is an alternate broadcast that makes gamers appear to be one thing out of Wii Sports activities. The Australian Open organizers rolled out what they’re calling “AO Animated” variations of tennis matches this 12 months, that includes animated, video game-looking variations of the actual gamers.
As you may see within the online game, from the Jacob Fearnley vs. Nick Kyrgios match, the animation is much from perfect–at occasions, the participant’s racket and the tennis ball vanish out of skinny air. The audio does not sync up completely, both. Nevertheless it’s fairly stable, all issues thought-about. You possibly can watch extra of those matches on the Australian Open YouTube page under the “Live” tab.
Broadcasts of this nature have gotten an increasing number of widespread today. Earlier than this, the NFL and Disney+ partnered to air a really bizarre-looking Simpsons-themed broadcast of the Cincinnati Bengals vs. Dallas Cowboys recreation on December 9. This broadcast had the likes of Homer, Bart, Moe, Carl, Barney, and Lenny suiting up and making performs on the sector.
Earlier than that, the NHL and Disney teamed up for a video game-style broadcast of knowledgeable hockey recreation, with characters from the present Massive Metropolis Greens lacing up their skates. And who might overlook the NFL’s slime recreation that includes SpongeBob?