Melbourne, 28 October 2011 | tennis.com.au

Tennis Australia is taking its kids’ starter program, MLC Tennis Hot Shots into cyberspace with the launch of its very own game for iOS devices, including the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad.

Tennis Hot Shots, a new role-playing game, is now available to download from the App Store. It will also be available to play as a flash game on the new MLC Hot Shots website in late November 2011.

Targeted at kids aged 10-and-under, gamers customise their own player, train them in mini-games to improve their speed, power and accuracy stats before taking to the MLC Tennis Hot Shots Arena to challenge a friend or other players from around the world.

Players can collect increasingly powerful special moves such as ‘Cyclonic Slice’ and ‘Firework Forehand’ as well as stat buffs like ‘Gorilla Sweat’ and ‘Tiger’s Claw’.

Players must work their way to the top of each league, earning experience points with each match and levelling up their character before challenging difficult end of level bosses to progress to the next league.

> Watch the Tennis Hot Shots game trailer

The game has been designed to support the MLC Tennis Hot Shots program, aiming to get children on court and having fun. In the past 12 months more than 240,000 kids have enjoyed an MLC Tennis Hot Shots experience at one of the 940 official venues around Australia.

“This exciting game will help to engage both kids and adults with the MLC Tennis Hot Shots program,” MLC Tennis Hot Shots Leader Craig Morris said. “We hope that this will inspire young kids to pick up a racquet and head to their local club to play tennis with their friends.”

The Tennis Hot Shots game was created by Tennis Australia and Melbourne-based award-winning game developers Millipede Creative Development.

“The game mechanic of Hot Shots is perfect for the mobile platform,” explains Millipede Creative Development Director Wil Monte. “Similar to the popular ‘With Friends’ games on the App Store, users can challenge friends whenever they wish and not rely on them being online at that very moment.”

> Watch a behind-the-scenes video on how the Tennis Hot Shots game was created

Download the Tennis Hot Shots game from the App Store and enter the bonus code PRACTICELOTS for a great in-game reward.