Virtual Pool 3

Virtual Pool 3 is a 3D, first-person sports simulation video game, developed and released for Windows and PlayStation by Celeris.

Virtual Pool 3
North American Windows box art
Developer(s)Celeris
Publisher(s)Interplay Entertainment
Global Star Software
SeriesVirtual Pool
Platform(s)Windows
PlayStation
ReleaseWindows
  • NA: November 14, 2000
PlayStation
  • NA: August 11, 2003
PlayStation Network
  • NA: November 02, 2010
Genre(s)Sports (cue sports)
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Overview

The Virtual Pool series made its debut in 1995 with the release of Virtual Pool. From there, Interplay went on to release Virtual Pool 2 in November 1997, adding a wealth of improvements including enhanced physics modelling and a handful of new game types. Virtual Pool Hall soon followed in December 1999, bringing with it the introduction of snooker to the series. It wasn't a perfect break though, as Virtual Pool Hall suffered from poor opponent AI and a lack of a pool hall atmosphere, ironic considering its name.

Initially, Virtual Pool 3 was released as a retail boxed version endorsed by Jeanette Lee, the successful Korean-American professional pool player. Currently the latest version is available on the Celeris site as a download and is still supported via downloadable patches.[1]

Gameplay
Nine-ball in Virtual Pool 3 single-player mode

The game can be played in single-player mode against the computer (Career Mode, Tournament or Quick Play), or against other human opponents on the Internet or locally through a LAN.

The game features eight billiard venues the player can choose from, which include six pool tables, a snooker table, and a carom table for cushion caroms or three-cushion billiards. There are three preset table configurations available for all games (Championship, Professional or Amateur), but any table can be customized for roll speed and pocket dimensions.

Twenty-one variations are featured in the game, and while most players stick to pool favorites such as nine-ball, eight-ball and straight pool, as well as snooker, the inclusion of less common variations such as cowboy pool, honolulu and bowliards may be of interest to some, especially since finding real-life players of them can be difficult.

The games featured in Virtual Pool 3 are as it follows:

Online play
Beginning a frame of snooker online

Players use the GameSpy Arcade client to access the game's main lobby and then create or join virtual rooms where they can participate in online play.

  • Challenge Mode creates a winner-stays-on style of play where the creator of the room selects the game and table.
  • Normal Mode allows the player to create a room where he, or the previous match winner can set the game type, table and players who play.

The Virtual International Players Ladder (VIPLadder) is a perpetual league for players of games in the Virtual Pool franchise.[2] Players compete in matches to earn points from other VIP Ladder players. As players earn points, they move up the ladder.

Besides other normal leagues ending with playoffs[3] (like the Eight-ball Pub League[4]), there are several regular weekly online tournaments that every player can attend. Each tournament usually takes a few hours, but some more prestigious tournaments such as the Virtual 9 Ball World Championships and the Virtual Snooker World Championships can take several days or weeks to complete.[5]

Virtual Pool 3 World championships
Year Event Winner Country Runner Up Country
2004 Snooker World Championship[6] GLEN-147 England Freeball England
2004 Nine-ball World Championship[7] GLEN-147 England NuggetUK England
2005 Snooker World Championship[8] B11TME Northern Ireland Media Slave England
2005 Eight-ball Pub World Championship[9] B11TME Northern Ireland Concentrator Sweden
2006 Nine-ball World Championship[10] Lobster Guy United States Tonysam1 England
2006 Eight-ball Midwest World Championship[11] Albinario Sweden Lobster Guy United States
2007 Snooker World Championship[12] Sharkey9 Germany Tonysam1 England
2007 Cowboy World Championship[13] Albinario Sweden Nam-BE Belgium
2007 Nine-ball World Championship[14] AlinVille Romania ReelPolandPower Poland
2008 Snooker World Championship[15] Albinario Sweden Polo Poland
2008 Nine-ball World Championship[16] AlinVille Romania Albinario Sweden
2009 Snooker World Championship[17] MozUK08 England Daombre84 Germany
2009 Nine-ball World Championship[18] ReelPolandPower Poland AlinVille Romania
2009 Eight-ball Midwest World Championship[19] B11TME Northern Ireland Poolminator Serbia
2009 One-cushion World Championship[20] Kere Germany JTrouty1 United States
2010 Ten-ball World Championship[21] mal255 England Albinario Sweden
2010 Snooker World Championship[22] Albinario Sweden 9balldotcom Scotland
2012 Nine-ball World Championship[23][24] Albinario Sweden LarryL United States

Reception

Virtual Pool 3 was mostly very well received by critics, with an average score of 85% at GameRankings,[25] which makes it the highest rated billiards game on Windows, as of 2007. industry standard Video Game aggregator website Metacritic also scored the game well, at another franchise high of 82/100[26][31]

GameSpot rated the game highly, with an 8.7 out of 10 score, particularly citing the "gorgeous" visuals as well as the "better ball physics and better online support" than the previous titles in the series.[27] However, GameSpot did find that it was "disappointing" that the players were invisible, and not fully rendered (As with all Virtual Pool games). GameSpot wrapped up their review of the game by stating that "you can't find a pool sim that looks and plays as much like the real thing as Virtual Pool 3 does.".[27]

IGN were also highly positive about the game; scoring an 8.5/10,[28] calling Virtual Pool 3 "really a great game", and saying the "great gameplay that will keep you entertained for a long time since", and "it's a whole lot of fun". However, IGN also said that Virtual Pool 3 "won't replace the real thing"[28]

Sequel

Virtual Pool 4 the sequel to the game announced on July 6, 2012,[32] and was released on 15 August 2012 worldwide for Windows. The game was featured many graphical and feature updates from Virtual Pool 3. An online only version of the game was released in 2015 that featured online tournaments and rankings, similar to Virtual Pool 3.

References
  1. "Virtual Pool 3 – Downloadable patches". celeris.com.
  2. "Virtual Pool 3 – Vip Ladder".
  3. "Virtual Pool 3 – Eight-ball Pub League playoffs".
  4. "Virtual Pool 3 – Eight-ball Pub League results".
  5. "Virtual Pool 3 – World champions (past and present)". 9Ball.com.
  6. "2004 Snooker World Championship results".
  7. "2004 9-Ball World Championship results".
  8. "2005 Snooker World Championship results".
  9. "2005 8-Ball Pub World Championship results".
  10. "2006 9-Ball World Championship results".
  11. "2006 8-Ball Midwest World Championship results".
  12. "2007 Snooker World Championship results".
  13. "2007 Cowboy World Championship results".
  14. "2007 9-Ball World Championship results".
  15. "2008 Snooker World Championship results".
  16. "2008 9-Ball World Championship results".
  17. "2009 Snooker World Championship results".
  18. "2009 Nine-ball World Championship results".
  19. "2009 Eight-ball Midwest World Championship results".
  20. "2009 One-cushion World Championship results".
  21. "2010 Ten Ball World Championship results".
  22. "2010 Snooker World Championship results".
  23. "Virtual Pool 3 World 9-Ball Championship 2012".
  24. "VP3 World 9-ball Championship MAIN DRAW".
  25. "Virtual Pool 3 for PC". GameRankings. Retrieved 2017-10-03.
  26. "Virtual Pool 3". Metacritic. Retrieved 2017-10-03.
  27. Poole, Stephen (December 1, 2000). "Virtual Pool 3 Review". GameSpot. Retrieved 2017-10-03.
  28. Staff (December 8, 2000). "Virtual Pool 3". IGN. Retrieved 2017-10-03.
  29. "Virtual Pool 3 Review". PC Zone UK. August 13, 2001.
  30. "Virtual Pool 3 Review". PC Gamer. March 2001. p. 83.
  31. Hudak, Chris. "Virtual Pool 3: Preview". DailyRadar. Archived from the original on February 25, 2001. Retrieved July 25, 2018.
  32. "Virtual Pool 4 to be released for Windows". Inside Pool Magazine. July 6, 2017. Retrieved December 13, 2017.
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