Sega warms up for Beijing 2008

By Brendan Sinclair, GameSpotPosted Jan 10, 2008 1:50 pm PT

Publisher returns to Olympic competition sans Sonic and Mario; Eurocom set to develop for Xbox 360, PS3, and PC.

When Sega and Nintendo first announced Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games, much of the project made complete sense. It was a perfect fit for the two companies' most prominent mascots to appear in a crossover collection of party games tied into a massively popular worldwide sporting event on broad-appeal systems like the DS and Wii.

However, one thing that didn't make a lot of sense was the timing of the game. Sega was aiming for a holiday 2007 release for a sporting event that wouldn't even start until August 2008. The move makes a little more sense today, as Sega announced Beijing 2008, the official game of "The Games," set for release as Olympics hype reaches a fever pitch this summer.

Providing a more straightforward approach to the Olympics than the cartoonlike Mario and Sonic, Beijing 2008 will appear on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC with simulations of more than 35 official events and online multiplayer modes. The game is being developed by Eurocom Entertainment Software, which created the Athens 2004 game for Sony, and has since worked on a number of projects, including Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Batman Begins, and Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy.

43 Comments

  • HamsterOfFury

    Posted Jan 16, 2008 4:16 pm PT

    I've read elsewhere a ridiculous list of events that will be included which include table tennis, cycling, judo, taekwondo, sailing, kayak, shooting, handball and numerous others (including team sports). If this is true it's great (but VERY ambitious!) but I won't hold my breath...

  • TheoleDominion1

    Posted Jan 14, 2008 2:58 am PT

    Great (sarcasm) now we can run and jump our way into button mashing boredom.

  • Zerosumgame

    Posted Jan 13, 2008 11:43 am PT

    At least it is being developed by an European studio...

  • HamsterOfFury

    Posted Jan 13, 2008 11:11 am PT

    I loved Track & Field and Sydney 2000 on the PS1 and Athens 2004 on the PS2. This is one of the games I've been waiting for with most interest. Hearing about online play has just made this more interesting for me. If you're listening Eurocom include a cycling sprint event, qualifying heats, create your own athlete and having more than one country's athlete in any one event. Don't be lazy Eurocom, this could be a real gem for Olympics fans of which there's a few of us!

  • MuscleCarMan

    Posted Jan 12, 2008 3:57 pm PT

    how about making a good sonic or phantasy star game instead of this garbage?

  • mashom

    Posted Jan 12, 2008 10:00 am PT

    as Sega always been floop, but let us give another chance to win the battle.

  • RockstarDX

    Posted Jan 11, 2008 1:07 pm PT

    Well, it's not on Wii since we have Mario and Sonic. I can say this may not be a good game. But I don't care. Not interested.

  • jamestillett

    Posted Jan 11, 2008 11:49 am PT

    sega are getting worse and worse where,s the good stuff like house of the deaed4 Afterburner3

  • Petri87

    Posted Jan 11, 2008 10:38 am PT

    @hunter8man - There is no Wii version... can't you read? The Sonic and Mario game was the Wii version.

  • mattcake

    Posted Jan 11, 2008 9:41 am PT

    Hang on a sec, they released an Olympics game on the Wii 10 months early because they also wanted to release this game... but according to the report theres no version of this planned for the Wii? I hope that means "someone else" is working on Wii Olympics, yeah Nintendo your pockets are bulging, get to it! If ever there was a game with "worldwide appeal" to go with your console that has worldwide appeal, this is it...

  • hunter8man

    Posted Jan 11, 2008 9:19 am PT

    I got my hopes up back in the 2004 Olympics thinking that the game would be better. Then, just like every Olympic year, I see them lining the clearance game rack selling for $10. I don't see much improvement coming here aside from better graphics and hoping that the Wii controls don't absolutely suck with this game.

  • theKSMM

    Posted Jan 11, 2008 8:52 am PT

    Man, Zoomer30 I thought about those games as soon as I finished reading this article. In fact, my favorite sporting arcade game of all time was Track & Field. It didn't have motion sensitive controls, but you still had to do a lot of work to achieve muster in its events!

    I think I'll go see if I can find Summer / Winter Games from Epyx on GameTap...

  • tyzwain

    Posted Jan 11, 2008 2:19 am PT

    I think the new one is the more serious approach. Think about it, they left out teh PS3, 360 and PC. A huge portion of the gaming market.

  • londonrider

    Posted Jan 11, 2008 12:41 am PT

    So should we expect Wii Olympics (with additional gadgets) as well?

  • Superion74

    Posted Jan 11, 2008 12:25 am PT

    Mario & Sonic is a very fun party game, as it encourages you to duplicate many of the sports' movement, which makes it interesting. On 360 and PS3, though, it'd just be another game that you must mesh buttons, and IMO that isn't much fun (esp. since the setting is in Olympics). I think it will sell about as well as previous Olympic games, which won't be much.

  • Britishpixel

    Posted Jan 10, 2008 11:52 pm PT

    I know I'm probably in the minority, but I've enjoyed every olympics game that's come out back to Atlanta for the Super Nintendo, with the exception of Torino.

  • Zoomer30

    Posted Jan 10, 2008 11:26 pm PT

    Really IMO there has not been a good "Olympics" game since Epyx did those "Summer Games" and "Winter Games" back in the 80s on the Commodore 64

  • rm_fc

    Posted Jan 10, 2008 10:01 pm PT

    am i the only one who liked "Athans 2004" ????? i swear i was just playing it last week and it still great. maybe you say u dont like it because most of u sucked at it.

    remember my psn id " BOSHAJWA" if its not on top 10 i will sell my ps3 and buy an xbox

  • gin_rummy89

    Posted Jan 10, 2008 9:15 pm PT

    it'll suck

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