Beijing 2008: The Official Video Game of the Olympic Games preview

19 June 2008

Posted by:Josh

The Olympic Games have the accolade of not just being the world’s most famous sporting event, but in 2008 have the privilege of being hosted by China, who is undoubtedly the most talked about emerging economic and political power in the world (not to mention one of the most controversial).

With Beijing 2008: The Official Video Game of the Olympic Games, Sega will capture what makes the Olympic Games special by absorbing the cultural identity, and the athletic drama of the 2008 Olympic Games. Beijing 2008 will feature uncanny realism with fully rendered models of the actual Olympic arenas where competitions take place as well as the surrounding cityscape of Beijing and will be released on the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC on July 8, 2008.

Players will strive for national pride as 32 countries are represented in Beijing 2008 and over 35 different sporting events to participate in. For the first time ever in Olympics video game history, players will have the ability to compete against others online and compare scores with online leaderboards; truly capturing the international competitive spirit of the Olympic Games.

Here’s a list of the game’s various features:

* Developed for all true next generation consoles
* 32 National Teams Represented
* 38 Events in total
* Over 1000 character models
* Play as male and female competitors
* Comprehensive Game Modes
* Competitive online gameplay for all platforms
* LAN (Local Area Network) support for PC version

Sadly, I guess “true next generation console” does not apply to the Wii, as a Wii version was not announced. Which is strange considering how well suited the Wii Remote & Nunchuck is suited for a game of this type, not to mention the cool things Sega could do with the Wii Balance Board. But maybe they think Mario & Sonic At the Olympic Games already covered the Olympics good enough. But considering that game’s high sales, you would think they would give it another shot with a more realistic Olympic game.

To see how the game will actually play, give the below three videos a look, as they cover the 100 Meter Dash and Shotput events.

Here is the Shotput in action.