With sports fanatics watching the 2008 Beijing Olympics to cheer their favorite teams, gamers can partake in the games via the Beijing 2008 Olympics Video Game for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC.
Released on July 8, 2008, for $49.99, the official game of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games promised players the ability to play online with other fans of the Olympics games.
But not everyone was thrilled with the game. Shack News writer Nick Breckon the game was a disappointment:
“Sure, now you can manage skill points, compete online, or check out leaderboards. Now you can alternate the analog sticks sometimes, and every now and then you get to play a rhythm game,” he wrote. ”Beijing 2008 is a 10th place finish - a minor improvement on past performances, but still a disappointment. But even with this slight modern update, Beijing 2008 is nowhere near the podium.”
Breckon’s complained mostly of the controls, I’d have to agree that I wouldn’t want to sit through hours of button-mashing to accomplish an event, it was one of the things I hated about the original arcade game Track and Field by Konami in 1983 and Ocean Software for the personal gaming systems available at that time. In 1998 Konami released another sports game called Nagano Winter Olympics ‘98 for the Nintendo 64, PlayStation and local arcade systems.
But if button-mashing is not your style of fun, there’s always the Mario & Sonic at the Olympics Games by Sega for the Nintendo Wii and DS system for $49.99 for the Wii version and $39.99 for the DS version.
The Wii controls of a game like Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games allows players to participate in various Olympic events starring well known characters Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Sonic the Hedgehog, Tails and other popular characters. At least its cute and it’s a Wii so no button-mashing that I know of.
Throughout the years the Olympics have always managed to make it in the gaming world. Some of the official Olympic games that have hit the stands in the past years include:
- Track and Field - published by Konami for the Arcade, Atari 2600, Atari 8-bit, Game Boy and NES in 1983. Then later published by Ocean Software for home computer version of the game in 1988 for the MSX, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC and ZX Spectrum. The game was more recently released for the XBox 360 through XBox Live Arcade on August 8, 2007 for 400 microsoft points or $5 over the online service. The game allowed players to participate in track and field style games such as the 100 meter dash, long jump, javelin throw, 110m hurdles, hammer throw and high jump by alternating button presses to accomplish their goals.
- Track and Field II - published by Konami for the Nintendo NES console in 1988 featured game modes allowing players to set their difficulty or mode of game they wanted to play such as training mode (basic training for each event), Olympic mode which is a story mode allowing each player to represent a country of their choice, and a Versus mode allowing players to compete head to head with each other in the events. The game also featured a variety of different games with a few that were not available in the first release. The 15 events include fencing, triple jump, freestyle swimming, high dive, clay pigeon shooting, hammer throw, taekwondo, pole vault, canoeing, archery, hurdles, horizontal bar, hang gliding and arm wrestling which was only accessible in versus mode.
- Winter Games- published Eypx in the US in 1985 and published by U.S. Gold for the European market in 1986 for the Commodore 64 and then later for the Amiga, Apple II, Atari ST, Apple IIGS, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, PC, Atari 2600, Atari 7800, NES and Famicom Disk System. The game allowed up to eight players and allowed the players to choose the country they wish to represent by taking turns to compete.
- Summer Games - published by US Gold Ltd. in 1984 for the Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Atari 2600, Atari 7800, Commodore 64, Sega Master System, Windows Mobile platforms that allowed up to eight players to compete in Pole Vault, Platform diving, 4X400 meter relay, 100 meter dash, Gymnastics, freestyle swimming, skeet shooting, 100 meter freestyle and rowing.
- Summer Games II - a sequel to Summer Games also published by U Gold Ltd. in 1985 for the Commodore 64 and later released for the Apple II and IBM PC platforms that featured events such as the triple jump, high jump, rowing, javelin throw, equestrian, fencing, kayaking and cycling.
- Konami Sports in Seoul - published by Konami for the Nintendo Entertainment System on June 1989 in North America based on the Summer Olympics held in Seoul, Korea. The game is a single-player and multi-player game that allowed up to four players to compete in events such as the 100m Dash, Long Jump, 400m Relay, Skeet Shooting, 110m Hurdles, Archery, Javelin, High Jump and 400m Relay races.
- Olympic Gold: Barcelona ‘92 - published by SEGA Corporation for the Game Gear, Genesis and Sega Master System in 1992 based on XXV Olympics held in Barcelona, Italy 1992 featuring seven different events. pole vault, 100m sprint, hammer throw, archery, 110m hurdles, springboard diving and 200m freestyle swimming.
- Winter Olympics Games: Lillehammer ‘94 - published by US Gold Ltd. for the Super NES in 1993 that allowing players to compete in the 1994 Winter Olympics to be held in Lillehammer, Norway allowing players acquire as many gold, silver or bronze medals to become the top athlete in five different sports. Biathlon, alpine skiing (downhill, slalom, giant slalom and super-g), ski jumping (90m, 120m) bobsleigh (2/4 men bob sled and 1/2 men luge) and skating using different 3D views in two different modes (full and mini Olympics).
- Nagano Winter Olympics ‘98 - published by Konami of America, Inc. for the Nintendo 64 and PlayStation in January 29, 1998. Based on the XVIII Olympic Winter Games held in Nagano, Japan in 1998 and featured twelve events. Downhill, Giant Slalom, K-90 and K-120 Ski Jumping, Freestyle Aerials, Snowboard Halfpipe (only available in the N64 version) and Slalom, 500m and 1500m Speed Skating, Bobsleigh Luge and Curling events. The game allowed up to four players to compete for medals in the Olympic mode and for points in a decathlon-style competition in the championship mode.
- Actua Ice Hockey - published by Gremlin Interactive in 1998 and a second part in 1999 for the Windows PC and Sony PlayStation.
- Sydney 2000 - published by Eidos, Inc. and based on the XXVII Olympic Summer Games held in Sydney, Australia in 2000 the game was released for the PlayStation, Dreamcast and PC platforms. The game featured events in athletics (100m dash, 110m hurdles, hammer and javelin throw, triple jump and high jump, aquatics (200m freestyle and 10m platform diving), kayak K1 slalom, super heavyweight weight lifting, skeet shooting and three-man track cycling pursuit. in four different modes (single, two player, hot seat and simultaneously).
- Salt Lake City 2002 - published by Eidos Interactive for the PC and Playstation 2 and Ubisoft for the Game Boy Advance, this game is the official XIX Olympic Winter Game held in Salt Lake City, Utah released January 24, 2002 for the PC platform, January 29 for the PlayStation 2 platform and January 19, 2002 for the Game Boy Advance.
- Athens 2004 - based on the 2004 Summer Olympics held in Athens, Greece published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 2 and Edios Interactive for the PC platform. Players can compete in a variety of track and field events such as sprints, hurdles, jumping and throwing. Other events include swimming, gymnastics with an artistic floor exercises with certain events made for male or female specific directly. Equestrian events with show jumping only available to male players, weightlifting, archery and shooting.
- Torino 2006 - based on the 2006 Winter Olympics held in Turin, Italy published by 2K Sports and released February 2006 for the PlayStation 2, XBox, and PC platforms and the typical Olympic challenges sports fans have grown to love about these Olympic games.
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