Sega has rolled out the official game of the 2008 Olympics Games in Beijing for PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and mobile phones.

 

The game offers 38 events, including track and field, swimming and judo, and has online play for the first time in an Olympics game. Sega enlisted U.S. gold medal contenders Amanda Beard, Tyson Gay, Nastia Liukin and Reese Hoffa for the cover of “Beijing 2008: The Officials Video Game of the Olympic Games.”

 

“I was so excited to be on the cover,” said Beard, a seven-time Olympic medalist. “To be with these other athletes who are on the cover with me, now I can cheer and watch them at the Olympics and then go home and play the video game.”

 

Beard, the youngest U.S. swimmer to ever bring home the gold after her performance at the 1996 Games in Atlanta, was also playing virtual Olympics games at an early age. She says she played the Nintendo Olympics game with the power pad.

 

Hoffa is competing in the men’s shot put when he makes his second Olympic Games appearance in Beijing. The reigning world champion is a lifelong video games fan whose PlayStation 2 and PSP go where he goes.

 

“Like every guy, it’s a major part of my life, especially when you travel overseas,” said Hoffa, who enjoys the “Madden,” “MLB 2K8” and “Tiger Woods PGA Tour Golf” games.

 

Gay, one of the fastest men in the world this year, is also pretty quick in the virtual environment.

 

“Olympic track athletes spend a lot of free time trying to be the best in their favorite video games. So much so, our fingers sometimes get more tired then our legs do in actual races,” said Gay, picked as male athlete of the year in 2007 by the International Association of Athletics Federations.

 

Hoffa said there was a room at the 2004 Olympics in Athens with about 30 PlayStation 2s and Xboxes and a large library of games. He expects the same set-up in Beijing. “For me, it keeps me off my feet, it keeps me engaged and I don’t waste a lot of energy playing them,” Hoffa said.

 

Gay plans to play video games in Beijing because they take his mind off the nervousness he feels before competitions. “‘Beijing 2008’ gives kids a chance to experience the fun of being in the Olympics when they are sitting right in their own home,” he said. “Maybe some young kid will play the game and be inspired to go out and train in real life with the goal of really being in the Olympic Games some day.”

 

Sega also has an arcade game available on Wii and Nintendo DS, with “Mario and Sonic: Olympic Games” putting two of the most popular game icons together for the first time. The Wii version encourages gamers to physically mimic 20 events like fencing and table tennis as they compete against friends.

 
Eve Sullivan is a contributing editor for TMCnet, covering news in the IP communications, call center and customer relationship management industries. To read more of Eve's articles, please visit her columnist page.