via Computer and Video Games


Sega has given the first detail of its partnership with International Sports Multimedia to create official games of the Beijing 2008 Olympics.

Eurocom Entertainment is behind 360, PS3 and PC versions of the game (the only ones being talked about at the moment) that'll be available this summer. Sega says the games will feature "authentic simulations" of over 35 events and incorporate control schemes that allow n00bs to learn how to play the game "while providing experienced gamers the chance to set new records".

That old chestnut. How hard can it be to learn the old "bash-the-buttons-as-fast-as-you-can" technique? There'll also be online game modes that hope to bring out the Olympic Spirit in us all, but we doubt it somehow - especially over Xbox Live.

"After the successful launch of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, we are delighted to announce the official video game of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games," said Gary Knight, marketing director at Sega. "Combining an enjoyable game with a truly global sporting license will provide a fantastic sports game experience for gamers everywhere".

More in the build up to the opening ceremony. In the meantime, take a look at the first screens below, taken from the 360 version.


Screenshots ...

via Kotaku


The BBC News had a sit down with Bill Gates at CES recently and instead of asking him their own questions, they asked him their viewers. This gem, the first in the Q&A video, asked Gates about the hardware issues that have plagued the Xbox 360, almost since launch.


Well we certainly had to apologize to our uses about a number of box that had to be replaced. We did that for free for all of those people, we've gotten a lot of positive feedback about the way we handled it. We've got incredible reliability on the new work we've done. Our commitment is that it will be the most reliable video game box out there. People really love the Xbox because of the content, but we've got to make sure that the hardware never stands in the way of that.

Later in the interview he was asked about Vista and the possibility of releasing a version that would be no-frills, but still support game playing.


Any chance of a no-frills operating system? Just a system that plays PC games and a few basics. I hate the compatibility issues Vista has. And he ends "Help"

Ha ha. Well Vista has been a very successful product. Obviously because it is so broadly used and connects up to everything we get a lot of feedback. Things to improve, new things to work on. We're hard at work on things ,we do downloads of improvements all of the time and of course there will be a major new version coming along. So Vista is very successful, ties into the new hardware advances, but we love getting the feedback. People are very passionate about their PC. They use it more than anything else.

Are you proud of Vista, because a lot of people are questioning whether you should be.

No, I'm very proud of Vista. Like all of the products we ship as soon as we get it out we hear how we could do this differently and that differently but it has been a very important product for the industry a lot of great things were done in Vista. Now we are hard at work on what comes next. ...

via IGN


Burnout 3 - for many the best in Criterion's kinetic driving series - is coming to Xbox Originals this Monday. It'll be available across all major territories with the exception of Japan for 1200 Microsoft Points.

The game joins other Xbox classics such as Halo, Psychonauts and Fable on Microsoft's Marketplace service and comes just weeks before the latest instalment in the series, Burnout Paradise, is released on January 25. The asking price for the download, 1200 Microsoft Points, translates as £10.20 or $14.99 in Earth money. ...

via Games Industry


New Line Home Entertainment has confirmed that it plans to drop support for Toshiba's HD DVD format in favour of Sony's Blu-ray platform, according to an article in the Hollywood Reporter.

The news comes after last week's announcement by Warner Bros that it would be following a Blu-ray-exclusive path from now on, a move which led to the cancellation of the HD DVD press conference at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

US TV giant HBO will also follow suit, meaning that in future some of the most popular TV series' such as The Sopranos, will not be released on the HD DVD format at all.

Recently Microsoft, which had been seen to favour the HD DVD format with the release of its Xbox 360 player attachment, stated that it had no preference on format, and that if necessary it could release a Blu-ray attachment as appropriate. ...

via Eurogamer


Angry Texans have marched to court and filed a lawsuit against Microsoft for its shoddy Live performance over Christmas.

The probably-cowboys claimed the platform holder had misrepresented itself and breached its contract through negligence.

"Microsoft knew the increase in subscriptions would increase game-play on its servers, yet failed to provide adequate access and service to Xbox Live and its subscribers," read the filing.

The trio of accusers are reportedly asking for around USD 5 million in compensation, which sounds like rather a lot given that they would just have been killed and mocked by a bunch of teenagers anyway.

Late last week Microsoft popped its head out and offered Live Gold subscribers one free XBLA game as an apology for connectivity issues over the festive season, although it's not yet clear whether you will be able to choose your game or simply get what you're given.

It also did its fair share of New Year boasting, after it boosted its worldwide Xbox 360 sales up to 17.7 million. ...

via Computer and Video Games


Sony's PlayStation Network director of operations Eric Lempel has told our sister site Next-Gen that we should expect fewer, but more significant firmware updates.

...

via Games Industry


WiiWare, Nintendo's download service for original content, will launch in March according to Engine Software.

The company is preparing Project Bang, a casual game aiming to take advantage of the Wii remote, for one and two players.

"Nintendo's WiiWare service is a new downloadable game content service that is scheduled to be launched in March 2008," stated Engine Software.

Engine is currently working on DS projects Dragonhunters for PlayLogic and GoPets: Vacation Island for Konami.

"We are very excited about our first game for the WiiWare service," commented Ruud van de Moosdyk, VP of development at Engine.

"When we acquired our official Wii license last year we already had several concepts written up that would be ideal for WiiWare, and Project Bang is the first to actually go into production."

Although the company hopes to have the game completed "early on in the service's operational status," it has not yet confirmed an exact release date.

WiiWare (Wii Software in Europe) was unveiled by Nintendo in June last year, and intends to offer developers a chance to produce small budget titles for digital download, much like Sony's PSN service and Microsoft's Xbox Live Arcade.

GamesIndustry.biz has contacted Nintendo for clarification of the WiiWare launch period. ...

via Computer and Video Games


Being total addicts of Namco's bonkers city-crushing roll-'em-up, we practically know the demo of Beautiful Katamari released on OXM's cover disc months ago off by heart - and now the full game finally has a release date.

February is when the waiting will end, and we'll finally get to smash over the Great Wall of China, batter our way through Paris and stick Zeus to our 800 metre Katamari of death and suffering in glorious 720p. It's going to be awesome.

We reviewed the full game back in October (and you should check that out now) - that's how long we've been waiting for this game.

Fans will know what to expect - a crazy Japanese soundtrack, a tiny green hammerhead alien that kills the world with giant sticky balls and, for the first time in the series, online multiplayer.

Sold.


See 80 screenshots here ...

via Eurogamer


Nintendo has explained how Professor Kageyama's Maths Training will work when it's released on DS next month. Result! Or "solution", probably.

Kageyama Hidea is a Japanese primary school head-teacher, apparently, and he came up with this idea of writing numbers along the top and left of a 10x10 grid and then getting you to do various sums involving them, filling in the little boxes on the grid.

Sounds quite clever, and of course it's a "Training" game so the idea is that it stimulates you mentally if you play it every day, mixing in other among its maths "exercises" to build up a steady diet of number-crunching. You get to hold the DS like a book and jot down all your answers, too.

Depending on speed and accuracy, you'll be rewarded with bronze, silver or gold medals, and then given a tick, just like you got in school (well, probably not you, but you understand the principle), and then eventually you will be able to work out whether you have enough change in your pocket for a Snickers or whether you need to break into the emergency fiver.

Anyway, Maths Training is due out on 8th February, and given how much we enjoyed doing quick-fire sums in Brain Training we can only imagine it will be good, and wipe away the pain of Sight Training. ...