Sega has revealed that it has won the rights to create official videogames based on the Beijing Olympics, scheduled in the far off season of summer 2008, a full two and a half years away from the winter of 2005. Which is now.
Which got us to thinking – what will the world be like in the future? For a start, it’s something of a cert that Sega will be making its Olympics game for the PlayStation 3, a machine we’ll all have come to grips with by then.
Less certain is the addition of holographic pornography to the world, shelved alongside flying cars in the hopeful section of our collective brain.
Enough filler text already. Let's move on to what the game might actually be. We’ll be really happy if it’s called Virtua Olympics. We’ll be less happy if it’s called Official Beijing Olympics 2008.
Now time for some corporate quotes!
“We are delighted to be working with SEGA on what will be a historic Olympic Games," said Raymond Goldsmith, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of ISM. "SEGA's broad publishing capabilities and rich heritage in video games ensure that consumers worldwide will share a more immersive Olympic experience."
"SEGA is excited to become the publisher for the Official Video Game of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and we are committed to creating innovative content for an unprecedented number of interactive entertainment platforms," said Hisao Oguchi, President and Chief Operating Officer of SEGA. "This project will enable SEGA to further enhance our global entertainment business and drive sales in critical Asian markets like China that offer an extremely high growth potential."
As to whether ‘innovative content’ results in a game in which the player repeatedly hits the same buttons to make a little man run faster will be interesting to see.
There is hope, though. The press release detailing the agreements states, “The Official Video Game of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games will include a wide variety of featured sports, such as aquatics (diving and swimming), archery, baseball, basketball, boxing, canoe/kayak, cycling, equestrian, fencing, football (soccer), gymnastics, handball, field hockey, Judo, modern pentathlon, rowing, sailing, shooting, softball, table tennis, Taekwondo, tennis, triathlon, volleyball, weightlifting, and wrestling.”
Wow! We take it all back. The Official Video Game of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games is now without question our most anticipated game of 2008 and the first contender for game of the year! Oh Sega, we never doubted you, really.