Kotaku: Olympics

Mario & Sonic Will Be Walking Like Crazy At the London Olympic Games

Michael McWhertor — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 22:00:00 EDT

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Why isn't this future Nintendo 3DS video game, Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games, included alongside the other 3DS videos Kotaku posted earlier today? Because you'd probably gloss right over this one, missing out on the most intense walking we've ever seen from Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog. More »

Nintendo Holds The First Wii Olympics

Mike Fahey — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 11:40:00 EDT

Are you the best Wii gamer in the country? Nintendo gives you a chance to prove your mettle in the first-ever Wii Games: Summer 2010, and it all starts in the cradle of civilization: New Jersey. More »

Olympic Gold Medal Skiier Teams Up With Counter Strike Champion

Owen Good — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 19:20:00 EDT

What's a good encore after winning two gold medals at the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games? For one of the world's most accomplished cross-country skiers, it's playing alongside his world champion counterpart in Counter Strike at Norway's largest LAN party. More »

Olympic Hockey Hero is NHL 2K11's Cover Man

Owen Good — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 18:20:00 EST

Presumed dead until a week ago, not only is NHL 2K11 publishing this year for the Wii, it'll have one of the stars of the United States' silver medal-winning Olympic hockey team starring on its cover. More »

Video Game Namesake Wins Olympic Gold

Brian Ashcraft — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 03:00:00 EST

"Shaun White" isn't just some name on some snowboarding game called Shaun White Snowboarding. He's an actual person! And he's won Olympic gold. Again. More »

Will We Ever See Games In The Winter Games?

Owen Good — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 19:20:00 EST

This happens every two years. Someone looks for an Olympics story, someone thinks up a video game angle, and presto, reconstituted discussion of video games as an Olympic event. This year's participant: Macleans, the Canadian news magazine. More »

The Problem(s) with Olympic Video Games

Owen Good — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 16:00:00 EST

Maybe you noticed Vancouver 2010, the official title for the Winter Olympics, released last week. But more than VIII Olympiads since the Activision Decathlon and the Epyx Summer Games, the Olympics still have no real toehold in the sports genre. More »

Video Games in the Olympics? Athletes Answer Hypothetically

Owen Good — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 22:00:00 EDT

Wired asked four Olympic athletes, doing a photoshoot for Sega's upcoming 2010 winter games title, if video games had a legitimate place in Olympic competition. At least they were polite in their replies. More »

Sega Does the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics

Mike Fahey — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 13:40:00 EDT

Sega continues to milk their license with license with the International Olympic Committee, announcing the development of Vancouver 2010, the Official Video Game of the Olympic Winter Games. More »

Hi, Inevitable Winter Olympics Game

Luke Plunkett — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 05:30:00 EST

Yes, as a major sporting competition, there was always going to be an accompanying video game, but there are formalities with these things we have to go through. Like finding out who's behind it! More »

EA's Probst To Head U.S. Olympic Committee

Brian Crecente — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 17:00:00 EDT

Larry Probst, chairman of Electronic Arts, has been elected chairman of the U.S. Olympic Committee, the Colorado Springs Gazette reported today. More »

Two Olympic Athletes, Two Sad Wii Fit Ages (Bwah?)

Brian Ashcraft — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 13:40:00 EDT

US national women's team members Heather Mitts and Heather O'Reilly are two fit athletes. Or so you'd think. Hey, they're in the Olympics! Watch as they compete with each other in Wii Fit mini-games for the chance at winning a Wii. Listen to that irritating announcer. Then scratch your head when Wii Fit says Olympiads' balance ages are 47 and 43 respectively. More »

New Olympic Event: The Xbox Put

Owen Good — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 18:00:00 EDT

Everything is made more legitimate when described in a British accent, even when the narrator uses phrases like "video game things." So here is British Gaming Blog's "Summer Athletics Preview" — in which Eidos touted the release of its upcoming Summer Athletics (Sept. 30 in Europe for the Wii) with some events of its own — Xbox Put, the Wiilay, and the Gamecube Toss. Teaser only, they'll have the full video up sometime later. But you can get a look at some Xboxes smashing on the concrete at Battersea Athletics Track. I bet they'd still work. More »

Olympic Gold Medalist Trained With Nintendo Wii

Brian Ashcraft — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 04:00:00 EDT

Japanese Olympic swimmer Kosuke Kitajima took gold for the men's 100m breaststroke. He certainly trained very hard to reach the tip-top condition he's in. Sure, he practiced hard, ate right and all that other stuff. But what else helped him achieve Olympic gold? Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games, says Kitajima! No, really. The swimmer explains: More »

China Brings Bullshots To The Olympics

Brian Ashcraft — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 03:00:00 EDT

"Bullshots" are nothing new for gamers. Penny Arcade coined the term a few years to describe game screenshots that looked too good to be true — and are. Photoshopping and CG graphics are nothing new to the game world — hence gamers general suspicion about pretty and shiny things — but are finding use larger than game PR. Issues like governmental state PR. More »

"Video Games Make Our Olympic Fingers Tired"

Brian Ashcraft — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 03:00:00 EDT

As Fahey previously pointed out in his feature, Olympic athletes like video games. Many athletes like video games, it seems. As Olympic runner Tyson Gay points out: More »

WoW Celebrates The Olympics - New Tabard, Pet

Mike Fahey — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 10:20:00 EDT

So I am playing World of Warcraft last night and my more PVP-oriented guildies start linking these Competitor's Tabards that are showing up in their mailboxes after they finish playing in the battlegrounds. No one has any idea what is going on, and then this morning I see a story over at MMO Champion explaining that the tabard is part of WoW's Olympic event, which is the only reason I know the Olympics have started. More »

Famitsu Doesn't Like "Beijing Olympics 2008" At All

Brian Ashcraft — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 08:40:00 EDT

The Olympics are starting soon! And if you are a game developer working on an Olympics game, you must get your game out on time. No matter what! That could be why SEGA's Beijing Olympics 2008 is apparently so, well, crummy. Japanese game magazine Famitsu scored the game 3,4,4,3 for the PS3 version and 4,5,4,3 for the Xbox 360 version. Ouch. Comments include things like "Sports, as a collection of mini games, isn't enough" or "We like the game patched". Apparently the PS3 online rankings weren't even working correctly, so. That's a shame. Well, guess that means we'll have to watch the real Beijing Olympics then. More »

Sega Details Beijing 2008 Track And Field Events

Mike Fahey — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 16:20:00 EDT

Sega is getting ready to launch Beijing 2008 later this month, and they've just dropped new information and screens on the various track and field events available for play in the Olympic title. Six track events and eight field events make up the T&F portion of the game, with the races benefiting from a new analogue starting block mechanic involving the controller's trigger buttons. Players will be able to either button mash or stick-waggle to work up speed, intermittently leaping hurdles where applicable. More »

The Olympic Gamers

Mike Fahey — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 14:30:00 EDT

The original Olympic Games of Ancient Greece, first held around 786 B.C., were created as a celebration of human physical achievement, which apparently consisted of watching naked, well-muscled men running foot races. More »

Large Gundam Wishes Japanese Runner Good Luck

Brian Ashcraft — Tue, 27 May 2008 02:00:00 EDT

Nothing says support your Japanese Olympic marathon runner like a giant robot! In Ise, Mie Prefecture, a 13-foot tall Gundam statue holding a banner that well-wishes Ise's own Mizuki Noguchi, the 2004 Olympic Marathon champ. Erected at the Takayanagi shopping center in Ise, the Gundam encourages Noguchi to repeat her 2004 win this summer in Beijing. Nothing like some Olympic non-sequitur what-the-fuck! More »

Olympic Committee Prez Doesn't See "Real" Success In Video Games

Brian Ashcraft — Fri, 23 May 2008 07:00:00 EDT

Kids aren't as interested in sports and it's hard to get them involved, says International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge. Young people like other things! Video games, for instance. Says Rogge: More »

Beijing Olympics Website Pirates Flash Games

Mike Fahey — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 11:20:27 EDT

Stolen video games are nothing new in China, but it reaches a disturbing new level when the official website of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games does it. Several of the flash games located on the website seem to have been lifted and modified from already existing games. As Ars Techinca reports, developer Cadin Batrack has noticed that the game resembled a modified version of his own game, Snow Day, as if someone had downloaded the SWF file and modified it. That game has been taken down, but more remain. My favorite flash game creator, Ferry Halim of Orisinal, looks to have been ripped off twice, first with Obstacle Race, which closely mirrors Halim's Arctic Blue, and then Leap and Leap, a modified version of Winter Bells. Batrack has emailed officials in Beijing about the Orisinal copies, but has so far received no response. It's no wonder that piracy is so rampant in the country when incidents like this are allowed to occur. Very bad form indeed. More »

Video Games At the Beijing Olympics

Maggie Greene — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 19:00:00 EST

Not as an actual sport, of course, but it's going to be an official welcome event: US based Global Gaming League (GGL) has signed a deal to make sure video gaming will be a part of the '08 Games, at least in some way. They're planning a tournament leading up to the games, all sorts of contests, actual competitive gaming, and ... more spectators than the actual Olympics? More »

Next Olympic Sport: Gaming?

Brian Ashcraft — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 03:22:36 EDT

Video games an Olympic sport? Chris Morris over at CNN Money says that the media lifestyle company Global Gaming League is talking with China to bring competitive gaming to the 2008 Beijing games. Due to declining interest with youngens, GGL's Ted Owen says gaming's time has come. More »