The most charitable response came from U.S. downhill skier Lindsey Vonn (pictured), one of two athletes identified as gamers (she loves her DS) before the interview.

"I think gaming should definitely be considered a competitive sport. It's like anything else. If there are people that want to compete, there should be a sport. Whether it should be in the Olympics or not, I don't know. [...] Maybe they can have their own Olympics; I'm sure they have their own world championships and stuff like that. Each sport has their own elite level of competition. [...] If gaming was an Olympic sport and a skiing game was one of the events, I would definitely try to win an Olympic medal in virtual skiing."

Probably more representative of how athletes feel is Kristina Groves, a Canadian speed skater.

"I would say that I don't agree with (gaming being included in the Olympics) just because sport is a very physical domain. You can't just imitate the sport; the whole idea of sport is doing it."

Snowboarders Matthew Morison (Canada) and Seth Wescott (U.S.) also weighed in on t
the idea.

Videogames in the Olympics? Olympic Athletes Sound Off [Wired] [image]

Despite poor review scores on their previous outing, Beijing 2008 developer Eurocom once again steps up to the plate for Sega, this time taking on the wide world of winter sports in Vancouver 2010. The official game of the Olympic Winter Games will offer authentic recreations of the more popular winter sporting events, from skiing to skiing to more skiing. Along with something called a challenge mode, which the official release doesn't explain, the game will also feature an "innovative" first-person mode, which is sure to make all that skiing even more exciting.

Vancouver 2010 is due out for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC, appropriately enough in the winter of 2010.

Turns out Sega will be on publishing duties, just like they were for the Summer games in Beijing last year. And they're the sole, exclusive publisher, meaning nobody else is allowed to make an official Olympics game for any platform.

Does this mean Eurocom will be back to reprise their work on the Beijing game? Who knows! Does this mean there'll be another shitty Wii game starring Mario & Sonic that will inexplicably go on to sell 10 million copies?

Probably.

TOKYO (February 5, 2009) - SEGA® Corporation today announced a worldwide agreement with International Sports Multimedia (ISM), exclusive licensee of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), to once again become the sole approved video game publisher of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, Canada. After an　extremely successful series of video games from the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, this exclusive license will allow SEGA to once more publish the only official interactive entertainment software titles of the world's most famous sporting event.

Through this agreement, SEGA secures the sole rights to publish console, PC/Macintosh, handheld, arcade, and mobile games worldwide. Under this exclusive license, SEGA will publish a wide variety of games with winter sports and events including skiing, skating, and snowboard bearing the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games emblem.

"Working with SEGA has resulted in Olympic Entertainment Software achieving unparalleled success and we are delighted to support SEGA once again for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games", says Raymond Goldsmith, Chairman & CEO of ISM.

"SEGA is extremely excited to once again work with ISM on a series of multi-platform games celebrating the Olympic Games," says Okitane Usui, Chief Operating Officer, SEGA Corporation. "The Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games offers gamers a collection of exciting sports to master, as well as a stunning location for players to take advantage of. We aim to bring fans around the world an exhilarating experience whenever they play any Olympic title."

Specific plans for the official video games are to follow. For any additional information on SEGA, please visit www.sega.com or www.olympicvideogames.com.

"I'm extremely honored to be chosen for this role," Probst told the paper after his election to a four-year term. "I've had a lot of sports experience as a CEO. I've had a very successful business career. I know how to work collaboratively with people. I know how to build and develop a team."

Probst replaces Peter Ueberroth, former Major League Baseball commissioner.

Probst will likely spend most of energy at the USOC trying to convince the International Olympic Committee to bring the 2016 Olympics to Chicago.

I wonder if Peter Moore is bummed?

USOC names Probst from EA Sports as its chairman [The Gazette]

Pathetic. Those ladies really need to get in shape. They need to quite that goofing off they do on the women's national team (gold medal — ha, whatever!) and just do Wii Fit all day long. That's the only way these slackers will get fit.

If you have lots of free time today, there's another clip after the jump. It has the hula hoop game.

Female US Soccer players compete in Wii Fit Showdown [Balance Board Blog]

I just realized I have a great name for UK broadcasting. And I love impersonating the broadcasts. "GMT time is twenty-two hundred. Owen Good, Kotaku World Service." Good thing this is text only, I think Stuart would beat me senseless if I said that in his presence.

Summer Athletics Preview [British Gaming Blog]

See, Mario does the breaststroke. And thus, it's perfect mental training for envisioning the actual Olympic hall.

Watch as Japanese game sales will spike and wanna-be swimmers include Mario and Sonic in their training regimen...

北島「Ｗｉｉ」で「金」予行演習 [Yomiuri Sports Thanks, Tak!] [Pic]

Take the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics. Those 29 giant firework footprints that made their way to the Bird's Nest National Stadium from Tiananmen Square were actually computer graphics. Apparently, the Beijing Organizing Committee was worried it wouldn't be possible to capture the fireworks over Beijing. According to The Oregonian reporter Jon Canzano:

I was in Tienanmen Square on Friday evening, reporting and writing a column on the tens of thousands of jubilant Chinese citizens who gravitated there to celebrate. Those people saw two tiny flarelike blasts pop in the sky, followed by a lot of nothing, and they were probably baffled by the widespread reports of the lit-up sky, exploding footprints and brilliant fireworks. And today, I'm thinking those people are relieved to learn they're not losing their marbles.

...You don't mislead the public. You don't Photoshop the goods, or use a computer generation, in an attempt to create events that aren't there, especially when you're presenting an event to the public as if it's a true happening.

It took something like a year to create that CG fireworks sequence. The ceremony's visual effect team head, Gao Xiaolong, said: "Most of the audience thought it was filmed live — so that was mission accomplished."

This isn't the first instance of a government doing this. Heck, Iran recently PhotoShopped missile test pics to make them look more impressive. And no doubt, these two countries aren't the only two using CG and Photoshop to make their countries look good. This is something gamers have been dealing with for a while now, but here, the stakes are higher than a US$70 game, much higher. Frighteningly, so.

Joe Q. Public, look at everything with a raised eyebrow and discernment, because nothing that looks that nice looks that nice. Not even Olympic fireworks in the Beijing night sky.

If it looks too good to be true, it probably is [The Oregonian]
Giant footprint fireworks in Beijing Olympics opening ceremony 'faked' [Mail Online]

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.

According to Gay, playing video games helps take his mind off pre-competition jitters. He'll be running for gold in the 100m at the Beijing Olympics. Above, he explains his development as a runner through a painting he did of a tree trunk.

Athletes play video games as Olympics go virtual [Yahoo! News] [Pic Thanks, Zhien!]

From now until August 25th, anyone who participates in a full battleground will receive the nifty ring-themed tabard. The pet, modeled after Olympic dragon mascot Sooty the Air Pollution Dragon, who I just made up, is randomly awarded to players who are on the winning team of a battleground. Being a hordie on the Ysera server, I will never, ever get one.

Olympic Tabard & Pet, WotLK Class Changes [MMO Champion - Thanks Kurt!]

PS3「北京オリンピック 2008」がファミ通レビューで次世代ハード最低点を記録 [裏はちま起稿]

Meanwhile, on the field side of things, players can compete in the pole vault, high jump, triple jump, long jump, or my personal favorite events, the throws, with javelin, hammer, shot put, and discus all represented. Always been a big fan of throwing things. Just ask my borderline neurotic targets cats.

Beijing 2008 - The Official Video Game of the Olympic GamesTrack And Field Events, Screenshots and Details Available Now

LONDON (16 June, 2008) – SEGA Europe Ltd. proudly presents Beijing 2008™ - The Official Video Game of the Olympic Games: Track and Field events.

Appearing on the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft®, the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system and PC, Beijing 2008™ delivers a host of Track and Field events.

Of the six Track events, the 100m is the blue-riband event of the Olympic Games and is watched by millions of people worldwide. A new analogue starting block mechanic has been added to the gameplay using the trigger buttons on the controller. After launching out of the starting blocks, players will have the choice to either waggle the thumb stick from left to right, or press the A button and B button alternately to gain speed. Other track events are the 200m, 400m, 800m, 1500m and the 110m Hurdles for Men and 100m Hurdles for Women.

There are eight Field events in Beijing 2008™ and new to this iteration is the Hammer Throw which is played with both analogue sticks to build up power, whilst using one of the triggers to throw the Hammer. Other Field events are the High Jump, Pole Vault, Long Jump, Shot Put, Triple Jump, Discus Throw, and the Javelin Throw. All of these events have different gameplay mechanics and are playable with both male and female athletes.

Beijing 2008™ is slated for a global release on June 27th 2008 for the Xbox 360, PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system and PC.

Luckily for the viewing public, the Olympics have come a long way since their revival in the late 1800's. Now they recognize both non-Greek speaking males and females as humans, they've added a fair bit of clothing, which tends to put the focus back on the actual sports...themselves expanded far beyond the initial foot-racing and wrestling of the original.

Over the past several decades, however, we've seen the emergence of an entirely new type of gaming - video gaming - and while it may not be an official event, the pastime we all know and love is alive and well at the Olympic games.

Let me introduce you to just a few of the gamers that will be representing the United States at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing...if we can pry them away from their consoles long enough.

Kevin Tan
Hometown: Fremont, CA
Birthdate: September 24th, 1981
Event: Gymnastics (Lord Of The Still Rings)
Favorite Games: Halo 3, Rainbow Six Vegas 2, Super Mario Galaxy, Guitar Hero Kevin Tan, who acts as the assistant Gymnastics coach at Penn State when he isn't busy dominating the still rings, started gaming around the same time his interest in gymnastics began, between the ages of 6 and 7. Sure, he was playing his older brother's NES - but as you know, it was no small feat keeping a child in the late '80s away from Super Mario Bros. on a Nintendo.

The Competitive Spirit Works In Mysterious Ways

When I first started working on this story I fully expected to talk to athletes who had discovered video gaming late in their careers as a way to let off steam between intense training sessions and competitions. I expected stories of Olympians suddenly discovering the joy of pixellated pursuits after a particularly painful loss, or something to that effect. Honestly my only exposure to Olympic athletes before now had been seeing them on television and inspirational movies on cable, which always portray them as people with a singular driving purpose with no time for more frivolous pursuits. It turns out that what you see on television isn't always true. Who knew?

As it turns out, just about all of the Olympic athletes I profiled started playing video games around the same time they started showing interest in their more physical pursuits. Take Kevin Tan, a champion of the still rings and assistant gymnastics coach for Penn State, who got started gaming at the age of six, playing Super Mario Bros. on his brother's Nintendo Entertainment System. Or Diana Lopez, the taekwondo champion from a family of taekwondo champions, who inherited more than her fighting spirit from her older brothers.

"I remember watching my brothers always playing Tecmo Bowl, mid 80's. I really didn't know how to play, I just pressed buttons."

Oddly enough, this is the same technique I use while performing taekwondo.

When you really think about it, physical sports and video games compliment each other quite nicely. Once the body is spent from pushing it to the limit of human performance the fingers, eyes, and mind can carry on the fight in a more digital medium, and of course there's the extra added benefit of learning important map-reading skills.

Sean Townsend
Hometown: Temple, TX
Birthdate: January 20th, 1979
Event: Gymnastics (Vault and Parallel Bars)
Favorite Game: Call Of Duty 4: Modern WarfareSean Townsend began practicing gymnastics at the age of 9, picking up his video game habit a year later at the age of 10, presumably while hanging around (parallel) bars. Like so many youngsters, Super Mario Bros. drew him in, though he's since graduated to the harder stuff.

Fun Fact: His dad is named Frost Townsend. Frost has now jumped to the top of the list of aliases I will assume should I ever commit the perfect crime, beating out Steel Dagger, Death Thompson, and Pablo Menendez.

Escaping The Everyday

Like all video game players, Olympic athletes use their consoles and handhelds to escape the every day grind. The only real difference is that while our everyday grind might involve filling out TPS report cover sheets or...I dunno, writing video game news, their every day involves competing in sports at an international level.

Texas-born gymnast Sean Townsend finds time to let off a little steam in the evenings during breaks in his busy practice schedule by playing Call of Duty 4 (like about a million other people), finding that it not only helps him relax but also helps him feel comfortable when competing in exotic locations.

"It's good because you feel like you're at home and it keeps your mind off of gymnastics for a little bit."

Kevin Tan echoes Townsend's sentiments exactly.

If I didn't have games, I would be thinking about gymnastics all of the time. It is a good way to rest as well as socialize.

This of course makes me wonder if the opposite is true. Perhaps I should take up gymnastics so I'm not thinking about video games all of the time. I'll pause so anyone who has met me in person can finish laughing.

All done? Moving right along...

Diana Lopez
Home Town: Sugar Land, TX
Birthdate: January 7th, 1984
Event: Taekwondo
Favorite Game: The Simpsons Game Diana comes from a family of Taekwondo champions, her three older brothers Jean, Mark, and Steven already having filled the family mantle with various gold and silver trinkets. In 1995 at the World Taekwondo Championships Diana, Steven, and Mark all took home World Championship titles. You really don't want to tick this family off.

Diana has fond memories of her brothers playing Tecmo Bowl in the late 80's, which eventually lead to her love of both Duck Hunt and Mike Tyson's Punch Out.

Fun Fact: The World Taekwondo Federation has the best abbreviation ever.

In The Game
There are no truly great gymnastics video games. This is the consensus from among the gymnasts when asked if they have ever found a game that was an accurate representation of their sport. This strikes me as odd. Whenever the Summer Olympics is on television, the first thing my family will tune to is the gymnastics portions. There's something about the combination of strength, dexterity, and simple grace that make the various gymnastic events almost hypnotic to watch. When the games were in Atlanta in 1996, tickets to these events were the hardest to come by.

So why is there no truly great gymnastics video game? Kevin Tan suggests that the sport is just too complicated to craft a good game out of it. If I were a major developer, I'd take that as a challenge. Anyone from EA or 2K Sports listening? I'd buy the hell out of a good gymnastics title.

Taekwondo master Diana of course had a much easier time finding games that reflected her particular passion.

I remember playing Street Fighter at an early age. I always picked Chung Lee.

Okay, so she might not be able to spell Chun Li, but she could more than likely kick her ass and make her change the spelling, so it balances out.

Video Games And Fitness In Perfect Harmony

When I was a young lad you could be a gamer, or you could be a jock. There really wasn't much crossover between the two. The football players played football and dated while those of us who disappointed the hell out of the coaching staff as 6'5" 14 year-olds by quitting practice because it conflicted with the original Transformers cartoon played video games.

If it weren't already obvious with the rise of sports games and new products like Wii Fit, those lines have become more blurred with each passing year, to the point where people who represent the pinnacle of physical perfection play the same games as the people who represent the pinnacle of Cheetos consumption. Gaming is for everyone now, and there is no reason a gamer can't be just as healthy and fit as anybody else. As Miss Lopez says, the key is moderation.

"Too much of anything is bad for you..such as food, gaming, or sleep. You have to do everything within a reasonable balance. "

And Townsend's response to anyone who who label gamers as lazy or out of shape?

"Come take a look at my six pack!"

Gundam Supporter [Mainichi]

Kids are attracted to visual, interactive forms of communication. It's not going to be easy for sport to counter that... You won't hear me saying sport is not fun — it is. But it requires austerity and discipline. The answer is achievement. You will never achieve in a video game. It is not really success.

So glad the IOC is headed by an open minded fellow.

London 2012 And The Game Gen [The Times via MCVUK]

But for GGL, and apparently for China, video gaming is serious business. "This event will be heavily covered by the media," says Fong Hong, who is honorary general secretary of the China Internet Gaming Organizing Committee, editor of a large-circulation national technology newspaper called Netizen and an employee of the Chinese Ministry of Information Industries. If he says so, it is likely to be so.

Says a very optimistic Owen: "We believe the crowds we'll get will be far larger than for the Olympic games themselves." The venues, still to be chosen, are likely to be big soccer stadiums - not unusual for gaming competitions in China and elsewhere in Asia. Video gaming is rapidly becoming one of the world's most popular spectator sports, with audiences, especially in Asia, numbering many millions both live and on TV.

GGL has a press release up at their website, promising more information to come.

Video games meet the China Olympics [Fortune/CNN Money]

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.

"You need to bring younger viewers back if you want to keep making money. To do that, you need to embrace non-traditional sports," he says. "They did it with snowboarding - and look how the popularity of that has surged in the Games. Video games deserve to be seen as a non-traditional sport."

But will the International Olympic Committee bite? "There's a big campaign [in the IOC] to get kids away from computer terminals," says Ed Hula, editor of an Olympic newsletter. Neither Ted nor the GGL has spoken with the IOC, but have been in talks with the Chinese Government. The talks have been "encouraging." Riiight.

Something about all this just reeks of publicity stunt. Yes, gaming requires hand-eye coordination and concentration. Yes, it is a popular spectator event in some countries. And yes, there are pros. But an Olympic sport?! Brian Ashcraft

Full Article Here [CNN Money]