Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs in stores

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs from Activision Publishing is in stores. You know, for the kids. Based on a deal with the cats at Twentieth Century Fox Licensing & Merchandising, the game puts players into the fuzzy little boots of the characters from the 3D animated feature from Twentieth Century Fox, which makes its big screen debut worldwide on July 1.

Players command various characters from the movie including Sid, Manny, Diego, Scrat and the one-eyed Dino hunting weasel, Buck. Whoever you use, you’ll find yourself in the mysterious underground world of dinosaurs as depicted in the film, solving puzzles and platforming through more than 15 levels.

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs was developed for the console and PC platforms by Eurocom and for Nintendo DS by Artificial Mind & Movement.

The game is available for the Xbox 360, Wii and the PS3 for a suggested retail price of $49.99; the PS2 and Nintendo DS for the suggested retail price of $29.99 and Games for Windows for a suggested retail price of $19.99. The console and Games for Windows versions are rated “E10+” (Cartoon Violence) and DS is rated “E” (Mild Cartoon Violence) by the ESRB.

Sega Announces Beijing 2008

SEGA announced that it is developing Beijing 2008, the official videogame of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. The game is being developed by Eurocom Entertainment Software for the Xbox 360, the PlayStation 3, and for the PC. The game promises to capture all the pageantry, athleticism and magic of the 2008 Olympics in Bejing, China complete with 35 events, gameplay geared towards both newbies and hardcore players, online multiplayer on all platforms, and all the official venues like Beijing National Stadium and the National Aquatics Center. The games, including a mobile title, will be released this summer. Here’’s some more on these games:

Beijing 2008 will incorporate innovative control schemes that allow novice gamers to learn how to play the game, while providing experienced gamers the chance to set new records. Through the addition of superb online gameplay and a variety of game modes never seen in an official video game of the Olympic Games before, Beijing 2008? will be the new benchmark for the sporting genre and truly allow gamers to experience the Olympic Spirit.

Sega promises that Beijing 2008 will set a new standard for sports games in this genre. Let’’s hope that Sega and Eurocomm took the time to create a game that is worthy of the subject matter on which it is based. Most games based on the Olympics tend to, you know…suck.