A Michael Phelps Game?

By Harold Goldberg

Is Michael Phelps, the greatest Olympian of all time, about to work with Electronic Arts on a game? Yesterday, the gold medalist breezed into Strata, the lavish downtown Manhattan locale chosen by EA for the debut of Tiger Woods’ PGA Tour 09.

Was he simply there to meet Tiger Woods, one of his heroes? Tiger moved through the club and into a VIP room so quickly, you’d have thought it was the flash of a celebrity ghost. Phelps was equally stealthy, a veritable Solid Snake as he dashed into the VIP room to meet Tiger.

Phelps got tongues to wagging because he was an unannounced guest at the party. Everyone knew the Olympian would be in town to do Saturday Night Live and to teach kids to swim at a local YMCA. But no one thought he’d be at this particular event.

Would a Phelps game make any sense? Probably not as a console game. It would be too thin, unless you added some kind of adventure fantasy. But as a downloadable entity, it just might be the biggest seller on XBLA or PSN of all time.

Also at the event were beach volleyball gold medalist, Misty May-Treanor, tattoos and all, along with a passel of minor sports, TV and rap stars no one on the red carpet could identify (since no PR type on the line introduced them). Finally, in the Weird Highlight department, a teenage kid ran after Michael Phelps’ SUV, trying to get him to sign a softball. Phelps ignored him. After all, the kid did have a softball, the wrong sport entirely.

Beijing 2008 in Stores

Beijing 2008, the official video game of the Olympic Games, has shipped to retailers in North America for the Xbox 360 and the PLAYSTATION 3. The PC version of the game will ship later in July. Beijing 2008 features top U.S. gold medal contenders Amanda Beard, Tyson Gay, Nastia Liukin and Reese Hoffa on the cover. The game offers over 35 events from the upcoming Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, online play, and control schemes that allow novice gamers to learn how to play the game.

Look for it in stores this week.

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.