Rivals Mario and Sonic Team Up

Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog, longtime video game mascot rivals, are teaming up for a video game that will feature the Beijing Olympics. Nintendo and Sega announced the game on Wednesday.

'Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games,' due to hit shelves by the end of the year, will have players competing in events based on official venues of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China. Other characters you would expect in a Mario or Sonic game will also be in the game, including Nintendo's Luigi and Yoshi, and Sega's Knuckles and Miles "Tails" Prower.

"Mario and Sonic have been respectful rivals since the early days of video games," said Shigeru Miyamoto, Nintendo's famed game maker. "Now that they have been given the perfect opportunity to meet at the Olympic Games, we may finally learn who is actually faster."

The game will be released exclusively on Nintendo's innovative systems the DS handheld and Wii console. The game will be published by Sega in the West and by Nintendo in Japan.

Each version of the game will feature a different control scheme suited to the abilities of the system. The Wii version is expected to be similar to 'Wii Sports' in function.

"The Olympic Games represent the true spirit of competition and passion," said Raymond Goldsmith, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of ISM. "Bringing together intensely competitive and fun characters like Mario and Sonic in an Olympic setting helps showcase the sports of the Olympic Games in a new and compelling way for all generations."

The game will use an official International Sports Multimedia (ISM) license, the interactive entertainment software licensee of the International Olympic Committee. ISM has previously overseen the video game adaptations of the recent Olympics and Winter Olympics, starting with the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games.

No screenshots have been released, but the game will feature various Olympic events including the 100m sprint, swimming, and table tennis. More characters and events will be revealed later.

According to Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pacther, the game is taking two mass-market characters with global appeal and putting them into a game focused on a global event.

"It's just a great formula," said Pachter. He also said that similar video game partnerships have resulted in popular games such as Disney Interactive and Lego Star Wars and

Kingdom Hearts from Square Enix.

'Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games' will be the first time that the Nintendo and Sega mascots have appeared in a game together.

Sources:
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-6171155.html
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=13283
http://www.gamesarefun.com/news.php?newsid=7601