I'm weirdly looking forward to playing this title. Could it be me getting emotional now that the Olympics is on its way or could it be the frankly quite brilliant achievement list. I'm not sure, but something inside of me is screaming to pick up a control pad and just mash the buttons to my heart's content. I mean, I've not done that since Blue Dragon asked me to do it to stop my man Shu from being squashed by a robotic Ostrich [seriously, you can't make this stuff up!]. Either way, SEGA has released some new screens and some info on how the races and such will work.

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, over a whole month before the actual Beijing Olympics start which is scheduled for August 8th.

Check out the full Beijing 2008 gallery here. 

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