As 08-08-08 drums ever so near, it's not very surprising to find some Olympics themed video games in the works. Publisher Ghostlight has just released a batch of screenshots for one such title, International Athletics. It's slated for release on both the PlayStation Portable and Nintendo DS handhelds. More information and screenshots come after the jump.

Another type of athlete is coming to the Beijing Olympic Games to bear the torch: cyberathletes. Yes, professional gamers will be given the honor of carrying the torch in the coming games. Check out the full article for more info.

Mario and Sonic teaming up together with their friends to compete in the Olympics wasn't just a good idea on paper. Nintendo has proven that Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games for the Nintendo Wii and DS  was a hit across the world as the minigame-packed title reached five million copies sold in just three months. Race to the full article to learn more!

If you're one who collects videogame paraphernalia, then you might want to check out Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii) for the DS - as Sega is giving away a limited-edition collector's pin with every pre-order. Check out the whole scoop in the full article.

Ah, those crazy Romans. When will they ever learn that going up against a small Gaelic strongman and his big, hulking warrior friend is never good for anyone's health. Atari shows to us Asterix's and Obelix's continuing adventures in their upcoming game, Asterix at the Olympic Games. Here's a small army of Wii and DS screenshots delivered to us from Nintendic.

Asides from the game's release coinciding with the 2008 Beijing Olympics, it was actually adapted from a comic book with the same title in the Asterix series. From the screenshots, the Wii version seems more than your typical sports sim, with sword fights and fist fights with your typical Roman mob thrown in between events. The DS on the other hand will fully utilize the touch screen to simulate the different events of the various Olympic Games.

Asterix will be facing stiff competition with its rival co-Olympic themed game in the form of Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games. And while its popularity in the States hasn't always been stellar, its solid base of European fans will definitely want to catch a glimpse of this game when it finally comes out this coming January of 2008 for the PC, PS2, Nintendo Wii and DS.

   

Check out all the screenshots of Asterix's Olympic escapades right after the jump!

Olympics 2008 is just around the corner. Maybe it's just the right time to celebrate each and every country's athletes even through our favorite handheld consoles. Publisher Ghostlight confirmed today that a title called Decathletes is currently in development for the Sony PlayStation Portable and Nintendo DS.

A lot of sporting events will be featured in the title, all geared to make a player's desire to compete and win burn. Decathletes will have a single player mode as well as a multiplayer mode, and the latter is very important especially to video game titles of this nature.

The game will also highlight the development of in-game characters. Accordingly, players will receive rewards for winning events such as unlockable stadiums as well as other bonus events. Ghostlight Sales Manager Sam Collins commented,

Decathletes is an outstanding title with huge mass market appeal and further bolsters Ghostlight's expanding portfolio of high caliber titles for 2008. We are pleased to be able to announce the release of Decathletes on multi-formats in all PAL territories, reinforcing Ghostlight's position as a major publisher in the global games market.

Decathletes is currently under development with The Code Monkeys and will be available by Spring 2008.

Yeah, by now, every person that has seriously embraced video gaming as part of his/her life is aware of the sudden changes that'll prompt him/her to bid farewell to the E3 as he/she knew it. The Halls of QJ has been ringing with dead silence every single time the matter is brought up (it's happening right now). But we all have to move on as E3, arguably gamers' own version of World Cup and Winter Olympics, undergoes some major tweaks that'll indirectly affect all of us.

Entertainment Software Association president Doug Lowenstein, in an interview with Wall Street Journal, has revealed what exactly those "major tweaks" will be - a new name, a new venue and a new date. According to him, the event will be dubbed as the E3 Media Festival starting next year, cementing thoughts that the affair will now only be joined by members of the press from various media.

From last E3's groundbreaking attendance of 60,000 visitors, next year's event will have a toned-down population of around 5000 people. In fact, Lowenstein has cited that the huge number of participants is primarily the reason why all the changes are being made, saying that "some companies were frustrated because E3 was such a huge, sweeping event it became increasingly difficult to get their messages out."

Instead of the traditional May affair, the next E3 (if we could still call it that) will be held on July to give publishers more time to develop their projects and to strategically bring it nearer to Christmas where most games are usually released. The event will also say goodbye to the Los Angeles Convention Center as the ESA divulged plans to use two hotels, holding press events and meetings in suites and conference rooms - there goes our booths and the booth babes along with it.

As much as we want to present this news as an objective one, it's really hard not to choke out some disappointments while tackling the matter. The gamer in us conquers the inner writer/reporter as it cry for the game demos open for civilians, promos for the attendees, E3 booth babes, lost opportunities for smaller developers, and the shed "people image" of the event we used to know as E3...