e3 2009 News: Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games

Info from ign.com:

Introducing two new characters to the roster of competitors.

by IGN Staff
June 3, 2009 - While SEGA focuses on the realism of the sport of Winter Olympics, the Nintendo DS and Wii systems are getting a much more focused, fan service experience. Just as the publisher partnered up with Nintendo to produce a unique pairing of mascots for the Summer Olympics last year, SEGA's putting the same magic into the winter games when the competition hits Vancouver in 2010. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games was playable at the Electronic Entertainment Expo on the show floor, but we went a little more indepth with a behind closed doors experience that showed off new modes and options.

First of all, SEGA's bringing two new characters into the competition. Added to the roster are Donkey Kong for the Nintendo side, Metal Sonic for the SEGA side. The rest of the crew from Summer Olympics, including Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Sonic, Tails, Amy and others, return in this snow-focused collection of winter challenges.

SEGA showed off three modes of the Wii game that weren't being demonstrated to the public on the show floor. In Figure Skating, you'll waggle the Wii remote in time to the cues on the ice, as well as to the rhythm of the music. There will be six different songs to skate to, each with their own level of difficulty and set of moves to perform.

The Wii version also has an Ice Hockey mode that feels inspired by arcade hockey titles such as Wayne Gretzky on the N64, or even Blades of Steel on the NES. As players successfully pass the puck, the puck will generate energy and give the player extra strength during a slapshot.

Finally SEGA revealed Dream Ski Cross, a skiing racing game that borrows heavily from Mario Kart. In fact, the course they showed is ripped right out of Mario Kart Wii...and SEGA mentions that most of the race courses in this mode are inspired by tracks and locations from classic SEGA and Nintendo video games.

On the Nintendo DS, the producers showed off Alpine Skiing, a speed challenge where you'll have to get down the hill in the shortest time possible. To give players a bit of an edge, the game has a speed start for those who time their button press right when the challenge begins. And if you manage to accurately ski through the slalom gates, you'll get an additional surge of momentum to make your times shorter.

Another challenge only shown behind the scenes for DS was the Bobsleigh event. Players pick two characters to zoom down the icy course. As you wind through the channel, pressing left and right on the D-pad will shift the weight of the front character, and the A and Y buttons to shift the weight of the rear character. If you time their leaning in sync, you'll build up a team meter that can be converted into an extra burst of speed.

And like Olympic Summer Games, Winter Games will feature dream events that turn the standard challenges into something a bit more arcadey. SEGA showed off Extreme Snowboarding on the DS, which is the "dream" version of standard snowboarding. Here, players play a very Mario Kart challenge against computer or human competitors, throwing objects at each other to knock them down. Perform tricks and power-slide around turns to build up your speed.

And SEGA revealed one final feature of the Nintendo DS version: Adventure Tours. This is the single player progression: Bowser and Dr. Eggman are working together, melting all the snow in the world by capturing the snow spirits. Players take control of one character and wander through the world, completing missions that involve the standard Winter Olympics challenges. SEGA believes this is the first time that Nintendo characters have full conversations with the SEGA line-up of mascots.

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games is still being worked on, and the development team wasn't ready to answer whether the DS and/or Wii games will feature online support -- but considering that Summer Games featured the support on both systems, it's an extremely likely assumption.

Watch for more on the title as it progresses in development.