Beijing 2008 (video game)

Beijing 2008 is the official Olympic video game of the 2008 Summer Olympics held in Beijing. Developed by Eurocom and published by Sega, the game was the second video game based on the 2008 Summer Olympics to be released, the first being the fantasy-based Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games which appeared in late 2007; however, Beijing 2008 is a realistic sports simulation.^[1]

Beijing 2008
Amanda Beard, Tyson Gay, Nastia Liukin and Reese Hoffa appear on the U.S. cover art for the game.[1]
Developer(s)	Eurocom
Publisher(s)	Sega
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
Release	PlayStation 3 & Xbox 360 AU: June 26, 2008 EU: June 27, 2008 NA: July 8, 2008 JP: July 31, 2008 Windows NA: August 4, 2008 AU: August 7, 2008 EU: August 8, 2008 BRA: September 4, 2008 POR: September 8, 2008
Genre(s)	Sports
Mode(s)	Single-player, Multiplayer

Beijing 2008 features 32 national teams and 38 events.^{[citation needed]} In addition, a career mode similar to that seen in Sydney 2000 returned, and for the first time in Olympic video games, an online mode is included.

Disciplines

The following events are in the game:^[2]

Track 100 m 200 m 400 m 800 m 1500 m 100 m hurdles (women only) 110 m hurdles (men only) Field High jump Pole vault Long jump Triple jump Shot put Discus throw Hammer throw Javelin throw Aquatics 50 m freestyle swimming (men only) 100 m backstroke swimming (men only) 100 m butterfly swimming (men only) 100 m breaststroke swimming (men only) 3 m springboard diving (women only) 10 m platform diving (women only)

Gymnastics Parallel bars (men only) Vault (men only) Rings (men only) Floor exercise (women only) Beam (women only) Uneven bars (women only) Shooting (all men only events) Skeet shooting 10 m Air Pistol 25 m Rapid Fire Pistol Other Archery, individual (women only) Weightlifting, +105 kg (men only) Cycling, team pursuit (men only) Canoeing/kayak K1, kayak single (men only) Judo, 81–90 kg (men only) Table tennis, singles (men only)

In addition, the game supports competition in the male decathlon or the female heptathlon, 5, 10 or 20 random events, or all of the events. It is possible to take part in all male and female events individually.^[3]

Nations represented

Playable countries

• Australia
• Austria
• Bahamas
• Belgium
• Brazil
• Canada
• China
• Cuba
• Denmark
• Ethiopia
• Finland
• France
• Great Britain
• Germany
• Greece
• Ireland
• Italy
• Jamaica
• Japan
• Kenya
• Mexico
• Netherlands
• New Zealand
• Norway
• Poland
• Portugal
• Russia
• South Africa
• South Korea
• Spain
• Sweden
• United States

Reception

Aggregate score

Aggregator	Score
	PC	PS3	Xbox 360
Metacritic	52/100[4]	58/100[5]	60/100[6]

Review scores

Publication	Score
	PC	PS3	Xbox 360
Edge	N/A	N/A	5/10[7]
Eurogamer	N/A	N/A	5/10[8]
Famitsu	N/A	14/40[9]	16/40[9]
GameSpot	3/10[10]	3/10[11]	3/10[11]
GameZone	N/A	N/A	5.5/10[12]
IGN	5.6/10[13]	7.7/10[14]	7.7/10[14]
Official Xbox Magazine (US)	N/A	N/A	2.5/10[15]
PC Gamer (UK)	48%[16]	N/A	N/A
PC PowerPlay	6/10[17]	N/A	N/A
PlayStation: The Official Magazine	N/A	[18]	N/A
Common Sense Media	N/A	[19]	[19]

Reception

Beijing 2008 received "mixed" reviews on all platforms according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.^[4][5][6] GameSpot said of the game, "rapidly pushing buttons is not fun", and pointed to excessive difficulty.^[10][11] In Japan, Famitsu gave it a score of one three, two fours, and one three for the PlayStation 3 version; and one four, one five, one four, and one three for the Xbox 360 version.^[9]

See also

• Olympic video games
• 2008 Summer Olympics