Thursday, February 12, 2009

One year to go until the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics - plus other Olympic news!


Three hundred and sixty five days left until the start of the 21st Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada. I am very excited about these games! I would love to attend - with them being so close and all - but that doesn't seem likely at this point in my life. I look forward to watching the games on television, and now online at times, with Annie and the kids!


To celebrate the one year to go milestone that passed today Vancouver announced and released the official design for their torch. I'm not too crazy about it to be honest. It seems... hmmm... it's hard to put a finger on. It looks like it was made by Apple and in this case I wouldn't call that a good thing. I was hoping for something more unique. In fact I was hoping that they would incorporate some the Aboriginal design elements that they have been using. It's not a debacle, like the London 2012 logo, by any means. I guess I had just hoped for more and was let down by the end result. The torchbearer suits are nice. They fit well with the rest of the overall design of the games which is nice.


Also in other Olympic news, the final Bid Books for the 2016 Summer Games were submitted today. From what I have seen it seems likely they've all submitted pretty nice plans. Madrid seems the least like to win the bid considering the games in 2012 are right next door in London. Rio would be a nice pick because the games have never been held in South America. The Tokyo bid is very attractive and would be my second personal choice after Chicago. The winner will be announced on October 2nd this year.

(You can view a video teaser for the game HERE)

And last but certainly not least for a Olympics fan and Nintendo geek like myself, Sega and Nintendo officially announced Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games today. This is fantastic news! I enjoyed the original Summer Games version very much and it's a fun family game that we still get out and play even today. I'm sure they will improve on the original game play mechanics and they have already announced support for the Wii Balance Board. Sega said the game will include Alpine Skiing and Speed Skating with more events to be announced throughout the year. They also stated that new characters will appear in this game as well and they will also be revealed later in the year. The game is currently slated for release by the end of the year.

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