Having sold over 19 million copies - which would make a pile 285,000m high, fact fans, which is enough to stretch the length of the London Olympic Stadium 1000 times - the Mario & Sonic series has done phenomenally well. With the next Olympic games just around the corner, held in our very own London, it didn't take a gaming Nostradamus to see that a new instalment may have been in the works - and today, SEGA made it official, confirming the officially-licensed Mario & Sonic At The London 2012 Olympic Games will be sprinting onto the Wii and 3DS soon. Sadly, the game's announcement seems to simultaneously herald the beginning of the end for the DS, though, as the handheld's conspicuous by its absence. My five year old cousin will be disappointed...
Letting you take part in a number of Olympic games as one of a selection of characters from Mario and Sonic's worlds, the third game in the series looks set to carry on the series' tradition for accessible fun. The Wii version sees a host of brand new sports - including football and horse-riding - alongside the more classic Olympic events, like athletics, swimming and table tennis, while there's also an all-new set of Dream Events, which are set in Mario and Sonic's respective worlds. It's also the first time the series will be appearing on Nintendo's new 3DS handheld, which is set to feature over fifty Olympic-themed sports events.
As with the other games, Mario & Sonic At The London 2012 Olympic Games will feature multiplayer as well as single player, letting the whole family join in with the fun. Hopefully, the 3DS version will still have the download play of it's predecessors.
As of yet, SEGA haven't announced a release date, but based on when the other two games were released, we'd expect to see it in shops around Christmas time. We'll be bringing you more information as soon as we get it, so stay tuned! In the meantime, here's a picture of the duo riding a London Bus on their recent tour of London:
