The Beijing 2008 Olympics are almost here, ok, they're not almost here, but Nintendo and Sega announced today that the Mario and Sonic franchises will be meeting up in a 2007 holiday released game entitled Mario & Sonic at the Olympics. Sega will be publishing the game in North America while Japan will take the Japanese release. No word yet on who's actually developing the game.
Olympic events such as swimming, track, and table tennis will be tackled by Mario and his friends (Luigi and Yoshi have been confirmed) and Sonic and his friends (Knuckles and Tails have been confirmed). As much as I love the Mario guys more than the Sonic guys, I'd put money on Sonic for the track events, Tails for the all the "jump" events, and Knuckles for all the strength events. Sonic and friends aren't so great at the water sports so that'll be Mario's big opening.
I, for one, am really excited to see how this one turns out.
* I'll preorder today if they say water polo's included.