Before the fall

Those of you who haven't had enough of Winter already will be pleased to know that Sega have announced that Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games has just been given a release date.

On the 15th of October, Mario, Sonic, and all their pals will invade the Nintendo DS and Wii once more, urging players to mash buttons and waggle Wii-motes in a bid to crush the competition in a series of mini-games resembling Winter Olympic sports.

The project is lead by Shigeru Miyamoto, and is expected to feature the same game play style as Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, just with everything covered in snow. No, really.

The game will offer co-op and competitive play, with competition to mirror the events that go on in the actual winter Olympics. Ice hockey, Skiing and snowboarding are all expected to be present, though it is likely that sports on the DS may not appear on the Wii, and vice versa.

In any case, those of you who are interested should probably mark the 15th of October as the start of sporting Winter, with the game launching just before the Winter Olympics get under way in Vancouver, Canada.