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More events unveiled as New International Track & Field gets closer to the starting blocks

Now Frogger's flexing his webbed feet in a spot of weightlifting

More events unveiled as New International Track & Field gets closer to the starting blocks

It's a tough one to call with Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games also out on DS next year, but New International Track & Field is the sports game that's currently got us twitching the most in anticipation. Ever since Konami announced the spin-off of its Track & Field series would be featuring balloon-headed cartoon versions of its biggest name characters, plus a unique DS control system, we've been dying to get our hands on it.

Back at the Leipzig Games Convention in August we did get some time playing three of the game's 24 Olympic events (the 100m dash, long jump and 110m hurdles). New screenshots just in from Konami, however, show two more of the game's final challenges – clay shooting and weightlifting – as well as a couple of new characters.

Players of Konami's sexy, flesh-baring, all-lady wrestling Rumble Roses games on home consoles might recognise the first of these fresh competitors as Evil Rose. She's looking a bit less intimidating than we're used to, mind you, as well as more practically attired.

The second character shown is the lovable Frogger. Lovable to those who enjoyed his limited arcade experience back in the '80s, that is.

With the other 'athletes' including a cute cartoon Pyramid Head from Silent Hill, and the development team behind the game being none other than Sumo Digital (who created the excellent OutRun 2006 and Virtua Tennis 3 for PSP, amongst others), this is looking like a sure-fire medal winner.

Konami currently has the game down for an April 2008 release.

Kath Brice
Kath Brice
Kath gave up a job working with animals five years ago to join the world of video game journalism, which now sees her running our DS section. With so many male work colleagues, many have asked if she notices any difference.