The plumber, hedgehog, and friends are getting ready for Vancouver 2010, and we checked out a few new events at GamesCom.

After the enormous success of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games–(Mario & Sonic win 5M Olympic medals) 5 million copies and counting–creating a sequel based on the upcoming Vancouver 2010 Winter Games seems like a no-brainer. So far, we’ve seen a number of fun events for Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games, including bobsleighing, speed skating, and downhill skiing, as well as numerous characters with which fans of Mario or Sonic games will be familiar. We recently got a chance to meet some more characters and events at GamesCom 2009 in Cologne, Germany.

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Sega’s crazy monkeys are rolling onto the Wii again and bringing Wii Balance Board support with them.

One of the standout launch games for the Nintendo Wii was Sega’s Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz. While the series has suffered from a number of disappointing installments over the years, the primate party game returned in force to prove it still has something to offer. The game also introduced the Wii Remote’s new control scheme, a stack of multiplayer minigames, and a visual overhaul in the process. Building on the success of Banana Blitz, Sega is cranking out its first Monkey Ball sequel for the Wii, Super Monkey Ball: Step and Roll, and it appears to remain faithful to the series while adding some great new features.

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For those unfamiliar with Monkey Ball, you control a monkey enclosed within a hamster ball. The aim is to manage your momentum through increasingly difficult courses, adding obstacles, ledges, and platforms to make you fall off the course. The biggest addition is Wii Balance Board support, something that seems perfectly suited to Monkey Ball’s gameplay. While controlling a ball with the Wii Remote felt intuitive, the balance board takes control to another level. Leaning to either side rolls you in that direction, and leaning forward increases your speed. Courses tilt according to your balance, and while it feels disorientating at first, it actually helps you know precisely where your centre of gravity lies. This is also represented by a balance board graphic in the bottom-right corner of the screen. The remote is another acceptable control scheme, and while we asked Sega if there are any plans to include Wii MotionPlus support, this is yet to be confirmed.

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We take a stroll around the neighborhood without leaving the room in Konami’s new fitness game.

Ever since science determined that playing video games is not, strictly speaking, exercise, developers and publishers have been looking for a way to bring the two closer together. Konami is no stranger to exercise and games, having published numerous iterations of the immensely popular DanceDance Revolution. Now it is setting its fitness sights on kids, and hoping Walk It Out’s blend of exploration and rhythm-based activity will get kids off the couch and onto their feet. We stepped on the Wii Balance Board and went for a walk, and got a feel for the different things Konami is doing to get kids moving.

Though we used the balance board, Walk It Out is also compatible with the DDR Dance Pad or a simple Wii Remote and Nunchuk combination. The key to the game is rhythm. As your walking session starts, so does the music, and you have to stay in time with the beat if you want your onscreen avatar to make progress. Walk It Out contains a lot of music, including some master tracks from such bands as the Black Eyed Peas. But don’t worry if that sounds a little too brisk for your tastes. Walk It Out lets you adjust your pace, so you can step on every other note, or every fourth note if you like. The songs that we walked to had a pretty quick tempo, so we immediately saw the appeal of being able to take it a bit slower.

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We jump into our samurai mech and battle from across the Pacific in Studio Zan’s arena fighter.

Already released in Japan, Overturn is a mech-based arena fighter that is set to be released on Wiiware in North America and Europe in the near future. The premise is simple; pick one of the eight majestic mechs and fight against computer opponents in tournaments to unlock cool new weapons. Once you feel like you’ve got a good grasp on the controls and have customized your ultimate battle machine, you can take the game online and test your skills against three other players. One of the game’s best features is that it supports the Wii Balance Board, so you can pilot your mech with your entire body. We had the opportunity to play a couple of rounds against developers in Japan to get a feel for how the mechanics work.

Check out this multiplayer footage…

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We check out three new events (including Mario Kart on skis) as two icons continue to compete for Olympic gold.

We’re no stranger to athletic competition between hedgehogs and plumbers. Our hands/tush-on preview gave you a glimpse of alpine skiing and bobsledding, while our latest demo gave us the scoop on figure skating, ice hockey, and dream ski cross. It also revealed two new playable characters: Donkey Kong and Metal Sonic.

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