King Tuur of The Netherlands Crowned Xbox Live “Halo 2” World Champion

One master gamer has battled his way to the top of a double elimination ladder, and ultimately crowned Xbox Live "Halo 2" World Champion. King Tuur of the Netherlands triumphed over 50,000 "Halo 2" players worldwide in Xbox Live's first ever Global "Halo 2" Tournament. The final match came down to players from Japan and the Netherlands competing for the overall Grand Champion title.

The six global finalists (in alphabetical order) were: aimitux of Japan, ii Cabel ii of Australia, King Tuur of the Netherlands, L Terry15 L of the United States, ll Theos ll of France, and Pr0gamer of Germany. The final match started off with both "Halo" masters searching for the other in heated gameplay, but King Tuur proved too much for Japan's aimitux. Once in the lead, King Tuur never relented and in the end he walked away with the coveted title.

The first tournament of its kind on a console, this contest included players from each of Xbox Live's 24 regions worldwide, with the competition played entirely online via Xbox Live.

For winning the regional championship in the Netherlands, King Tuur received the following prizes:

• A half-size Master Chief Statue

• Personalized Xbox Live Halo 2 Championship sweatshirt and Regional Champion Plaque

• A Samsung Camcorder

For winning the Xbox Live "Halo 2" World Championship, King Tuur received the following prizes:

• A 50' Samsung Flat Screen DLP HDTV

• A Samsung DVD Player/Recorder

• A Personalized Xbox Live Halo 2 Global Champion Trophy featuring a gold Halo 2 game disc

• The U.S. equivalent of $1,500 in cash

"Halo 2" is one of the highest rated and top selling video games of all time, with more than 6.7 million copies sold worldwide since November 2004. As Xbox Live continues to redefine online gaming, "Halo 2" features superior online multiplayer capabilities, evidenced by the fact that Xbox Live gamers have logged a record-breaking 240 million hours playing "Halo 2" since its launch. To date, more than two million unique users have played "Halo 2" online on Xbox Live.

Now in its third generation of transforming and uniting Xbox game communities, with more than 300 games planned by end of holiday 2005 and now with presence in 24 countries worldwide, Xbox Live has set the bar for online games entertainment. As the first global, unified online console games service, Xbox Live continues to take online gameplay and entertainment to unprecedented heights. With a rapidly growing global community, Xbox Live offers best-in-class games, intelligent matchmaking, tournaments, unique programming and integration with Xbox.com - there is simply nothing else like it. The service continues to provide more and more ways for members to meet, interact and stay engaged with each other.

Xbox (http://www.xbox.com/) is Microsoft's future-generation video game system that delivers the most powerful games experiences ever. Xbox empowers game artists by giving them the technology to fulfill their creative visions as never before, creating games that blur the lines between fantasy and reality. Xbox is now available in North America, Japan, Europe and Australia.