NAMCO ANNOUNCES RETAIL PRE-ORDER PROGRAM FOR SOULCALIBUR® III
Exclusive Collectible T-Shirts Highlight Pre-Release Retail Campaign
SANTA CLARA, Calif., (September 1, 2005) - Leading video games developer and publisher Namco Hometek Inc. announced today a retail pre-order program for its upcoming fighting game, SOULCALIBUR® III. Starting this month, consumers in the United States and Canada can pay $5 at Electronics Boutique, GameStop and GameCrazy stores to pre-order SOULCALIBUR III and receive a custom t-shirt when they pick up the game. Each retailer will have its own exclusive shirt design, featuring artwork of new and classic characters. Fans who pre-order SOULCALIBUR III at Electronics Boutique will receive a shirt featuring Nightmare, Tira and Zasalamel; gamers who reserve their copy at GameStop will receive a shirt featuring Ivy, Kilik and Astaroth; and those who pre-order at GameCrazy will obtain a shirt featuring Mitsurugi and Setsuka. SOULCALIBUR III will be available exclusively for the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system and ship on October 25.
Namco will support this pre-order program with a full range of in-store point of purchase materials including posters and standees at participating locations. Additionally, Namco is the Vendor of the Month at Electronics Boutique during the month of October, and the SOULCALIBUR III pre-order campaign will be a prominent element of this retailer program.
In SOULCALIBUR III, several new play modes and three original characters have been added for players to experience. New characters Tira, Zasalamel and Setsuka each bring their own unique fighting styles and weaponry, while their personal histories enrich the series' storied narrative. Players can customize their own fighter in the detailed Character Creation mode, choosing from a vast selection of weapons, fighting styles, clothing and accessories to create a truly original character. Also, for the first time ever, players can experience the series' trademark one-on-one fighting with a real-time strategy twist in Chronicles of the Sword mode, as players direct a unit from a top-down view and engage their enemies in map battles as well as the traditional head-to-head stage battles. For gamers who choose to experience SOULCALIBUR III with a friend, the game includes several new VS. modes for nearly endless competitive multiplayer fighting.
About Namco Hometek Inc.
Namco Hometek Inc. is the U.S. consumer division of Namco Limited, a Tokyo-based world leader in the high-tech entertainment industry. Based in Santa Clara, CA, Namco Hometek Inc. is an award-winning video games publisher for next generation game consoles. Namco has created some of the industry's greatest video game franchises: Tekken®, SOULCALIBUR®, Dead to Rights®, Pac-Man WorldTM, Ridge Racer®, Time Crisis® and ACECOMBATTM. For more information about Namco and its products log onto www.namco.com.
TEKKEN®, SOULCALIBUR®, PAC-MAN WORLDTM, PAC-MAN®, Ridge Racer®, Time Crisis® and ACECOMBATTM are trademarks or registered trademarks of Namco Limited in the United States and/or other countries. Dead to RightsTM is a trademark or registered trademark of Namco Hometek Inc. in the United States and/or other countries.
SOULCALIBUR®III&®1995 1998 2002 2003 2005 NAMCO LTD., ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
"PlayStation" and the "PS" Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.
Contacts for Namco Hometek Inc.:
Kit Ellis
Kohnke Communications
415-777-4000
kit@kohnkecomm.com
-OR-
Kristin Calcagno
Namco Hometek Inc.
408-235-2132
kcalcagno@namco.com