Tecmo And Xbox Live Announce Tomonobu Itagaki, Legendary Creator Of The Dead Or Alive Series, As Surprise DOAU Mystery Gamer For Dead Or Alive Ultimate Tournament
DOA fans will have a chance to beat their idol at his own game as the controversial head of Team Ninja takes on the role of the DOAU Mystery Gamer for Sunday night’s session
Torrance, Calif. - March 3, 2005 - Tecmo® and XboxTM Live revealed today that Tecmo's popular and sometimes controversial head of Team Ninja and creator of the Dead or Alive® series, Tomonobu Itagaki, will participate in "The Dead or Alive Ultimate Mystery Gamer Competition" by taking on the role of the elusive DOAU Mystery Gamer for this Sunday's session of the tournament. While the DOAU Mystery Gamer is usually kept a secret from the gaming public, Tecmo and Xbox Live, who up to this point had only given away that the DOAU Mystery Gamers were members from Team Ninja, felt that letting the cat out of the bag would allow more DOA fans to experience the chance of a lifetime challenge to play and possibly beat Itagaki at his own game.
The DOAU Mystery Gamer session with Itagaki will be held this Sunday, March 6, 2005 from 10 p.m. to 11p.m. PST through Xbox Live. Whether Itagaki will be the DOAU Mystery Gamer more than once remains a mystery at this time but stay tuned for more announcements from Tecmo and Xbox Live on "The Dead or Alive Ultimate Mystery Gamer Competition" as the action packed first round continues though the month of March.
For the official schedule and rules for the first round of the US and Canadian* regional online tournament, entitled "The Dead or Alive Ultimate Mystery Gamer Competition" go to http://www.xbox.com/en-us/deadoraliveultimate/tournament.htm
About The Dead or Alive Ultimate Mystery Gamer Competition
The first round of the U.S. and Canadian tournament, entitled "The Dead or Alive Ultimate Mystery Gamer Competition," allows DOAU fighting fans from both countries a chance of a lifetime to fight against one of the creators of the game from Tecmo's highly esteemed Team Ninja development group. For one month, participants will be able to show off their fighting skills and prove their worth by logging into designated DOAU Mystery Gamer sessions through Xbox Live. Once there, they will receive only one chance to play and beat the DOAU Mystery Gamer in order to qualify for the finals round of the tournament. Designated dates and times for the DOAU Mystery Gamer sessions are listed on the official Xbox® website at http://www.xbox.com/en-us/deadoraliveultimate/tournament.htm later this week. Other regions will follow suit with their own versions for the first round of competition, details on other region's tournaments will be announced in the upcoming weeks from Microsoft.
Contestants who beat the DOAU Mystery Gamer will move on to the finals round of the tournament where they will have a chance to fight against each other through Xbox Live in a fast and furious face-off using a random bracket format to decide the best of the best from US and Canada. The top two winners from this round, along with the 6 other regional winners from around the world, will win a "Chance in a Lifetime" prize package to the 2005 Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, California. For more information on prizing and the official tournament rules go to www.xbox.com
About Dead or Alive Ultimate
The latest installment in the multi-million selling Dead or Alive® fighting series is packed with a punch as it boasts unbelievable new graphics, staggering new moves and combo attacks, new multi-tiered and fully interactive environments, brand-new unlockable costumes and secret characters, an in-depth story line, unique 2-disc set packaging with inclusion of collectible trading cards, and a behind the scenes look at Team Ninja and the making of Dead or Alive Ultimate. True to its roots, the famous DOA girls will also be back in action and sexier than ever in the most scantily clad and outrageous outfits to date in the fighting series.
Topping that all off is the revolutionary new online capabilities in the game made available through Xbox LiveTM. With six different online modes to choose from including Winner-Stays, Tournament, Team Battle, Survival, Loser-Stays, and Kumite Battle, and all using the highly anticipated online feature, "Virtual Arcade", where 8 players are able to participate in a fighting session at one time, Dead or Alive Ultimate is the ultimate 3-D online fighting game this fall. Players from across the nation will be able to play each other using all six of these modes and experience smooth online game play whether they are playing their friend down the street or across the country.
About Tecmo, Inc.
Tecmo, Inc., located in Torrance, California, is a whole subsidiary of Tecmo, LTD in Tokyo, Japan and is a leader in the interactive entertainment industry, and now the wireless entertainment industry with its newest division Tecmo Mobile. Tecmo develops and publishes video games and content on wireless platforms and next-generation consoles. Tecmo has gained worldwide recognition with product lines such as the brand new Tecmo Bowl® for mobile carriers, and award-winning franchises including Ninja Gaiden ®, Dead or Alive®, Fatal Frame®, Monster Rancher®, and Gallop Racer®.
About Xbox
Xbox® (http://www.xbox.com) is the video game system from Microsoft that brings people together for the most exhilarating game and entertainment experiences. Xbox delivers an expansive collection of breakthrough games, powerful hardware and the unified Xbox Live online service. The new tagline, "it's good to play together," captures the spirit of Xbox as the social hub of the new digital entertainment lifestyle. Xbox is now available in North America, Asia, Europe and Australia.
About Xbox Live
Xbox LiveTM, which launched in the United States Nov. 15, 2002, allows gamers to play multiplayer Xbox games with other gamers everywhere via a broadband connection. With a built-in hard drive and Ethernet port, the Xbox console is the only video game system built from the ground up for online gaming, negating the need to buy additional, costly peripherals or upgrades. Xbox Live enables gamers to easily find their friends; talk to other players during game play through the Xbox Communicator headset; download current statistics, new levels and characters to their Xbox hard drive; and play online-all exclusive features to Xbox Live.
Xbox is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.
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