The Netherlands take home Pac-Man Tournament Champion title
Unique Namco Tournament ends in defeat for UK finalist
The Grand Final of Namco's pan European i-mode tournament, held in central London on November 18th, has resulted in a win for the Netherlands, as finalists from Greece, Germany, France and the UK were steadily eliminated.
The culmination of several months of furious competition, which spanned five countries and included multiple carriers using NTT DoCoMo's i-mode mobile Internet service, the Namco Pac-Man Tournament 2005 was held at Namco Station in the heart of the UK's capital city.
The five finalists, who had successfully beaten the competition during three months of regional heats, were flown to London to battle it out for the ultimate accolade of being crowned Tournament Champion; walking away with a trophy and an authentic 25th anniversary Pac-Man arcade unit.
The first round, a sudden death session lasting just five minutes, saw the first casualty of the tournament as Germany was eliminated. The semi finals pitted France against the Netherlands and Greece against the UK, the results of which left UK representative Phil Sherriff facing off against Fazli Kandemir of the Netherlands.
The final round, a five minute gaming session where the highest score wins it all, saw the UK's hopes dashed, as Sherriff was beaten in the dying minutes. The final score was 54450 to 48770 in favour of the Netherlands.
Speaking to mobileindustry.biz, Jessica Gwyther, i-mode manager for Namco Europe's web and mobile division said: "The Namco Pac-Man Tournament is a unique event that involved the collaboration between five different countries across multiple i-mode carriers. We are delighted with the success of this year's tournament and look forward to offering many more innovative promotions and events in the future."
Namco's games, ringtones and mobile content are available on i-mode through its Pac-Man Arcade service. For a nominal subscription fee, gamers can access a wealth of regularly updated content featuring classic Namco games and characters ranging from Pac-Man through to Tekken. The service was recently made available through the UK's largest mobile phone operator, O2.