DOAU Mystery Gamer Contest

Tecmo announced a new DOAU tourney yesterday. This one puts a new twist on the Xbox Live Mystery Gamer.

-press release below-
TECMO AND XBOX LIVE TO HOST DEAD OR ALIVE ULTIMATE WORLDWIDE ONLINE TOURNAMENT
The ultimate online fighting game is now the focus for the ultimate online global tournament.

TORRANCE, Calif., February 15, 2005-Tecmo and Xbox” Live announced today their exciting plan to host a worldwide Dead or Alive Ultimate” (DOAU) online fighting tournament starting this month. The U.S. and Canadian neck of the tournament is slated to begin Monday, February 21, 2005 with round one of the tournament. The U.S. and Canadian tournament, entitled ?oThe DOAU 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 Mystery Gamer in order to qualify for round two of the tournament. Designated dates and times for the DOAU Mystery Gamer sessions will be listed on the official Xbox website at www.xbox.com 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.

?oThe ultimate online fighter will be used as the centerpiece for the ultimate worldwide online tournament,? John Inada, Tecmo’s General Manager, said. ?oThe game was designed to host tournaments of this sizeable nature and we plan to take full advantage of DOAU’s technologically advanced online capabilities and Xbox Live’s extraordinary online service to plan and execute this worldwide online tournament.?

The latest installment in the highly popular Dead or Alive fighting series, Dead or Alive Ultimate, which shipped last November only on the Xbox video game system from Microsoft, received high critical acclaim for its revolutionary online ?oVirtual Arcade? mode, a throwback to the old arcade days, this unique online mode allows players to watch other players fight while they await their turn to play. Tecmo and Xbox Live hope that participants in the Mystery Gamer sessions will not only play in the online sessions but will take part in this spectator mode to watch and cheer on others during round one.

Contestants who beat the Mystery Gamer will move on to round two 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 U.S. and Canada. The top two winners from this round, along with the 6 other regional winners from around the world, will win a ?oChance in a Lifetime? prize package to the 2005 Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, California. Details on the prizing and the official tournament rules will be announced and available on www.xbox.com in the upcoming weeks.

About Dead or Alive Ultimate
The latest installment in the 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” Live. 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, ?oVirtual 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.

Also available through Xbox Live will be a Dead or Alive World Wide Ranking Chart where the best of the best will be able to post their online scores and see where they rank against other players from around the world, earning bragging rights along the way. Those that master their DOA fighting skills will be represented as the best fighters on the planet through the online scoreboard.