"Stake: Fortune Fighters signifies an exciting relationship with Microsoft and Xbox, one of the most popular and powerful game platforms on the market," said Joseph Morici, senior vice president, sales and marketing, Metro3D. "2003 has a lot in store for Metro3D as we look forward to a strong line up of Xbox titles to debut throughout the year for the game system."

Stake: Fortune Fighters is the ultimate third-person combat event where the wildest, most engaging, and dangerous of competitors reap a ton of cash every two years. It's Stake time again and everyone is ready for this year's match-up for which Stake competitors will receive riches and fame and commandthe respect of all who dare defeat him or her. With three main modes of play, single-player, one-to-four player Death Match and Team Death Match, the competition heats up as players fight for the ultimate honor.

Stake: Fortune Fighters players compete in single or multiplayer split-screen arena combat as one of eight awesome characters that come from all different parts of the world, each trying to win the coveted Stake tournament and bring fame to his or her homeland. These characters include: Yen Fan of the Great Crocodile Isle, and Yen Yen of the Ancient Buddha Passage; Void the Monk, a fighter whose Dragon Statue protects the world from evil winds; Barty Beart, head of the Merry Moon Circus who is touted for her tricky fiery magic and traps; Habba Kenji, a samurai warrior of the Water Garden; Pharo the Dancing Lance, a great spear warrior who must restore glory to the Ruins of Cursed Hand Temple with her command of the battle spear; Baron Hans,a knight with the power of the sword; and finally, Anglesite Obsidia, a nice giant of a forgotten race fighting for the survival of his people.

All eight characters are powered with tons of different attacks, defenses, magic powers, speed and special "anger" power levels, exclusive to each character. Players can also attack with interactive items including grenades, ice, gasses, hot oil, flaming statues, rocks, and more. Great Xbox-specific textures and effects, including 5,000 polygons per character, realistic real-time lighting and shadows, vertex and pixel shaders also enhance the game's look.

Metro3D's Stake: Fortune Fighters (Xbox) will hit store shelves on Monday, May 5th.