Registration for the online tournament broke records for having the highest number of registrants through Xbox.com for an Xbox Live online tournament to date. Round one of the tournament, which began on May 12th and ends on June 4th, has also seen major success with thousands of people competing and over 1,000 participants who have already posted their scores to the worldwide leader board after only two weeks of competition. With one week left in the first round, Tecmo and Xbox Live expect to have double that number post their scores by the end of the tournament.
"The Master Ninja Tournament has gone above and beyond our expectations and sets a good precedent for online games to come from Tecmo," John Inada, Tecmo¹s General Manager said. "With the successful launch of Ninja Gaiden came this huge community of Ninja Gaiden fans, the Master Ninja Tournament allows these gamers to show off their ninja skills and hours of hard work to other Ninja Gaiden fans around the world, thus enhancing their overall Ninja Gaiden experience."
Round one of the Master Ninja Tournament, open to all gamers who own Ninja Gaiden and have an Xbox Live account, is going on now through Friday, June 4th, 2004. This initial round allows participants to download The Live Key via Xbox Live to unlock the Master Ninja Tournament Worldwide Scoreboard. From there they must defeat the entire game on the normal difficulty setting, and then post their total Karma score to the leader board. They will then have their scores ranked against others who have posted. The top three winners of the first round will win a custom made wooden sword signed by the head creator of Ninja Gaiden, Itagaki-san, and will move onto the online regional playoffs happening in late July. The top 100 ranked contestants in Round One will win "Master Ninja" T-shirts, while the last 100 ranked players will win, "Ninja Dog" T-shirts. Those in between have a chance to win Ninja Gaiden wrist bands.
The second and third rounds will require gamers to download additional content, creating new challenges within Ninja Gaiden. Only the most skilled Ninjas will make it to the finals of the Master Ninja Tournament, to be held at an undisclosed European location. For more information on all rounds, dates, and prizes check out the official rules at www.masterninjatournament.com
The Ninja battle will expand globally as Europe, Asia and Japan host similar playoff rounds for the Master Ninja Tournament. Details on how to register in these areas are forthcoming.