This year’s $1 Million Perfect Game Challenge returns for the third consecutive year, bringing new levels of thrills and intensity by staging a final eight-person live tournament to crown the new $1 Million champion.

Beginning on Major League Baseball’s Opening Day, April 4, 2012, gamers can begin their quest for perfection and compete for one of eight spots in the final live tournament. The finalists will be determined by a dynamic leaderboard that ranks the top perfect games thrown. Gamers can repeatedly attempt to improve their position on the leaderboard through the end of April.

As an added bonus, the submission process has been simplified. For the first time in the Perfect Game Challenge’s three-year history, competitors will not be required to submit video recordings of their perfect games. To participate, players will simply compete in Major League Baseball 2K12’s Perfect Game Challenge mode and submit a unique code upon completion of a perfect game.

“Winning $1 Million for being the first to pitch a perfect game in Major League Baseball 2K11 was an unreal experience,” said Brian Kingrey, who won the contest in 2011 using Roy Halladay of the Philadelphia Phillies. “I can’t wait to watch the competition unfold and see who will join me and Major League Baseball 2K10 winner, Wade McGilberry, in what’s becoming the coolest fraternity in sports gaming. We like to call it ‘The Perfect Club.’”

“With the Perfect Game Challenge firmly entrenched in the culture of sports gaming, we’re thrilled to introduce several new twists that can only take the contest to the next level of competitive excitement and open it up to more people,” said Jason Argent, vice president of marketing at 2K Sports. “The contest has been incredibly popular the past two years, but there’s always room for improvement. We listened to user feedback and made participation more fun and accessible than ever before.”