Gamertell

To celebrate the release of its latest game, Soulcalibur IV, on July 29, 2008, Bandai Namco held a tournament at the Metreon’s Sony Playstation Store, located in San Francisco, CA. The tournament required no prerequisites and eligibility was based on one simple rule: first come, first serve.

While many of the initial registered fighters failed to commit, there were more than enough over-enthusiastic bodies present just hopping at the chance to show-off their skills in Soulcalibur IV, or lack thereof. All 32 participants were pitted against each other in tiered one-on-one elimination battles across several different gaming stations. The final five would go on to play their final matches on the 52” LCD TV that was housed in the Playstation Store grand theater.

In the end, only one would be the grand prize winner of a brand new 80GB Playstation 3 console. This particular PS3 was far from ordinary, though.

Flown all the way from Japan to personally autograph the grand prize and congratulate the winner was the director of Soulcalibur IV in the flesh, Katsutoshi Sasaki.

It turns out that most on-lookers and participants were unaware of this great presence watching until the end of the tournament of where he was finally and formally introduced. Otherwise, it’s almost certain that there would have been a mass riot of fans mauling this poor Japanese man to autograph anything a pen could stain. Since there certainly weren’t enough capable security guards on-site who could handle the crowd if they turned feral, the Bandai Namco marketers present that day made the right decision to remain hush-hush about their special visitor until the very end (where they quickly made their ninja-like exit amidst the flurry of fans drooling over the game being played on the big screen LCD).

Other notable prizes given away (all Soulcalibur IV related) during the tournament were copies of the PS3 version of the game, PS3 skins, t-shirts and lenticular cards attached to lanyards.

The mighty victor of this grand tournament in the end was none other than Bay Area local, Jeff Nguy.

Jeff won the final battles using Mitsurugi but, when asked who his favorite Soulcalibur character was, he stated that it has been Knightmare ever since the original Soulcalibur: “[Mitsurugi] is the most consistent...and his game play is straight-forward. There’s no need to use advanced moves, but you still get good rewards.”

It should be known that this event supposedly allowed no photography unless authorized by Bandai Namco personnel. Security became more and more strict as the event progressed and any other reporters whom were present were quickly scolded and forced to sheath their cameras. That being said, it can safely be stated that all of these pictures are exclusives so know that you saw them here first. Enjoy!

Site [Soulcalibur] Also Read [Gamertell]

NOTE: All photos ©2008 Janine Dong.

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