TECMO BECOMES FIRST COMPANY IN E3 HISTORY TO BE UNPLUGGED BY SHOW MANAGEMENT
 

Show management pull the plug after large crowds prove too big to handle during Dead Or Alive stage show and fire marshal threatens to shut down entire West Hall

LOS ANGELES, Calif., May 16, 2003—The booth of Videogame publisher Tecmo®, who caused quite a stir earlier this year with the launch of the sexy Dead Or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball™, was dramatically shut down during the performance of the show-stopping stage show they put together to promote the launch of the new Dead Or Alive Online™. The show, which ran twice daily during this years’ Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, featured the famous Dead Or Alive girls in a variety of the sexy costumes taken from each of the games in the series, all the way up to the extremely popular bikini finale.

Crowds had progressively swelled at each showing, to the point in the final show on Friday where crowds had grown so large that fire marshals issued a citation to the show management. In an effort to control the situation, the management had to pull security from other parts of the show, a move that proved futile as the Tecmo event progressed and word spread throughout the conference floor. As a consequence of moving all security resources from other areas, the fire marshals threatened to close the entire West Hall of the show. Finally, as crowds threatened to grow out of control, spilling over into other booths, the management was finally forced to shut down all power at the Tecmo booth.

“This appears to be a case of being punished for being too popular.  I’d like to apologize to the audience whose show was abruptly interrupted. ” said John Inada, General Manager of Tecmo. “Of course we understand that the fire marshals have a job to do.  Despite the citation, we felt that everybody was well behaved and the safety of our crowed was never compromised.”

A second complaint by the show management was the racy content of the show, where the sexy girls of the game whipped the crowd into a frenzy with their catwalk display. The girls also gave out signed volleyballs to their fans, which each of the girls kissed before passing them into the crowd.

“I’ve been told that this was the first time in E3 history that a company had their electricity shut off,” Inada said.  “We are in the entertainment business, and we have an obligation to our fans to entertain. We have no apologies for doing our job too well.” 

About Tecmo, Inc.

Tecmo, Inc. (http://www.tecmoinc.com/) is well known for its hit series Dead or Alive®.  The most recent version, Dead or Alive® Xtreme Beach Volleyball is available on Xbox.  Other notable classics include the million-selling series Ninja Gaiden® and Tecmo Bowl®.  Tecmo also publishes the hit series Monster Rancher® and Gallop Racer®. For more information on Tecmo and its latest games, check out its official website at www.tecmoinc.com 

About Xbox
Xbox (http://www.xbox.com/) is Microsoft’s future-generation video game system that delivers the most powerful games experiences ever.  Xbox empowers game artists by giving them the technology to fulfill their creative visions as never before, creating games that blur the lines between fantasy and reality. Xbox is now available in the continents of North America, Europe, Asia and Australia.

Xbox is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.

del.icio.us | Digg This | Glink It

---