TEKKEN® 6 RELEASE PARTY with TOURNAMENT

The TEKKEN® 6 release party with tournament at White Rabbit was intense! The event created a long line on Houston Street from the venue to around the corner. MC Aero cheerfully greeted the guests standing on line as they waited for the door to open at 8. The venue was quick to be filled with skilled TEKKEN competitors, casual gamers, and tournament spectators.

Two areas were set up for the attendees: The back featured two large projections for the tournament. Another area in the front featured a large projection and HDTV monitors for casual gamers. The bar between these two game play areas were for people who wished to enjoy the atmosphere of the Tekken party.

The tournament rules were single elimination with best three out of five rounds, just like the arcade machines in Japan. There were many different characters being used with expertise. Some of the more exciting matches included Feng, Bob, Anna Williams, King, Lei, Steve Fox, Lars and KUMA!

There were plenty of drama and disappointments as some favorites who were expected win were eliminated early. Another favorite made it to the semi finals only to disappoint by getting the boot. A number of new prospects emerged such as Keith ‘Breadman’ Watington using the new character Bob and Kendall ‘Glass’ Felix using Feng and Lars. One of the top Street Fighter IV players Andre ‘Twisted Jago’ Lambert entered the tournament only to disappoint as he was eliminated early.

DJ Seoul threw in diverse styles of music from Jungle DnB to DubStep to Glitch Hop to Electro. His selection kept the game event live with his club music approach. Aero made sure to keep the crowd entertained with his energetic MC skills.

The finals came down to Steve Palakis versus Shawn Swain. The stakes were raised when Steve made the bold declaration that he will win the tournament as Mokujin! Shawn was stunned and could only smile. With that the finals started with Shawn winning the first set with Bob 3-1. In the second set, Steve made sure he wasn’t going to be stopped as he overpowered Shawn’s Bob with a perfect match. He also put up two other good matches leading to his win of 3-1. In the final set, Steven opened up with a perfect win and a second win. Just when things looked like it was a wrap, Shawn challenged to tie up the series 2-2 with the final match being played in front a hyped up crowd. The match was close but Steve eventually powered through to win the championship. Both did well and out of good sport shook hands to end a good night of gaming.

*We apologize to those who weren’t 21+ to get into the venue. We are aware that many people waited for an hour+ to hop on an opportunity to get in. We really appreciate your passion and support for Tekken. We’ll be holding an all age event next time for you guys!

Thanks to CEX for their equipment support: