August 14, 2006 - She may not have lived up to expectations on the US music and academic scenes, but Utada Hikaru can hold her own at a game of Tetris. Taking part in Nintendo Japan's "Face off Against Utada Hikaru in Tetris" event this past weekend at the Tokyo International Form, the popular Japanese singer proved that she wasn't just smiling pretty for the camera during Nintendo's early DS promotional campaign; this girl's a gamer!
Utada faced off against 30 lucky gamers who'd won a drawing held via Nintendo's Club Nintendo awards program. Here's a match by match summary as reported by Famitsu.com:
Round 1: Lost to a girl
Round 2: Lost to a girl
Round 3: Defeated an elementary school girl handily
Round 4: Defeated a young boy in 1 minute 40 seconds
Round 5: Narrowly defeated a guy
Round 6: Defeated a girl
Round 7: Defeated a girl, shouting "I'm not going to lose anymore!"
Round 8: Defeated a guy
Round 9: Defeated a girl
Round 10: Defeated a guy
Round 11: Defeated a guyin 21 seconds
Round 12: Defeated a guyin 21 seconds
Round 13: Lost to a guy, ending her 10 match streak
Round 14: Defeated a girl
Round 15: Following a short break, defeated a guy
Round 16: Defeated a girl in 27 seconds
Round 17: Defeated a guy in 1 minute 8 seconds
Round 18: Easily defeated a girl
Round 19: Defeated a guy in 30 seconds
Round 20: Defeated a girl following a 2 minute 44 second marathon
Round 21: Defeated a guy in 25 seconds
Round 22: Defeated a girl
Round 23: Defeated a guy
Round 24: Defeated a guy in 30 seconds
Round 25: Defeated a guy in 27 seconds
Round 26: Defeated a guy
Round 27: Defeated a guy in 38 seconds
Prior to the tournament, Utada had stated to the crowd, "I've been playing Tetris every day since I was five." She's actually known for her ability at the game, and while she had a rough start, her overwhelming record in the first twenty-seven matches proved that she's more than just talk. But would she be able to hold her own against the top three players?
As a warmup to the final three rounds, Nintendo brought out two of its own representatives for an exhibition match with Utada. Despite her insistence on using "Utada Rules," where the first player to three wins gets the crown, Utada ended up losing to the first exhibition match 1 to 3. She got back into gear for the second round, though, topping her opponent 3 to 2.
Utada was more in tune for the main event, her match with the top three players. With her defeat of two of these players and her loss to one, the final score for the day was Utada 26, the competition 4.
Not bad for someone who's who's now married and is a likely candidate for future MILFdom.
http://ds.ign.com/articles/725/725433p1.html
http://watch.impress.co.jp/game/docs/20060812/nin.htm
