Student wins free trip to Tokyo

As a grand-prize winner in a contest sponsored by Tecmo, Inc., senior Clint Trice won an all-expense paid trip to Tokyo. Tecmo, Inc., a game company, hosted the contest in July for its Dreamcast title "Dead or Alive 2," a martial arts video game, along with Babbage's Etc. and gamestop.com. \nThe contest was posted on gamestop.com and entrants had to submit general information about themselves. Brian Iannessa, public relations representative for Tecmo, Inc., said there were around 30,000 entries. \nThe trip included round-trip air fare, $1,000 in spending money, hotel accommodations, admission to a Tecmo game show and a VIP tour of Tecmo's headquarters.\n"This is a dream come true for a hard-core gamer," Iannessa said. "They will get to meet the game developers."\nIannessa said the game stop is where companies showcase all the games that are going to be debuting in retail stores, as well as show some of their new and current products such as new hardware and PlayStation 2.\nHe said Temco wanted to do the contest to keep the public interested in them and "Dead or Alive 2."\n"It was a way to keep people involved and excited about the game as well as to keep the Tecmo name alive," Iannessa said.\nTrice will leave today for Tokyo and return to Bloomington Wednesday. He found out about the contest because he is a member of the site.\n"I figured I would just try it and see what happens," Trice said. "I couldn't believe it when I won, because I haven't won anything before and I have never been to Japan."\nTrice is a fine arts computer graphics major and is interested in games not only as a hobby, but as a possible career.\n"I have been playing video games for a while," he said. "I hope to get in the industry and do arts for them. This will be a real opportunity for me to see how games are made."\nHe was allowed to bring one guest with him, and he chose to bring his roommate Chris Rice, a first year grad student in the MIME program.\n"I am just a tag-a-long who got lucky," Rice said. "I am just excited to play the games and the working models of how they are supposed to be when they are released. Plus, I hope to pick up some games while I am there, because Japanese games are interesting … It will be fascinating to go to Tokyo"