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Utada Hikaru beguiles Tetris foes

  • By Walt Wyman, GameSpot
  • Posted Aug 14, 2006 4:26 pm PT

Japanese pop star vanquishes 26 of 30 opponents playing Nintendo's puzzler Tetris DS at a promo event over the weekend.

Utada Hikaru, the Japanese pop star best known to gamers for her songs from the Kingdom Hearts franchise, trumped 26 of 30 Tetris challengers in a Nintendo-sponsored event over the weekend in Japan.

J-pop chanteuse Utada Hikaru.

J-pop chanteuse Utada Hikaru.

Nintendo hosted an event called The Tetris Battle at the Tokyo International Forum on Saturday, according to Japanese Web site ITmedia. Members of the Club Nintendo fan club who won a Nintendo promotional contest each challenged the Japanese pop icon in a round of Tetris DS.

Utada--a self-proclaimed Tetris aficionado since the age of 5--lost her first two games, but she rebounded, winning 26 of her next 28 bouts. She also defeated a Nintendo developer in an exhibition match. The 23-year-old singer blamed the unfamiliar Nintendo DS system she used at the event for her slow start. Before her winning streak began, a shocked Utada reportedly exclaimed, "Are you serious?... This is impossible!"

Besides Tetris, Utada has other ties to video games. She contributed the single "Easy Breezy" for the first Nintendo DS advertising campaign in Japan and sang the theme songs "Simple and Clean" and "Passion" for Square Enix's action role-players Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II, respectively.

136 Comments

  • mavs_dirk41

    Posted Sep 13, 2008 4:21 am GMT

    shes divorced

  • 15385bic

    Posted Mar 17, 2008 3:48 am GMT

    lol - to the guys - she's married - but yeah i love her songs - my favourite is "first love". and a gal that loves gaming? ^_^ - yep - she's awesome

  • V-Nine

    Posted Feb 24, 2008 11:22 am GMT

    ... has anyone listened to the songs backwards? The results are most convincing.

  • CitizenOne

    Posted Jul 20, 2007 11:12 am GMT

    I love teh hikki! For those wanting to see the video coverage of this, see my video section.

  • helluvagood

    Posted Jan 31, 2007 4:36 pm GMT

    utada is teh ownage

  • strawberryheart

    Posted Jan 6, 2007 8:50 pm GMT

    This woman is possibly the worlds greatest singer. And now....Tetris player too....who would have guessed. Her songs uplift and sooth the very soul. God Bless you Utada!!!!

  • Coone-baby

    Posted Jan 4, 2007 6:42 am GMT

    God, I love her!!!!!!!!!!

  • titiembe

    Posted Nov 16, 2006 6:47 pm GMT

    yeah i am a big fan. she can pawn in tetris i watched the entire thing on internet god that was awesome. and my fav games and songs are kingdom hearts and the simple and clean/sanctuary. she's awesome still!!!

  • cocomacoco

    Posted Sep 24, 2006 2:13 pm GMT

    Utada hikaru's best is Automatic, i never guessed she was good at tetris though, if you want to know i'm a true fan, i happen to have 2 dvds of her and a Cd with her best singles, she rocks, like Fly Me to the Moon, wow/!

  • flurryofdancing

    Posted Sep 8, 2006 3:57 pm GMT

    go utada!

  • Versus_XIII

    Posted Aug 26, 2006 8:50 am GMT

    Way to go!

  • hvnscld77

    Posted Aug 24, 2006 10:46 am GMT

    lol wow impressive

  • VitoMysterio619

    Posted Aug 22, 2006 9:09 pm GMT

    woot damn that girl is good at tetris

  • littletimmy81

    Posted Aug 22, 2006 4:23 pm GMT

    good for her, she shows japanese pop stars that the best they can get out of their lives is beating some horny nerds at a tetris fiesta and i'm sure that doesnt affect her carrear what so ever (that was sarcasm for all you stupid people out there)

  • rect0o

    Posted Aug 19, 2006 1:53 am GMT

    She's like the perfect woman! =P

  • rect0o

    Posted Aug 19, 2006 1:52 am GMT

    She's like the perfect woman! =P

  • supergoku203

    Posted Aug 16, 2006 10:08 pm GMT

    OMG I love Utada and her new album Ultra Blue. Everybody I know has it.

  • annetjeeeeh

    Posted Aug 16, 2006 7:38 am GMT

    I love her songs and i think she's a great artist

  • Ponsardin

    Posted Aug 16, 2006 12:11 am GMT

    I say "Button", you say "Mashing"! Indeed, a Tetris aficionado...

  • ffmusicdj

    Posted Aug 15, 2006 10:18 pm GMT

    Aaahahaha That is awesome!

  • Kbs64

    Posted Aug 15, 2006 8:09 pm GMT

    Where can I get her Number? She's a total babe..lol. I didn't know she also say the Kingdom Heart songs.. She has an amazing voice :-) Power to my Asian People..haha

  • scubastevewilco

    Posted Aug 15, 2006 6:32 pm GMT

    lol

  • metroid_dragon

    Posted Aug 15, 2006 2:28 pm GMT

    very cute.

  • shockwave04

    Posted Aug 15, 2006 1:28 pm GMT

    I swear to god thats my flashlight lol

  • Digital-Devil

    Posted Aug 15, 2006 12:06 pm GMT

    In Japan she is one of the biggest singers, which is why it is easy to find her

  • ElementalFire

    Posted Aug 15, 2006 12:00 pm GMT

    Cute.

  • genfactor

    Posted Aug 15, 2006 10:33 am GMT

    After I bought her greatest hits collection I've been a fan. I'm glad that she is popular enough to find on itunes and allofmp3.com. The japanese version of the song is called Passions and the english version is called sanctuary, but yess they are the same song, just in different languages.

  • ZERO-UNIT

    Posted Aug 15, 2006 10:15 am GMT

    boring

  • Xeroshift

    Posted Aug 15, 2006 10:02 am GMT

    she good...

  • PelekotansDream

    Posted Aug 15, 2006 9:49 am GMT

    That sarcasm com? Just kidding.

    But I think its great also.

  • comthitnuong

    Posted Aug 15, 2006 9:25 am GMT

    thats great....

  • cesarotromundo

    Posted Aug 15, 2006 8:31 am GMT

    I love the song "Santuary" that song is the best... i even have it on my ipod.. thats the only song that i got from a soundtrack on my ipod!

  • Game-o_O

    Posted Aug 15, 2006 8:15 am GMT

    I have both versions of Simple & clean, are you sure the KHII was called Passion? I beat the game last night and that's not what it named it in the credits ;o. It was something like "Sanctuary" .

  • neohakusho

    Posted Aug 15, 2006 8:14 am GMT

    Utada's a great artist for gaming.. now becoming a gamer herself?! She's amazing

  • TintedChimes

    Posted Aug 15, 2006 6:51 am GMT

    Her songs use to be good but they're okay now, how is this news? I thought they were going to announce a new game endorsed by her or something.

  • SOLIDUS_SNAKE

    Posted Aug 15, 2006 6:26 am GMT

    thats hawt

  • venus577

    Posted Aug 15, 2006 5:11 am GMT

    Haha, another reason why Utada is currently my favorite artist.

  • sofy

    Posted Aug 15, 2006 5:10 am GMT

    やった！
    Go Go 宇多田 !

  • Jeansama

    Posted Aug 15, 2006 5:06 am GMT

    They have a video somewhere of her whooping someone... it was so awesome. XD

  • chrisdojo

    Posted Aug 15, 2006 4:48 am GMT

    power to the chix i suppose. i know a few girls that are good at tetris/dr. mario......guess lots of girls are 'puzzle gamers'

  • ewjim

    Posted Aug 15, 2006 3:51 am GMT

    Uta.......da...... SHE'S LOOKING GREAT!

  • SaitouZero

    Posted Aug 15, 2006 3:44 am GMT

    [This message was deleted at the request of the original poster]

  • SaitouZero

    Posted Aug 15, 2006 3:06 am GMT

    I recently added the music videos to "Hikari" and "Passion" (the songs from KH1&2) to my Gamespot videos so check em out if you wanna see her in action.

  • maddogtannen316

    Posted Aug 15, 2006 3:04 am GMT

    [This message was deleted at the request of a moderator or administrator]

  • thedarkoracle

    Posted Aug 15, 2006 2:51 am GMT

    Too bad she's married already. Well, that's another guy that must be wiped off the face of the planet, nyahahaha.

  • wenbin09

    Posted Aug 15, 2006 2:41 am GMT

    majority of japanese are good gamers.. no surprise..

  • Digital-Devil

    Posted Aug 15, 2006 2:38 am GMT

    Wow i am impressed
    I like First Love in english myself, Simple And Clean should have been on the CD

    Her English CD isn't BAD...BUT it is NOWHERE near her Jpop CD's

  • SaitouZero

    Posted Aug 15, 2006 2:33 am GMT

    Digital Devil: ...um I wasn't aiming that at you, I was talking to the guy who posted the article.

    I also wanna mention that she's pretty much american too, she was born and raised in New York. Her music career actually started in the US as Cubic U at the age of 13. It's after that didn't work out that she went back to Japan and tried to make it there (and succeed incredibly). In 2004 she tried to make a comeback in the US with the release of Exodus but Def Jam, the label publishing the CD wanted to make her into an R&B, hip-hop singer and even though some of the songs on the CD were produced by some really talented people like Timbaland it just didn't sound right. Also they didn't even put "Simple and Clean" on the CD which could easily have helped the album sell way more. She should just have translated a bunch of her jpop songs into english, it would have been way better for her. I would have loved an english version of "Sakura Drops".

  • Reetesh

    Posted Aug 15, 2006 2:22 am GMT

    A Celebrity and A GOOD gamer what a Nice combination and i LOOVE the KH songs.

  • Digital-Devil

    Posted Aug 15, 2006 1:51 am GMT

    Point i was tryin to make is, people say girls can't play
    Honestly yes they can, i dont see why people say they can't

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