E3 06: World Series of Poker: Tournament of Champions Impressions

LOS ANGELES--At its pre-E3 conference on Monday, Activision showed off its upcoming value-priced poker game for the first time. Currently scheduled for release this fall, World Series of Poker: Tournament of Champions is currently in development for the PC, the PlayStation 2, the PlayStation Portable, and the Xbox 360. We didn't have an opportunity to get our hands on the game on this occasion, but we learned plenty about it during the presentation.

Before you play World Series of Poker: Tournament of Champions with friends online, you might want to take advantage of the game's "hold 'em and fold 'em" video tutorial mode, which comes courtesy of champion poker player Chris "Jesus" Ferguson. The iconic Ferguson will also feature heavily in the story-driven single-player game, in which you'll start out as an amateur player taken under the seasoned professional's wing. You'll be able to use Digimask technology to put your face on your created character, and as you progress you'll unlock "poker tool" skills that let you check on the odds of making hands and let you track opponents' behavior stats during play.

When playing World Series of Poker: Tournament of Champions solo you'll come up against a number of recognizable professional players, and if you're a fan of the sport you might recognize not only their likenesses, but also their voices and their playing styles. We don't know exactly how many players will appear in the game at this point, but those that we saw during the presentation included Max Pescatori, Scott Fischman, Mark Seif, Minh Nguyen, and Jennifer Tilly.

Further information on World Series of Poker: Tournament of Champions is scarce at present, save for the fact that the game will purportedly support online multitable competitions for up to 21 players. We'll bring you more information on the game as soon as it becomes available.