June 21^st, 2002 (12:00am) - Konami of America Inc., announced today that it is sponsoring the cutting-edge OP King of Skate (www.kingofskate.com) competition that seeks to award the world’s most innovative, talented skateboarder with a $25,000 cash prize. This winner-take-all contest will showcase skateboarding’s best athletes including Bob Burnquist, Tony Hawk, Danny Way, Geoff Rowley, Mike Valleley and Eric Koston, as they create, build and execute their own, nearly impossible skate tricks.

The OP King of Skate competition will be broadcast as a Pay-per-View event on June 28, 2002. The event will reach an even greater audience later in the year when it is re-broadcast on Fox Sports Net and released on DVD.

“The goal of the OP King of Skate is to create a successful pay-per-view skateboarding event featuring the sports best athletes. By using a television-friendly and never-before-seen format, we’ve created a show that is both highly credible to the core skateboarding audience and widely entertaining to the broader teen market,” said Jeremy Kove, of Munson Industries.

At the June 21st Los Angeles premiere of the pay-per-view event, Konami will showcase Evolution Skateboarding – its newest skateboarding videogame that features OP King of Skate competitor, Danny Way. Demonstration stations of the game will be at the premiere and will give guests a sneak-peek at one of the most unique and highly anticipated skateboarding games of 2002. Additionally, Evolution Skateboarding banners will be prominently displayed at the venue.

Coming to Sony PlayStation® 2 and Nintendo GameCube in Fall 2002, Evolution Skateboarding offers a revolutionary videogame experience by allowing gamers to grab air and perform over 70 death-defying skateboarding tricks. The game’s eight radical environments leave ordinary skate parks in the dust and the unique “Boss Skate ” mode – the first ever featured in a skateboarding game – require virtual skaters to use their decks as a weapon to skate against a boss character and unlock hidden areas!