September 23^rd, 2004 (12:00am) - Sammy Studios today announced that Iron Phoenix will support Xbox Live 3.0 when it releases in the first quarter of 2005. Iron Phoenix, the first-ever 16-player online fighting game, will incorporate features built into the latest iteration of Xbox Live that allow players to form teams as well as organize and host tournaments. These features are ideal for Iron Phoenix, a video game that combines squad-based play and strategies traditionally found in online first-person shooters with fighting game-style melee combat. Developed by InterServ International, Inc. exclusively for the Xbox, Iron Phoenix has an MRSP of $49.99 and is not yet rated.

"The game’s online multiplayer mode is designed to be team-oriented, very much like popular online FPS games, yet ’Iron Phoenix’ is a fighter at its heart," said Tim Hess, producer on "Iron Phoenix," Sammy Studios, Inc. "We know that ’Iron Phoenix’ is going to foster intense competition, and therefore we have always thought it essential to make performing tasks like creating clans and populating and hosting tournaments as easy as possible. Xbox Live 3.0 features facilitate this, letting players get to what matters most - experiencing 3D fighting on a battle scale with 15 other players."

Iron Phoenix will incorporate nearly all Xbox Live 3.0 features into its own online feature set. Xbox Live 3.0 offers team and messaging features that allow players to easily form clans and communicate among clan members. "Iron Phoenix" will allow players to form their clan and assign it a special gamer tag so that all members are automatically recognized. Clan members can then use Xbox Live 3.0 messaging features to send updates to existing teammates and even hold try-outs and interviews to qualify new members. Iron Phoenix will also support video messaging for those equipped with web cams. For competitions, Iron Phoenix will let clans organize and host tournaments for up to eight teams, with challengers and their statistics, as well as tournament results tracked through the Xbox Live service.