The King of Iron Fist Tournament will be raging on in 2013, this time with the fiercest weapon of them all: playing cards. Namco Bandai Games has just announced Tekken Card Tournament, a mobile/real world card game that is set to launch "in the next few weeks." Tekken and card gaming: a match made in... somewhere weird.
Unrolling in two different stages, Tekken Card Tournament will start as a free-to-play mobile and browser game which pits the players against each other in vicious (card) fights, a veritable flurry of (card) punches and (card) kicks causing grievous bodily (card) harm.
To play, you use a custom deck featuring a mix of Focus, Strike, and Block cards (at least some of which are named after classic Tekken moves. Dynamite Heel please?). There's also something called the "fusion system" that allows for unique card combinations. Then, later this year, players will be able to purchase real life booster packs that can then be played in person or scanned into the game for new characters and upgrades, and are even equipped with Augmented-Reality capabilities. Imagine, a little Mokujin just dancing around your desk. Dance, Mokujin, dance. With 190 proposed cards, you can stack your Tekken Card Tournament deck higher than Paul Phoenix's Kid 'n Play 'do.