Ho! Ho! Ho! Santa Stops by Sony Online Entertainment Early to Deliver Presents to the Gamers on His List

Players will spend the holiday season in a virtual winter-wonderland surrounded by new adventures, gifts, mounts and holiday cheer

PRNewswire
SAN DIEGO
12/12/2007

Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE) is decking the halls this holiday season with in-game activities and festive themed events in many of its live titles. EverQuest® and EverQuest® II players will enjoy yet another year of the Frostfell celebration while the popular EverQuest online trading card game, Legends of Norrath™, will start a new tradition. Not to be outshone by its Norrathian counterpart, Vanguard: Saga of Heroes™ is celebrating the holiday season in Telon, and in a galaxy far, far away; Star Wars Galaxies™ players will enjoy the spectacular experience of Wookiee Life Day.

"This holiday season our development teams have donned their elf outfits and really gotten into the holiday spirit by creating some of the most vibrant virtual holiday content ever," said Russell Shanks, COO and Vice President, Sony Online Entertainment. "It's a joy for us to provide players with reindeer mounts, snowball fights and even a gift-giving tree, all of which can be found throughout these extravagantly decorated worlds."

  Holiday Game Play Features:

  EverQuest

Winter brings many joyful celebrations to locations around the globe, and the world of Norrath is no exception. This year's Frostfell promises festive decor and special events within EverQuest. Starting mid-December, EverQuest players will face new challenges as the holidays approach, along with a very special rescue. It appears that someone has been kidnapping the Snowdwarves of Norrath, Santug's toy-making helpers. Without these helpers, Santug cannot make his deliveries to all good Norrathian girls and boys, preventing the festival of Frostfell. Without Frostfell, winter will never end and Norrath will be trapped in an endless season of cold and darkness! Zoog in Great Divide is seeking help to discover where Santug's helpers have been taken, free them, and ultimately face the one who is behind this sinister plot.

EverQuest II

Frostfell is set to begin on December 12th in EverQuest II and boasts new recipes, decorations and quests to be discovered by curious residents. Players will encounter gift-giving Gigglegibber within Freeport, Qeynos, Kelethin, Neriak and Gorowyn handing out daily gifts to all. Players will be able to enter the Frostfell zone via closets within Freeport, Qeynos, Kelethin, Neriak and Gorowyn. Within each zone, residents will find holiday themed fun for tradeskillers and quest goers alike. There will be something new for everyone, as well as the return of some previous favorites!

Legends of Norrath

This holiday season Legends of Norrath players will be able to save the jolliest of Norrath denizens, Santug Claugg, from the clutches of the cold-hearted Grinnuch. Starting December 21, players will be overcome with the holiday spirit thanks to a special Legends of Norrath holiday story, featuring The Grinnuch and his army of miscreants as they try to ruin Frostfell for all the girls and boys of Norrath. Each time you defeat The Grinnuch in the "Saving Santug" scenario with a new deck archetype, you will free Santug and earn a special Santug Claugg promotional card!

Star Wars Galaxies

Citizens of Star Wars Galaxies will have even more to enjoy this year as they celebrate Wookiee Life Day across the galaxy in mid-December. Major cities in the galaxy will light up with the dazzling glow of the gigantic Wroshyr Tree, which offers gifts to all who visit it! This year's celebration will feature an incredible visual spectacle centered on the tree itself with its dazzling display of light effects and beautiful holiday melodies performed by the Figrin D'an band to accompany this phenomenal display. Gifts galore will bring the festive air of this fantastic holiday to each and every citizen.

Vanguard: Saga of Heroes

This year, the holidays will bring great joy to the heroes of Telon, who will be richly rewarded for their brave deeds and loyal service throughout the year. The spectacular rewards, kicking off mid-month, include a variety of special items such as a new Reindeer mount which, for a limited time, gains the magical ability to fly. To brighten everyone's day, or night rather, certain cities will be decorated with holiday lights bringing the joy of the holidays to every citizen. If players have been good the past year, they might even find themselves presented with gifts when near such decorations. Finally, just wandering around the countryside this holiday will be rewarding as heroic helpers, also known as Customer Service Reps, will be dropping holiday-themed items such as cookies that will offer special buffs and bonuses.

Pirates Constructible Strategy Game™ Online

This holiday season Pirates Constructible Strategy Game Online players will be able to deck their opponent's halls with the mighty Zeus! A special digital promotional ship, the Zeus, and its captain, King Blackheart, will be gifted with each purchase of ten Pirates digital game packs from the Pirates CSG Online Store between December 21, 2007 and January 7, 2008. The Zeus is a 10-masted Chinese junk ship that has been captured by King Blackheart to use in his nefarious schemes. If a player's Zeus wins a boarding roll you can take as much treasure as you want from your opponent's ship. King Blackheart gives gifts just like Santa Claus! Blackheart can give the Zeus or any ship in your fleet an extra action. That means you can fire all ten of the Zeus' cannons twice! Not many fleets can withstand that kind of pounding.

  For more information on the holiday events visit http://www.station.com/

  About Sony Online Entertainment

Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE) is a recognized worldwide leader in massively multiplayer online games, with hundreds of thousands of subscribers around the globe. SOE creates, develops and provides compelling entertainment for the personal computer, online, game console and wireless markets. Known for its blockbuster franchises and hit titles including EverQuest®, EverQuest® II, Champions of Norrath®, Untold Legends™, and PlanetSide®, as well as for developing Star Wars Galaxies™, SOE continues to redefine the business of online gaming and the creation of active player communities while introducing new genres on various entertainment platforms. Headquartered in San Diego, CA, with additional development studios in Austin, TX, Seattle, WA, Denver, CO, Los Angeles, CA and Taiwan, SOE has an array of cutting-edge games in development. SOE is owned by Sony Pictures Digital and Sony Computer Entertainment America.

SOE, the SOE logo, EverQuest and PlanetSide are registered trademarks of Sony Online Entertainment LLC. Untold Legends and Legends of Norrath are trademarks of Sony Online Entertainment LLC. All other trademarks and trade names are properties of their respective owners.

About LucasArts

LucasArts, a Lucasfilm Ltd. company, is a leading developer and publisher of interactive entertainment software worldwide for video game console systems, computers and the Internet. Based in San Francisco, Calif., as well as on the Internet at http://www.lucasarts.com/, LucasArts was created in 1982 by George Lucas to provide an interactive element to his vision of a state-of-the-art, multifaceted entertainment company.

Star Wars Galaxies: © 2002-2007 Lucasfilm Entertainment Company Ltd. or Lucasfilm Ltd. & ® or TM as indicated. LucasArts, the LucasArts logo, STAR WARS and related properties are trademarks in the United States and/or in other countries of Lucasfilm Ltd. and/or its affiliates. STAR WARS GALAXIES is a trademark of Lucasfilm Entertainment Company Ltd.

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SOURCE: Sony Online Entertainment

CONTACT: Katie Hanson, +1-858-577-3167, khanson@soe.sony.com, or Taina
Rodriguez, +1-858-577-3419, trodriguez@soe.sony.com, both of Sony Online
Entertainment

Web site: http://www.station.com/
http://www.lucasarts.com/