Sony Online Entertainment Takes Everquest Phenomenon on the Road; SOE Partners With Top Companies to Promote EverQuest Across America

PRNewswire
SAN DIEGO
06/21/2002

Sony Online Entertainment Inc. (SOE), a worldwide leader in massively multiplayer online gaming, announced today that it will be bringing, EverQuest, the world's most popular online role-playing game, to the hometowns of millions of people in more than ten cities across the United States. Working with industry leaders including Intel, AT&T, Best Buy, NVIDIA® Corporation, Sony Electronics Inc., Altec Lansing, Prima Games and Computer Gaming World Magazine, the EQ Invasion Tour features a 26-foot custom-designed EverQuest-branded trailer equipped with 12 Sony VAIO® desktop PCs with the Intel® Pentium® 4 and NVIDIA GeForce4™ processor technologies offering consumers the ultimate PC gaming experience. Consumers will have the chance to test drive the game, talk to the people behind the EverQuest phenomenon and meet players in their local area. The tour will kick off on June 21st in San Diego, California and is expected to attract more than four million viewings during its four months on the road.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20011203/LAM002 )

"EverQuest is more than a computer game. It is an online community that stretches beyond traditional boundaries and barriers," said Scott McDaniel, vice president of marketing, Sony Online Entertainment. "What better way to convey this point then to take the game on the road to millions of potential players all over the country."

The EverQuest tour will stop in more than ten U.S. cities, visiting popular locations including county fairs, popular retail destinations and college campuses. In addition to providing a meeting place for current and future EverQuest fans, each destination will include Classic EverQuest game giveaways and other prizes including Altec Lansing speakers and audio players. Select locations will feature celebrities from the game and some of the original game designers themselves.

EverQuest continues to grow with top-selling expansions The Ruins of Kunark™, The Scars of Velious™, EverQuest: The Shadows of Luclin™ and the newest expansion pack that is due to ship this fall EverQuest: The Planes of Power. During peak periods, more than 98,000 adventurers and dragon slayers have explored the world of Norrath simultaneously. EverQuest currently has more than 430,000 subscribers. SOE recently launched Legends, a premium server offering EverQuest players additional features including player profiles and enhanced navigation tools.

For up-to-the-minute information and tour updates, please visit the official EQ Invasion Tour 2002 website at http://www.eqinvasion.com/ . Consumers can experience the EverQuest tour for themselves at any of the following locations:

      City, State                        Date
   San Diego, CA                      June 21, 26-30
   Long Beach, CA                     June 22, 23
   San Francisco (Bay Area), CA       July 3-6
   Seattle, WA                        July 10-14
   Hood River, OR                     July 17-18
   Portland, OR                       July 19
   Chicago, IL                        July 24-28
   Cleveland, OH                      July 31, August 1-4
   Minneapolis, MN                    August 7-8
   Eden Praire, MN                    August 9
   Philadelphia, PA                   August 14-19
   Baltimore, MD                      August 22-25
   New Jersey, NY                     August 28
   New York, NY                       August 29-31, Sept. 1
   New Haven, CT                      September 2
   Boston, MA                         September 5-7, 10, 13
   Cambridge, MA                      September 8-9, 12, 14

Sony Online Entertainment Inc. (SOE), the online gaming division of Sony Pictures Digital Entertainment, is a worldwide leader in massively multiplayer online gaming that creates, develops and provides online entertainment for the personal computer, console, wireless, and online markets. With more than 13 million registered users, SOE's award-winning website, The Station® ( http://www.station.com/ ) hosts a variety of entertaining games and player communities spanning numerous genres. In addition to blockbuster hits EverQuest® and Jeopardy! Online, SOE has an array of cutting-edge online games in development such as PlanetSide™, Star Wars® Galaxies™, EverQuest® II, and the world's premier online-only console game for the PlayStation®2, EverQuest® Online Adventures™.

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Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20011203/LAM002

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SOURCE: Sony Online Entertainment Inc.

CONTACT: Tamara Sanderson of Sony Online Entertainment Inc.,
+1-858-577-3362, tsanderson@soe.sony.com; or Kevin Larson of Access
Communications, +1-415-844-6219, klarson@accesspr.com, for Sony Online
Entertainment Inc.

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