Sony Online Entertainment Delivers the EverQuest®: Hero's Call Game For QUALCOMM's BREW™ Platform
- EverQuest to Make Mobile Phone Debut on BREW-enabled Handsets -
PRNewswire
SAN DIEGO
12/02/2002
QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM), pioneer and world leader of Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) digital wireless technology and Sony Online Entertainment Inc. (SOE), a worldwide leader in massively multiplayer online gaming, today announced that a version of EverQuest®, one of the largest and most popular online fantasy adventure games, will make its mobile phone debut on handsets featuring QUALCOMM's Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless™ (BREW™) platform. EverQuest: Hero's Call will offer potential heroes the ability to use their mobile phones to embark on a dangerous journey through 32 dungeons, with access to more than 120 spells and a countless array of weaponry that will be familiar to players of the original EverQuest. The adventure is anticipated to begin on select BREW-enabled phones in January 2003. "EverQuest: Hero's Call will deliver an exciting, single-player fantasy adventure set in the mythical world of EverQuest," said Bart Rothwell, director of wireless gaming for Sony Online Entertainment. "The BREW platform allowed us to create a rich game environment for the mobile phone that will please our diehard community of EverQuest players. We are also excited about the total package BREW provides -- giving us a business solution that allows us to bring our popular games to a new segment of the market and to monetize that content."
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20011203/LAM002 )
"The development team that created Sony Online Entertainment's EverQuest: Hero's Call for wireless handsets has set an important precedent in bringing rich and compelling content to mobile consumers," said Gina Lombardi, senior vice president of marketing and product management, QUALCOMM Internet Services. "Sony Online Entertainment is taking advantage of the flexibility and wide range of capabilities the BREW platform provides to give consumers access to non-stop action and adventure, anytime, anywhere."
Deployments of the BREW solution continue as carriers throughout the world join Verizon Wireless and ALLTEL in the United States, KTF in South Korea and KDDI in Japan in commercializing BREW-based services. U.S. Cellular has launched a BREW user trial and China Unicom announced its plans to launch BREW-based services in China. Twenty-nine BREW-enabled handsets are already available to consumers worldwide, and 30 device manufacturers have indicated their interest in the BREW platform.
QUALCOMM's BREW platform is a thin application execution environment that provides an open, standard platform for wireless devices. The BREW platform is part of a complete, end-to-end solution for wireless applications development, device configuration, application distribution, and billing and payment. The complete BREW solution includes the BREW SDK™ (software development kit) for developers, the BREW applications platform and porting tools for device manufacturers, and the BREW Distribution System (BDS) that is controlled and managed by carriers -- enabling them to easily get applications from developers to market and coordinate the billing and payment process. Carriers' BREW-based services will enable consumers to customize their handsets by downloading applications over the air from a carrier's application download server. The BREW platform is a product of QIS, a division within the QUALCOMM Wireless & Internet (QWI) Group of QUALCOMM Incorporated.
About EverQuest
EverQuest, developed and published by Sony Online Entertainment Inc., launched in 1999 and has since become a gaming and cultural phenomenon. Continuing to grow with award-winning expansions The Ruins of Kunark®, The Scars of Velious®, The Shadows of Luclin™ and The Planes of Power™, EverQuest proves to be the largest 3D fantasy world ever created online. During peak periods, more than 100,000 simultaneous adventurers have explored the fully detailed fantasy world of Norrath filled with dragons, knights, wizards and more. The active global EverQuest subscriber base is comprised of players from 40 different countries including the U.S., England, Canada, Japan, China, Taiwan, Korea, Germany, France, Italy and Australia.
About Sony Online Entertainment
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® ( 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™.
QUALCOMM Incorporated ( www.qualcomm.com ) is a leader in developing and delivering innovative digital wireless communications products and services based on the Company's CDMA digital technology. Headquartered in San Diego, Calif., QUALCOMM is included in the S&P 500 Index and traded on The Nasdaq Stock Market® under the ticker symbol QCOM.
Except for the historical information contained herein, this news release contains forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties, including the Company's ability to successfully design and have manufactured significant quantities of CDMA components on a timely and profitable basis, the extent and speed to which CDMA is deployed and the BREW solution is adopted, change in economic conditions of the various markets the Company serves, as well as the other risks detailed from time to time in the Company's SEC reports, including the report on Form 10-K for the year ended September 30, 2002, and most recent Form 10-Q.
QUALCOMM is a registered trademark of QUALCOMM Incorporated. BREW is a trademark of QUALCOMM Incorporated. EverQuest is a registered trademark of Sony Online Entertainment. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owner.
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SOURCE: Sony Online Entertainment Inc.; QUALCOMM Incorporated
CONTACT: Christy Fritts, Senior Public Relations Manager of Sony Online
Entertainment Inc., +1-858-577-3295, cfritts@soe.sony.com ; or Michele Bakic,
QUALCOMM Internet Services, +1-858-651-4017, fax +1-858-845-1254,
mbakic@qualcomm.com , or Patty Goodwin, Corporate Public Relations,
+1-858-651-4127, fax +1-858-651-5873, pgoodwin@qualcomm.com , or Julie
Cunningham, Investor Relations, +1-858-658-4224, fax +1-858-651-9303,
jcunningham@qualcomm.com , all of QUALCOMM Incorporated