Sony Online Entertainment Brings Online Fantasy Phenomenon, EverQuest, To Thousands of Eager PlayStation®2 Gamers

Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) Inc., a worldwide leader in massively multiplayer online gaming, announced that EverQuest® Online Adventures™, exclusively for the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system, hits retail stores nationwide today, ending months of anticipation for gamers awaiting this historic release. The launch of EverQuest Online Adventures marks the first time ever that North American PlayStation 2 owners can experience a persistent and vast living virtual world filled with thousands of other players from the "real" world. EverQuest Online Adventures includes a free 30-day trial and gives players what they've been looking for with non-stop action, the opportunity to explore an exciting new land, a world of fun and interesting people to meet and play with, quests, combat and more.

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

"EverQuest Online Adventures truly is the adventure of a lifetime, giving people the power to be who they want to be in an amazing fantasy world from the comfort of their couch," said John Smedley, president, Sony Online Entertainment. "This game reiterates our leadership in online gaming, as 430,000 subscribers to PC EverQuest can attest, and our commitment to creating high quality interactive entertainment that reaches new audiences."

EverQuest Online Adventures has a suggested retail price of $49.99, which includes a 30-day free trial to the game's online world, and all that it has to offer. Additionally, the game carries a monthly subscription fee of $9.99 per person for continuing access to the game world. Players can subscribe for additional months using a credit card, or by purchasing EverQuest Online Adventures Game Cards, which open the world of Norrath to PlayStation 2 owners that choose not to subscribe with a credit card.

About EverQuest Online Adventures

EverQuest Online Adventures gives you the power to unleash the unique adventurer within and personalize your in-game character from 9 races, 14 player character classes, and a number of hairstyles and facial characteristics. As you progress in the game completing challenging and thrilling quests, interacting with new friends, and discovering powerful items that you've only dreamed about, your character grows and develops as the world evolves. EverQuest Online Adventures also features:

   -- Action is always only a few steps away with fast and tactically rich
      combat with special abilities and spells for each character

   -- Thousands of monsters from lowly rats to immense dragons each posing a
      unique challenge for the player

   -- An enormous game world offering gamers more than 320 square miles to
      explore

   -- A strong storyline and universe filled with compelling quests and
      intriguing subplots that will pull you into the story and allow you to
      choose what comes next

   -- Thousands of non-player characters with which to interact

   -- Hundreds of spells and special abilities that give your character the
      unique skills you need to be a hero

   -- Thousands of powerful items to discover, rewarding those who have what
      it takes to finish epic quests and defeat the mightiest foes

   -- Support for dial-up and broadband, with seamless gameplay on a
      56K modem

Using the PlayStation 2 system's Network Adaptor, EverQuest Online Adventures connects seamlessly via modem or broadband to the Internet, directing players to dedicated EverQuest Online Adventures servers. Gamers simply insert the disc and the adventures of Tunaria are just a few button pushes away.

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 hit EverQuest®, 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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SOURCE: Sony Online Entertainment

CONTACT: Sean Kauppinen, +1-858-577-3387, skauppinen@soe.sony.com, or
Christy Fritts, +1-858-577-3295, cfritts@soe.sony.com, both of Sony Online
Entertainment

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