Sony Online Entertainment Ships EverQuest®: Platinum to Retail Stores

Sony Online Entertainment Inc. (SOE), a worldwide leader in massively multiplayer online gaming, announced today that EverQuest®: Platinum, an affordable, all-inclusive collection that offers the original game as well as the first seven expansion packs, The Ruins of Kunark®, The Scars of Velious®, The Shadows of Luclin™, The Planes of Power™, The Legacy of Ykesha™, Lost Dungeons of Norrath™, and Gates of Discord™ will be available in stores tomorrow for the suggested retail price of $29.99.

"If you have yet to experience the online gaming phenomenon known as EverQuest, now is the perfect time to do so," said Don Vercelli, senior vice president of sales and marketing, Sony Online Entertainment. "EverQuest: Platinum offers players the opportunity to experience an enchanting online fantasy world that took five years of hard work to create in one comprehensive package at a very reasonable price."

Perfect for the new player or a great addition for the current player, EverQuest: Platinum offers a living, breathing online fantasy world filled with hundreds of thousands of players. Journey as a fierce barbarian warrior or an evil dark elf shadowknight, the choice is yours as you explore over 350 square miles of virtual environments filled with over a million non-player characters to encounter and over 40,000 unique items to discover. The world of EverQuest is a land with no limits where adventure and excitement reign supreme.

  EverQuest: Platinum features:
   *  EverQuest Classic: discover more than 70 perilous zones while
      exploring three enormous continents in the world of Norrath
   *  EverQuest: The Ruins of Kunark: adventure on a new continent as the
      award-winning Kunark provides 30% more gaming space, a new playable
      race, the Iksar, and allows for players to exceed the level
      50 character limit.
   *  EverQuest: The Scars of Velious: the frozen continent of Velious
      expands the world of Norrath by 20% and offers 18 perilous new zones
      and dozens of quests for characters level 35+
   *  EverQuest: The Shadows of Luclin: supported by a complete graphic
      overhaul, Luclin offers more than 27 new beginner, mid-level and
      advanced zones including a new starting city, enchanting moonscape of
      Luclin, new playable race, the Vah Shir, and rideable horses to own,
      summon and ride into battle.
   *  EverQuest: The Planes of Power: players have access to the most
      powerful deities in Norrath in the Planes of Power as the enormous
      planar city, the Plane of Knowledge, provides a hub for easy travel
      and player interaction.  More than 20 new action-packed "planes"
      challenge players and push teamwork abilities to the limit and an
      increased level cap to 65 allows players to develop more powerful
      characters than ever before.
   *  EverQuest: The Legacy of Ykesha: epic adventures await with all-new
      zones to explore, new playable race, Frogloks, additional bank slots
      and a customizable PC armor dye system enables player to personalize
      armor.
   *  EverQuest: Lost Dungeons of Norrath: "dungeon crawls" through private
      instanced zones provide players with the classic RPG feeling of
      exploration and action through more than 40 diverse environments.
   *  EverQuest: Gates of Discord: a new continent on the far side of the
      globe is under assault by the forces of Chaos.  This expansion opens
      the Berserker class, as well as adding 20 new zones, group raiding
      tools, 20 new NPCs and dozens of new spells, items and abilities.
   *  Comprehensive EverQuest manual

  About EverQuest

Developed and published by Sony Online Entertainment Inc. (SOE), EverQuest launched in 1999 and has since become both a gaming and cultural phenomenon. The game has sold more than 2 million copies while continuing to grow with award-winning expansions The Ruins of Kunark®, The Scars of Velious®, The Shadows of Luclin™, The Planes of Power™, The Legacy of Ykesha™, Lost Dungeons of Norrath™ and Gates of Discord™, making it the largest online 3D fantasy world ever created. During peak periods, more than 118,000 simultaneous adventurers have explored the fully detailed world of Norrath, filled with monsters, magic, adventure and more. Sony Online is committed to bringing EverQuest to various entertainment platforms, releasing titles such as EverQuest Online Adventures for the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system, EverQuest for the Pocket PC and EverQuest: Hero's Call for wireless phones. In 2004, SOE plans to launch the highly-anticipated EverQuest II on PCs around the globe.

About Sony Online Entertainment

Sony Online Entertainment Inc. (SOE), a subsidiary of Sony Pictures Digital Inc., is a recognized worldwide leader in massively multiplayer online games, with a subscriber base of over 700,000 active accounts 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, EverQuest® and PlanetSide®, as well as for developing Star Wars Galaxies®: An Empire Divided®, 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 an additional development studio in Austin, TX, SOE has an array of cutting-edge online games in development.

EverQuest is a registered trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. SOE, the SOE logo and PlanetSide are registered trademarks of Sony Online Entertainment Inc.

SOURCE: Sony Online Entertainment

CONTACT: Tamara Sanderson, +1-858-577-3362, tsanderson@soe.sony.com, or
Chris Kramer, +1-858-577-3481, ckramer@soe.sony.com, both of Sony Online
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