Sony Computer Entertainment America Announces Widespread Presence at Annual Game Developers Conference

Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. announced today its presence at the 2005 Game Developers Conference, held March 7-11 at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco. Sony Computer Entertainment America will host its largest overall show presence in company history, featuring the newest PlayStation platform, PSP™ (PlayStation® Portable), innovations for the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system and EyeToy™, as well as tools and technologies designed to encourage game development on all platforms. Company experts in game development, programming, and technology are set to speak at numerous sessions during the 19th annual conference.

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The Game Developers Conference, the world's largest event exclusively devoted to game creators, hosts more than 10,000 attendees and provides educational, networking, and business opportunities for the professionals driving the $10 billion videogame industry. This year, Sony Computer Entertainment America will support developers and publishers in the creation of PlayStation® content by providing the latest development tools and technologies through conference presentations, panels and booth demonstrations. Booth demonstrations will be held at booth number 537, which will be open from 11:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. March 9-10, and from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on March 11.

"Developers are an enormous part of our success as they drive content and innovation forward, making PlayStation the best gaming experience for millions of consumers worldwide," said Andrew House, executive vice president, Sony Computer Entertainment America. "The Game Developers Conference enables us to collaborate with developers, share with them our vision for game development for new PlayStation platforms, and demonstrate our commitment to the global development community."

Sony Computer Entertainment America staff will be available at its booth throughout the conference to offer a look at the latest developments in tools and technologies, including:

-- PSP demonstrations, including games that highlight the unique features of the device, such as wireless multiplayer gaming via Wi-Fi (802.11b). The booth will also feature contents of the PSP Value Pack and the PSP Development Tool, a hardware development system that enables developers to create and debug PSP software efficiently over a network. This development tool is also equipped with extra memory for debugging, wireless LAN capability, battery emulation monitoring, VGA output, and DVD and Universal Media Disc (UMD™) drives to ease testing of production game builds.

-- PlayStation 2 advancements, including demonstrations of a variety of games and the PlayStation 2 Performance Analyzer, a tool for conducting detailed performance analysis of games during development. Sixty-minute sessions on the Performance Analyzer will be held throughout the duration of the expo to provide developers hands-on access as well as an opportunity to speak with experts regarding how to best utilize this tool.

-- EyeToy, which enables developers and publishers to create games where the player's own movements, gestures and actions are captured via camera and transmitted to the game to control gameplay in real-time. Sony Computer Entertainment will demonstrate unique content including EyeToy®: Monkey Mania, to showcase the capabilities of this innovative input device.

Sony Computer Entertainment America developers, programmers, producers and technology specialists will speak on a variety of topics at the 2005 Game Developers Conference. Below is a list of Sony Computer Entertainment America and affiliated speakers. For complete session descriptions and information on how to register for the 2005 Game Developers Conference, visit http://www.gdconf.com/ . Speaker times and locations are subject to change.

  Wednesday, March 9:

  Game Design Track

-- 9 a.m.- 10 a.m.: E. Daniel Arey, creative director, Naughty Dog, "Designing the AAA Title: Letters from the Trenches," Room 3016.

Programming Track

-- 9 a.m. - 10 a.m.: Mark DeLoura, manager of developer relations, Sony Computer Entertainment America, and Dominic Mallinson, director of R&D, Sony Computer Entertainment America, "CELL: A New Platform for Digital Entertainment," Room 2002.

-- 9 a.m. - 10 a.m.: Eric Lengyel, senior programmer, Naughty Dog, "Advanced Stencil Shadow and Penumbral Wedge Rendering," Room 3018.

-- 4 p.m. - 5 p.m.: Ned Lerner, director of tools and technology, Sony Computer Entertainment America, "So you need a better tools/technology group," Room 3009.

  Thursday, March 10:

  Audio Track

-- 5:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.: Chuck Russom, senior sound designer, and Dave Murrant, sound design manager, both of Sony Computer Entertainment America, "The Next Best Thing to Being There: Creating Ambience and Immersion in Games," Room 2009.

Programming Track

-- 9 a.m. - 10 a.m.: Ned Lerner, director of tools and technology, Sony Computer Entertainment America, "So you need a better tools/technology group," Room 3009B.

-- Noon - 1 p.m.: Remi Arnaud, graphics architect, and Mark Barnes, COLLADA project lead, both of Sony Computer Entertainment America, "COLLADA: An Open Interchange Format for the Interactive 3D Industry," Programming Track, Room 2016.

-- 2 p.m. - 3 p.m.: Eyal Erez, R&D shader writer, Naughty Dog, "Interactive 3D Lighting in Sprites Rendering," 2nd Floor lobby Station 5.

-- 2:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.: Eran Egozy, chief technology officer, Harmonix Music Systems, "EyeToy: AntiGrav™ - Tales of Woe," Room 3010.

-- 4 p.m. - 6 p.m.: Naty Hoffman, senior programmer, Naughty Dog, "Advanced Real-Time Rendering: Beyond Reflectance," Room 2002.

-- 5:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.: Arjen Beij, programmer, Guerilla Games, and William van der Sterren, AI consultant/developer - CGF-AI, "Killzone™'s AI: Dynamic Procedural Combat Tactics," Room 3007.

-- 5:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.: Ned Lerner, director of tools and technology, Sony Computer Entertainment America, "The CTO's Talk," Room 3010.

  Friday, March 11:

   Audio Track

-- 9 a.m. - 10 a.m.: Dave Murrant, sound design manager, Sony Computer Entertainment America, participates in a panel discussion on "My Amp Goes Up to 11: Audio Reference Levels and Dynamics in Games," Room 2009.

-- 10:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.: Chuck Doud, music director, Sony Computer Entertainment America, "How To Produce and Promote a Game Soundtrack Album," Room 2007.

-- Noon - 1 p.m.: Chuck Doud, music director, Sony Computer Entertainment America, "Adaptive Music Jam," Room 2007.

-- 2:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.: Clint Bajakian, senior music supervisor, Sony Computer Entertainment America, and Chuck Doud, music director, Sony Computer Entertainment America, "What Makes Music for Games 'Music for Games,'" Room 2009.

-- 4 p.m. - 5 p.m.: Dave Murrant, sound design manager, Sony Computer Entertainment America, "SCREAM: A Users Perspective," Room 2009.

Game Design Track

-- Noon - 1 p.m.: Brian Allgeier, design director, Insomniac Games, "Attack of the Design Directors!" Room 3010.

Production Track

-- 10:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.: Chris Eden, developer relations account manager, Sony Computer Entertainment America, "Becoming a Licensed PSP Developer," Room 2016.

Programming Track

-- 9 a.m. - 10 a.m.: Igor Borovikov, senior programmer, Sony Computer Entertainment America, "An Orwellian approach to AI architecture," Room 2010.

-- 9 a.m. - 10 a.m.: Bruce Oberg, co-founder, Sucker Punch Productions, "The Picture Worth a Thousand Bugs: A System for Rigging Complex Game Missions," Room 3018.

-- 10:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.: Christer Ericson, senior principal programmer, Sony Computer Entertainment America (Santa Monica Studios), "Numerical Robustness for Geometric Calculations," Room 3010.

-- Noon - 1 p.m.: Mark DeLoura, manager of developer relations, Sony Computer Entertainment America, "PSP Advanced Software Overview," Room 2016.

-- 2:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.: Ned Lerner, director of tools and technology, Sony Computer Entertainment America, "So you need a better tools/technology group," Room 3009.

Visual Arts Track

-- 10:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.: Nicholas Zeman, face animation director, Sony Computer Entertainment America, "Cinema Quality Face Animation Using Bones," Room 2005.

-- Noon - 1 p.m.: Jason Parks, technical artist, Sony Computer Entertainment America, "Helper Joints: Advanced Deformations on RunTime Characters," Room 2005.

About Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc.

Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. continues to redefine the entertainment lifestyle with its PlayStation® and PS one™ game console, the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system and the PSP™ (PlayStation® Portable) handheld entertainment system. The PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system is set to revolutionize the home entertainment market, offering the most compelling interactive content and the capability to be used as a network terminal in the coming broadband era. PSP is a new portable entertainment system that allows users to enjoy 3D games, with high-quality full-motion video, and high-fidelity stereo audio. Recognized as the undisputed industry leader, Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. markets the PlayStation family of products and develops, publishes, markets and distributes software for the PS one game console, the PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system and the PSP handheld entertainment system for the North American market. Based in Foster City, Calif. Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. serves as headquarters for all North American operations and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.

Visit us on the Web at http://www.us.playstation.com/ .

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SOURCE: Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc.

CONTACT: Monica Wik, +1-650-655-5394, or
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janette_barrios@playstation.sony.com, both of Sony Computer Entertainment
America

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