The Popular Neopets Franchise Enters the World of PlayStation With Neopets®: the Darkest Faerie™

Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. announced today the release of Neopets: The Darkest Faerie™ exclusively for the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system. Developed and created by Sony Computer Entertainment America, Santa Monica Studios, and Neopets Inc., Neopets: The Darkest Faerie is an adventure game that extends the online experience of the popular youth entertainment website Neopets.com into a fully interactive offline experience. In Neopets: The Darkest Faerie, players enter the magical land of Meridell for the first time in 3D and journey with Neopian characters on an adventure to rid the world of the evil Darkest Faerie. Together with heroes Tormund (a Lupe) and Roberta (an Acara), players will travel through new lands, meet strange inhabitants, and discover a mystery never before seen by Neopian eyes.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000510/SFW104-a )

"The 30 million users in the Neopets community are hungry for what Neopets: The Darkest Faerie delivers -- new action, new storylines, and engaging new characters," said Susan Nourai, director, online and product marketing, Sony Computer Entertainment America. "From combat to exploration, Neopets: The Darkest Faerie also offers first-rate gameplay and features that will appeal to all gaming enthusiasts."

"We are excited to have a gaming partner that understands and appreciates the dynamics that have made Neopets.com so successful," said Doug Dohring, chairman and CEO, Neopets, Inc. "In view of SCEA's incredibly successful gaming technology and creativity we are confident that Neopets: The Darkest Faerie will extend the unique Neopets entertainment experience to the PS2 platform in a seamless and innovative manner."

Setting the stage for gamers to enter the world of Neopets.com, the Darkest Faerie has escaped from her watery prison and left Neopia in peril. Players must free Neopia of darkness and defend the realms of King Skarl, King Hagan, and Queen Fyora, among others, against the evil minions of the Darkest Faerie, including the Werelupe King, the Black Knight, and the Dark Faerie Sisters, by defending villages, completing quests, and exploring dungeons.

Gameplay Description For Neopets: The Darkest Faerie

Neopets: The Darkest Faerie spans both past and present time in Neopia. Players switch between the two courageous characters of Tormund and Roberta, taking advantage of their unique abilities to fight a total of 12 malevolent bosses throughout the adventure. Exploring 60 Neopian locales and encountering hundreds of non-playable characters, fans see entirely new areas of Neopia.

Neopets: The Darkest Faerie boasts features and elements that offer exciting gameplay for all gamers and enthusiasts of role-playing games. Journey through huge, seamless environments to explore magnificent castles, rugged plains, swamps, ancient dungeons, overgrown forests, floating palaces, and ghost infested ruins. Defend against the powers of the Darkest Faerie and her minions with Neopian-equipped swords, wands, shields, and armor using "mote magic" to customize both attacks and defense. And, in true RPG fashion, players apply "Petpet" power up systems to select which Petpet will follow and assist players with their special abilities.

Marketing / Advertising Campaign

Marketing efforts for Neopets: The Darkest Faerie include a dedicated media campaign across television, print, viral and online. Additionally, major retailers will be supporting Neopets: The Darkest Faerie with Point-of-Purchase displays and advertising. The print campaign will run from October through February 2006 in publications including GamePro, National Geographic for Kids, Nickelodeon, Family Fun, DC Comics, and Marvel Comics, while the online campaign will run from November through January 2006 on outlets such as Neopets, GameSpot, Cartoon Network, Disney Online and more. A television campaign will run from November through December on Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, USA Network, G4 and VH1.

The independent Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) has rated Neopets: The Darkest Faerie "E 10+" for "Everyone 10 and older." For more information about the ESRB, please visit www.esrb.org.

About Neopets.com

With more than 30 million global users, Neopets.com is the fastest growing youth community in the world. Neopets.com is consistently ranked among the top 10 stickiest sites on the Internet, generating more than seven billion page views worldwide per month.

Neopets is a division of MTV Networks, a unit of Viacom International Inc. (NYSE: VIA)(NYSE: VIA.B), one of the world's leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms.

About Sony Computer Entertainment America

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) 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 system is a new 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 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/

NOTE: PlayStation and the PlayStation logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. PSP is a trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. NEOPETS, and all characters, logos, names and related indicia are trademarks of NeoPets, Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission. (c) 1999-2005 NeoPets, Inc. NEOPETS is a MTV Networks company. Source code (c) 2005 Idol Minds.

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SOURCE: Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc.

CONTACT: Paul Murphy of Sony, +1-858-824-5963, or
Paul_Murphy@playstation.sony.com; or Lilit Baron, +1-310-854-4813, or
lbaron@bncpr.com, for Sony

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

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