Platform Publishing™ and Perpetual Entertainment to Bring Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising™ to Life Online

Sony Online Entertainment's Platform Publishing™, a cross-platform publishing, distribution and marketing label, today announced an agreement with San Francisco, CA-based online games developer Perpetual Entertainment to co-publish its online action role-playing game, Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising™.

Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising features an innovative style of combat not seen in other online multiplayer games, courtesy of Perpetual Entertainment Lead Designer Stieg Hedlund, lead designer of the best-selling RPG Diablo II. Reminiscent of an Action/RPG, combat moves can be linked together and even include "finishing" moves to provide a more dynamic, dramatic and visceral feel to battles. Squad-based combat is another unique aspect of Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising; players will earn and command Non-Player Characters (NPCs) in a variety of strategic groupings to form individual squads, create unique formations and implement combat tactics for these squads to execute on command, maximizing their power in combat.

"We are excited about Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising and about our relationship with the talented people at Perpetual," said John Needham, senior vice president and chief financial officer, Sony Online Entertainment. "Our relationship with Perpetual Entertainment is an important element of the overall business strategy of Platform Publishing."

"As the recognized leader in online multiplayer gaming in North America, partnering with SOE's Platform Publishing division to publish Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising was an easy and obvious choice," said Chris McKibbin, co-founder and president of Perpetual Entertainment. "Nobody understands the retail channel for online games better than SOE."

Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising brings the bold and dramatic world of ancient Rome online. As Rome grows into its role as a Republic, enemies from Carthage, Gaul and other nations seek their share of the treasures of this new empire. Furthermore, monstrous creatures of myth, such as Gorgons, Minotaurs and Furies roam the land and threaten the safety of Rome. As heroes of the republic, players will embark on epic quests to defend the empire, protect its interests and people, and serve one of the ancient Gods of Roman myth. This alliance with the gods will provide the player with incredible "god powers" that can be wielded in battle against monsters as well as against other players in Player vs. Player (PvP) combat.

Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising™ is a subscription-based massively multiplayer game developed and operated by Perpetual using its proprietary Perpetual Entertainment Platform (PEP) technologies. Under the co-publishing partnership, Perpetual will host and operate the game, while SOE's Platform Publishing will be responsible for retail marketing and distribution of the game in North America.

  For more information, visit http://www.godsandheroes.com/.

  About Platform Publishing™

Based in San Diego, CA, Platform Publishing is a cross-platform publishing, distribution and marketing label, with an exciting library of interactive entertainment products from third-party developers and content providers for personal computers, game consoles and mobile devices. The label puts talented developers and publishers together with Platform Publishing's high caliber suite of services and support, including top-notch distribution, marketing and technology resources. Platform Publishing is a DBA of Sony Online Entertainment Inc. For more information, please visit www.platformpublishing.com.

SOE and the SOE logo are registered trademarks and Platform Publishing and the Platform Publishing logo are trademarks of Sony Online Entertainment Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

About Perpetual Entertainment, Inc.

Perpetual Entertainment is a San Francisco based producer, publisher, and operator of networked multi-player and massively multi-player games for the PC and next-generation videogame consoles. Perpetual Entertainment was founded and is staffed by industry veterans dedicated to the vision that playing games together is simply more fun, more challenging, and more rewarding than playing alone.

SOURCE: Sony Online Entertainment

CONTACT: Michael Shelling, +1-858-790-3521, mshelling@soe.sony.com, or
Chris Kramer, +1-858-577-3481, ckramer@soe.sony.com, both of Sony Online
Entertainment

Web site: http://www.godsandheroes.com/
http://www.platformpublishing.com/