Sony Computer Entertainment America Spotlights PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) System With New Marketing Efforts

Sony Computer Entertainment America today announced several new marketing initiatives designed to continue the momentum of its popular PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system through the holiday shopping season. A new national television advertising campaign, titled "Find Me," has launched, focusing on the PSP system's multi-functional features shown in a real-world narrative. SCEA is also making downloadable gaming and other media content available with new PSP Spot Download Stations at select retailers nationwide. Additional efforts at retail, in home, on the Internet, and on the streets are generating strong awareness for the system and everything it offers to consumers who want their gaming and entertainment on-the-go.

"The PSP system has already been established as a popular gaming handheld, but it was designed to do so much more -- from playing music and videos to sharing photos and accessing the Internet," said Peter Dille, senior vice president of marketing, SCEA. "These marketing initiatives deliver the broader PSP brand message and offer PSP owners the entertainment experience they're thirsting for from a content perspective. We're excited that these new efforts place a spotlight on the PSP system by delivering value to existing PSP owners and reaching new audiences at a time when gift-givers are looking for what's hot in entertainment."

"Find Me" Ad Campaign

Launched at the end of October, the new TV advertising campaign uses an engaging narrative style to show one PSP owner's quest to find his love interest, armed only with his PSP system and a 4 GB Memory Stick PRO Duo™ filled with her photos, videos, and music. Spider-Man 2 movie clips, SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo 2, and ATV Offroad Fury® Pro are also shown to emphasize the PSP system's broad content offering.

The campaign, consisting of two 30-second spots and one 60-second spot, targets the 16- to 34-year-old male audience. The PSP system's vibrant LCD widescreen, broad range of gaming and entertainment content, and overall sleek design have enabled SCEA to successfully carve out this new market, which represents a departure from the far younger consumer that competitors have traditionally reached with their gaming handhelds.

The 30-second spots are now airing on network, cable and syndicated programming. Executions will run through the holidays on a broad mixture of programs and networks that reach the target demographic, including: the Jimmy Kimmel Show (ABC); Mad TV, Family Guy and The Simpsons (Fox); Conan O' Brien and Saturday Night Live (NBC); The Daily Show and South Park (Comedy Central); NCAA Football and Basketball, NBA Basketball, and SportsCenter (ESPN/ESPN2); TRL (MTV); WWE (USA); the G4 network and more.

PSP Spot Download Station

Beginning this month, consumers can take their PSP system to participating retailers, including Circuit City, GameStop, Target, and Toys "R" Us, to download the hottest gaming and entertainment content from a PSP Spot Download Station. These interactive kiosks offer game demos, movie trailers, music clips, mini-strategy guides, wallpapers and more, delivering a broad range of content that PSP owners are looking for. By January 2007, PSP Spot Download Stations will be available at more than 6,000 retailer locations. The PSP Spot currently offers the following content.

  Game Trailers                     Demos
  -- NFL Street 3                   -- Outrun
  -- Bounty Hounds                  -- Worms
  -- LocoRoco                       -- Dungeon Siege
  -- Lemmings                       -- MLB 2006
                                    -- Ultimate Ghosts and Goblins
  Videos                            -- Lumines 2
  -- PSP Greatest Hits              -- Every Extended Extra
  -- PSP Educational                -- MX vs ATV
                                    -- Race Driver 2006
  Game Sharing                      -- Daxter
  -- Lemmings
  -- Lumines 2
  -- Every Extended Extra
  -- LocoRoco

"At GameStop, we're always looking for ways to enhance the customer experience, and the PSP Spot's gaming demonstration capabilities does just that by delivering content that gamers can enjoy while shopping at our stores," said Bob McKenzie, senior vice president, merchandising, at GameStop. "This is also a great opportunity to let our customers check out the newest releases for themselves before they decide which titles to buy."

Online Marketing Campaigns

Two online marketing campaigns will generate awareness of the PSP system through the holiday shopping season. One campaign already running focuses on the PSP Entertainment Pack, a hardware bundle available since September that includes the PSP system, ATV Offroad Fury®: Blazin' Trails, the "Lords of Dogtown" UMD™ (Universal Media Disc) movie, and a 1GB Memory Stick PRO Duo™. The creative concept utilizes a wish list style and showcases the PSP Entertainment Pack's consumer value. Executions are running on a variety of enthusiast, consumer and lifestyle Web sites, such as IGN.com, ESPN.com, and MTV.com.

A second campaign, launching shortly, is designed to reach gift-givers, with creative focusing on how the PSP system is among the sought-after gifts this holiday season. The campaign will run on a mixture of sites.

PSP on the Web

With Wi-fi connectivity, the PSP system's online experience is just as important to consumers as the offline one. The PSP system now has its own Really Simple Syndication (RSS) site to deliver gaming and movie content, music, photos, and more. Available directly from a PSP system at http://psp.us.playstation.com/rss, consumers can subscribe to feeds that automatically push these entertainment files to them whenever they access their device's RSS Channel at a hot spot. The new RSS site features the PlayStation Mayhem show, an entertaining lifestyle audio and video program covering style, gaming, gadgets, music, celebrities, civilians and trends. Additional content now available includes trailers and other videos from Def Jam®: Fight for New York™: The Takeover, The Godfather: Mob Wars, Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, Need for Speed™ Carbon: Own the City, as well as athlete interviews and top tricks from the Dew Action Sports Tour.

On the official PSP Web site (http://www.us.playstation.com/psp), consumers can now download content from the "Find Me" ad campaign, including the TV spots, behind-the-scenes shots, screen grabs, and more.

PSP Billboards

With nearly 23 million units shipped worldwide, the PSP system has become a common sighting on the subway, at the park, and on planes. You can even catch a glimpse of the handheld in the sky -- SCEA has launched a giant PSP billboard in Las Vegas at the busy corner of Las Vegas Blvd. and Tropicana Ave., complementing a similar billboard that has been live in New York City since 2005. The oversized PSP screens of both installations have been refreshed with first and third-party gaming content from upcoming releases, Sony Pictures' UMD movie trailers, and highlights from the Dew Action Sports Tour.

About the PSP system

The PSP system is the first truly integrated handheld entertainment system designed to handle multiple applications -- music, video, photo, Internet, live and recorded TV, and wireless connectivity, with games as its key feature. The PSP system features an unmatched library of entertainment content, combining more than 160 games and more than 430 feature films, TV programs, and videos on UMD from major studios and record labels, as well as downloadable content from the Internet.

About Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc.

Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. continues to redefine the entertainment lifestyle with its PS one™ game console, PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system, PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system and the upcoming, much-anticipated PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system.

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 PS one game console, PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system and PSP system for the North American market. Based in Foster City, Calif., Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. serves as regional headquarters for all North American operations and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. More information can be found online at http://www.us.playstation.com/.

"PlayStation," "PS" Family logo and " PSP" are registered trademarks and "UMD" is a trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Memory Stick Duo is a trademark of Sony Corporation.

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SOURCE: Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc.

CONTACT: Al de Leon of Sony Computer Entertainment America,
+1-650-655-7348 or al_deleon@playstation.sony.com; or Whitney Werth,
+1-415-593-8428 or whitneyw@text100.com, for Sony Computer Entertainment
America

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