LADYDRAGON.COM - EA ships Sid Meier's SimGolf

Wednesday January 23, 2002

EA ships Sid Meier's SimGolf

The new PC title from legendary game designer Sid Meier and Maxis lets players build their very own golf resort empire REDWOOD CITY, Calif., January 23, 2002 - Electronic Arts (Nasdaq: ERTS) today announced the release of Sid Meier's SimGolf(tm).

From legendary game designer Sid Meier, and his team at Firaxis Games, and Maxis(tm), the creators of the hit PC games The Sims(tm) and SimCity(tm), Sid Meier's SimGolf puts players in charge of their very own golf resorts. As course designer, CEO and resident pro, players are challenged to grow a business from a small, public pitch-and-putt to a global network of five-star resorts.

"I'm thrilled with SimGolf. In all my years of making games, SimGolf has been the most fun to create," said Sid Meier, Chairman and Director of Creative Development at Firaxis Games and creator of such PC hits as Railroad Tycoon, Sid Meier's Civilization and Sid Meier's Gettysburg!

"In SimGolf we allow players to create their own paths and to choose their own style of play. You can build an endless variety of courses, customize your golfers, create a world class pro, play your course and hold tournaments at your resort. The fun goes on and on! We hope gamers around the world will have as much fun playing SimGolf as we did making it."

Create the world's most beautiful, challenging and outrageous golf courses in environments that include sunny desert, lush tropics, scenic woodlands, and historic Scottish links. Players can build the course of their dreams by constructing rolling fairways, challenging greens, strategically placed water hazards and annoying sand traps.

Everything from ball washers and pro shops to luxury hotels and casinos are available for resort development. Players can choose from over a dozen different landmarks to further personalize the grounds. As the resort facilities are upgraded and enhanced, guests are happier on the course and celebrities are enticed to buy homes at the resort.

Once the course is designed, players can create their own SimGolf pro and play a round. All SimGolfers are fully customizable, with an array of outfits and a variety of personality types to choose from. Players also have the ability to dabble in the personal lives of their members with fully customizable dialogue. Listen to their sagas unfold as they birdie, par and bogey over eighteen holes. The outcome of the guests' individual stories depends greatly on the success of the individual hole and course.

Play the course and fine-tune the skills of the golf professional to help him or her become the leader of the SimGolf Association (SGA). Players can then host and play in major tournaments for big cash prizes that can be used to upgrade their resort conglomerate.

The ability to share courses and stories of great golf moments with other SimGolf players from around the world is available at http://simgolf.ea.com.

From ground breaking to par breaking, the ultimate golf fantasies are in your hands with Sid Meier's SimGolf.

Sid Meier's SimGolf requires Windows® 95 or greater and a 300 MHz Intel Pentium II or an AMD K6-2 processor or greater, a 8 MB video card with DirectX 8.0 compatible driver and a DirectX 8.0 compatible sound card.

Sid Meier's SimGolf is available in stores now for a suggested retail price of US $39.99. It carries an ESRB rating of "E" for everyone.

Firaxis Games is headquartered in Hunt Valley, Maryland. As Firaxis' Chairman and Director of Creative Development, Sid Meier has been honored with virtually every major award in the gaming industry and in 1999 and was the second person ever to be inducted into the Academy of Interactive Arts and Science's Hall of Fame. For more information about Firaxis visit http://www.firaxis.com.

Maxis, based in Walnut Creek, California, is EA's game development studio best known for The Sims and SimCity line of games. The Sims has sold over 5 million copies worldwide and was North America's top selling PC game of 2000 and 2001.

Electronic Arts, headquartered in Redwood City, California, is the world's leading interactive entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, Electronic Arts posted revenues of more than $1.3 billion for fiscal 2001.

The company develops, publishes and distributes software worldwide for personal computers and video game systems. Electronic Arts markets its products under four brand names: EA SPORTS(tm), EA SPORTS BIG(tm), EA GAMES(tm) and EA.COMSM.