LADYDRAGON.COM - POPULAR VIRTUAL PET WEB SITE PROVIDES ADVENTURE OF CHALLENGES AND FANTASY IN NEOPETS THE DARKEST FAERIE™ FOR PS ONE™

Wednesday May 14, 2003

POPULAR VIRTUAL PET WEB SITE PROVIDES ADVENTURE OF CHALLENGES AND FANTASY IN NEOPETS THE DARKEST FAERIE™ FOR PS ONE™

Light-Hearted Adventure Will Appeal to Neopets.com Fans and Action-Adventure Enthusiasts

Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. announced today the upcoming November 2003 release of NEOPETS The Darkest Faerie™, available exclusively for the PS one™ and PlayStation® game consoles. Developed and created by Sony Computer Entertainment America’s Santa Monica studio, NeoPets, Inc. and The Code Monkeys Ltd., NEOPETS The Darkest Faerie is an action-adventure game that extends the online entertainment of Neopets.com® and provides a fully interactive offline experience.

With more than 50 million registrations in the past three years, Neopets.com is the fastest growing youth community in the world. Neopets.com is consistently ranked among the top ten stickiest sites on the Internet by Nielsen Net Ratings, generating more than two billion page views per month.

NEOPETS The Darkest Faerie includes hundreds of different Neopets® from the popular Web site, while providing light-hearted gameplay. Players enter the land of Neopia® and can take the role of Grimilix the Grundo, Tormund the Lupe or Sally the Aisha (each with its own distinct personality) who are on a mission to rid Neopia of a shrewd and cunning enemy – the evil Darkest Faerie. Together, they will travel through new lands, meet strange inhabitants, have the opportunity to acquire 450 valuable items and discover a mystery unseen by Neopian eyes.

"Neopets.com is one of the largest youth entertainment Web sites, attracting millions of players worldwide," said Ami Blaire, director, product marketing, Sony Computer Entertainment America. "We are excited to expand this franchise by offering the first-ever offline Neopets adventure game on PlayStation, as well as introduce the wonderful fantasy world of Neopia to other action-adventure enthusiasts."

In a couple of "firsts" for the gaming industry, NEOPETS The Darkest Faerie provides unique offline and online interaction between the game and the Neopets.com Web site. To begin, there are 100 new Neopets Items that can be collected and used both in the game and on Neopets.com. These Items can be transferred, to a player’s Neopets.com account., via Neopets Rare Item Codes embedded into the video game. In addition, NeoPets.com will offer special onsite "PlayStation Faerie Quests" to its members after the game’s release, which will allow players to replay parts of NEOPETS The Darkest Faerie to complete these quests, thus extending the players’ experience long after they have finished the original storyline.

In NEOPETS The Darkest Faerie, players can discover colorful worlds, unlock new quests and play up to 12 mini-games. During gameplay, players can equip their Neopets with swords, wands, gadgets and armor to defend against minions of The Darkest Faerie. While playing the mini-games, players are provided with the opportunity to earn Rare Items and NeoPoints®.

The independent Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) has not yet rated NEOPETS The Darkest Faerie.

About Neopets.com

NeoPets, Inc. is a privately held corporation based in Glendale, California that owns and operates the highly popular youth entertainment Web site, Neopets.com. It is an interactive community of virtual pet owners whose Neopets inhabit a mythical land called Neopia. While the site has some of the characteristics of other game, novelty, amusement, and teen sites, it far surpasses each in substance. Creating and caring for their virtual Neopets is merely the first step members take into the constantly changing world of Neopia. The NeoPets experience is multifaceted and provides hours of entertainment through a myriad of activities, entertainment venues, and ever-changing content.