"NFL GameDay" at the top of the charts; award-winning football game becomes the top-selling game title for Sony's PlayStation game console.

FOSTER CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 8, 1996--Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) Monday announced that its award-winning "NFL GameDay" has become the number one best-selling piece of software for Sony's PlayStation game console.

"Praise from the media, the retail channel, even professional athletes has been remarkable," said Jim Whims, executive vice president, SCEA. "But it's the consumers who have bought and continue to buy despite the fact that the football season is over, that has driven `NFL GameDay' to the top of the sales charts. `NFL GameDay has consistently placed in the top 10 software sales charts of the leading retail outlets since it was first released in mid-November."

The sports category is among the most popular of SCEA's catalog and is exclusive to the PlayStation. As of March, 25, "NFL GameDay" has sold more than 300,000 units and "NHL Face Off" in excess of 200,000. "NBA Shoot Out," which shipped on March 27, represented the single largest initial shipment of any title in the history of the company and initial reports on sales are also very strong. SCEA is also scheduled to ship its highly anticipated "MLB Pennant Race" in mid-May.

While sports are an important part of the mix, SCEA's software library is expanding to include a wider range of genres, including role playing games (RPGs), strategies and simulations. Other top-selling titles include "Battle Arena Toshinden and Mortal Kombat 3."

"`NFL GameDay' has been heralded in the enthusiast press and been awarded `Best Sports Game' from four of the leading game magazines, because of the incredible attention to detail and gameplay," said Peter Dille, marketing product director, SCEA. "The power of the PlayStation combined with NFL GameDay's superior artificial intelligence and graphics delivers an incredibly realistic football experience unlike anything ever created. `NFL GameDay' defines what is to be expected from a football game in the next-generation marketplace."

The authenticity and realism of "NFL GameDay" is created through a combination of incredible 3-D animation, licenses with the NFL and the NFL Players, team logos, uniforms and rendered stadiums, actual player statistics from Stats Inc., an up-to-date playbook that mirrors today's offensive and defensive strategies, and options such as player trades and weather conditions.

As the second product in Sony's sports line, "NHL Face Off" sets a whole new standard for hockey video games with its incredible attention to detail. The characters are animated with a wide variety of motion captured moves including checks, slap-shots, one-timers and many more; licenses with the NHL and the NHL Players Association; in-depth player ratings and statistics; as well as a sophisticated artificial intelligence that will challenge players as if they are actually playing against hockey greats like Fedorov, Bure, Roenick and more.

"NBA Shoot Out" features large, polygon-based characters animated with a variety of real NBA moves; more than 300 NBA players and all the NBA teams; in-depth player ratings and statistics; player trades and substitutions; as well as a sophisticated artificial intelligence (AI) that challenges players of all abilities. "NBA Shoot Out" is also the first sports title from SCEA that supports the optional Multi tap peripheral allowing up to eight game players to play.

"`MLB Pennant Race' will do for the baseball category what `NFL GameDay' did for football," continued Dille. "As with our previous sports titles, we have licenses with the league and players association, all the stadiums rendered in 3D, motion capture based animation so the moves look the way they're supposed to and an AI that is the most advanced possible.

"`MLB Pennant Race' will round out the four core sports and when it hits the store shelves, I'm confident that the products that have come from our sports studio will be recognized as the games that redefine the rules of sports gaming."

Sony Computer Entertainment America, a division of Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc., is based in Foster City. The company markets the PlayStation game console for distribution in North America, publishes software for the PlayStation game console for the the North American market, and manages the U.S. third-party licensing program. Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc. is a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America.

Visit the company on the Web at http://www.sony.com.

CONTACT: Sony Computer Entertainment America

P. Kevin Horn, 415/655-8000

or

Fleishman-Hillard

Samantha Sackin, 213/629-4974