Electronic Arts Captures the Glory of World Cup France 98 With an Interactive World Cup Soccer Game

Business Wire, May 19, 1998

SAN MATEO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 19, 1998--

EA SPORTS Adds World Cup 98 to the Internationally Best-Selling

FIFA Soccer Franchise; Game to Ship on the Nintendo 64,

PlayStation and PC

Electronic Arts(TM) (NASDAQ:ERTS), the world's largest independent interactive entertainment software company, today announced the shipment of World Cup 98 for the Nintendo(R) 64, PlayStation(R) and PC.

World Cup 98 is an official licensed product of the FIFA World Cup France 98, which promises to be one of the biggest sporting events of the century with an expected television audience of 35 billion viewers over the month-long event June 10-July 12, 1998.

World Cup 98 is the latest product offering in EA SPORTS'(TM) internationally best-selling FIFA Soccer series which has sold more than 8.5 million units across all platforms over the lifetime of the franchise.

World Cup 98 features all the excitement of France 98, including: 40 national teams, 10 authentic stadiums, eight World Cup classic final matches, World cup history, national team facts, opening and closing ceremonies, detailed statistics for over 1,600 soccer players, national anthems and the exact two-stage tournament format to be used during France 98.

The games also include over 850 ultra-realistic player movements created by a MotionBlending(TM) technique that uses motion captured data from professional soccer players, such as striker Roy Lassiter (U.S. National Team/D.C. United), midfielder Preki Radosavljevic (U.S. National Team/Kansas City Wizards), goalie Mark Dodd (U.S. National Team/Dallas Burn) and defender Cle Kooiman (Miami Fusion).

"World Cup 98 is a testament to EA SPORTS' passion for soccer and the desire to deliver the most realistic andntertainment for soccer fans around the world aer control commands and also added game strategi world-renowned commentators to deliver play-by-play. Soccer

fanatics are going to be cheering from the openime players into the soccer experience with a mures player introductions by Desmond Lynam and play-by-play performed by Europe's legendary John Motson and latest European commentary sensations Chris Waddle and Gary Lineker. World Cup classic mode contains guest commentary by the UK's historically renowned Kenneth Wostenholme.

Game players will have the ability to defend or attack the goal with a brilliant variety of bicycle kicks, diving headers, slide tackles and aerial volleys. Additionally, World Cup 98 offers five modes of competition: World Cup, World Cup Classics (replay eight of the all-time greatest matches in World Cup history), Friendly, Penalty Kick Shootout and Training.

In World Cup mode, players must lead their teams through berman, French, Swedish, Italian, Danish and Dutch.

World Cup 98 for PC supports a wide variety of 3-D aetwork play (up to 20 players on eight PCs). Tha suggested retail price of U.S. $59.95; the PClling titles include John Madden Football(TM), ide for personal computers and advanced entertaall, Triple Play Baseball, MotionBlending and Chts and trademarks of ISL. Nintendo 64 is a registered trademark of Nintendo of America Inc. Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corp. PlayStation is a registered trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. PowerVR is a trademark of VideoLogic Ltd. (UK). All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

--30ier@ea.com

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