October 5, 2001 Press Release - Graphics Upgrades
THE WORLD OF EVERQUEST® GOES HIGH RESOLUTION WITH EVERQUEST: THE SHADOWS OF LUCLIN EXPANSION
-Old World Environments To Rival Luclin's Beauty With Improved Graphics-
SAN DIEGO, CA - October 5, 2001- Sony Online Entertainment Inc., (SOE) announced today that EverQuest®: The Shadows of Luclin will launch with an additional CD-ROM featuring a complete upgrade to all textures throughout the original world of Norrath and all previous expansions.
"We are pleased to make this surprise announcement," said Brad McQuaid, Chief Creative Officer & Vice President, Sony Online Entertainment. "EverQuest players will be amazed at the clarity the texture upgrade provides and we feel the gameplay experience will be richly enhanced."
When EverQuest originally shipped in 1999, the development team utilized 32 x 32 low-resolution pixels because of graphics technology at the time. With the advent of superior graphic cards, the upgraded texture resolution featured in EverQuest: The Shadows of Luclin will be 256 x 256 pixels and occasionally as large as 512 x 512 pixels. This vast improvement in quality will make Norrath appear more vibrant and detailed than ever before.
"We have gone through the entire game and applied the new higher resolution textures by hand," said Scott McDaniel, EverQuest Art Lead, Sony Online Entertainment. "The sheer size of EverQuest has made this upgrade quite a project. To see the old zones in high resolution is really exciting for the entire team."
EverQuest: The Shadows of Luclin features over 24 new zones, rideable mounts, all new character models, new facial animations, and over 120 new spells and will be available on retail shelves in December 2001. For more information visit the official Shadows of Luclin website at .
The Station (www.station.com) is the official provider of EverQuest, with software updates and news about the game, message boards and other community features, as well as an easy-to-use billing system for EverQuest's monthly subscription fee.
Sony Online Entertainment Inc. (SOE), the online gaming division of Sony Pictures Digital Entertainment, is a worldwide leader in massively multiplayer online gaming. Headquartered in San Diego, California, SOE develops, publishes and distributes entertainment for the PC and online markets. With more than 10 million registered users, SOE's award- winning website, The Station® (www.station.com) hosts a variety of entertaining games and player communities spanning all genres. In addition to blockbuster hits EverQuest® and Jeopardy! Online, SOE has an array of cutting-edge online games in development such asPlanetSide, Star Wars Galaxies and Sovereign.