Sony Delivers the EverQuest: Hero's Call Game For QUALCOMM's BREW Platform

Dec. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM), pioneer and world leader of Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) digital wireless technology and Sony Online Entertainment Inc. (SOE), a worldwide leader in massively multiplayer online gaming, today announced that a version of EverQuest, one of the largest and most popular online fantasy adventure games, will make its mobile phone debut on handsets featuring QUALCOMM's Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless (BREW) platform. EverQuest: Hero's Call will offer potential heroes the ability to use their mobile phones to embark on a dangerous journey through 32 dungeons, with access to more than 120 spells and a countless array of weaponry that will be familiar to players of the original EverQuest. The adventure is anticipated to begin on select BREW-enabled phones in January 2003. "EverQuest: Hero's Call will deliver an exciting, single-player fantasy adventure set in the mythical world of EverQuest," said Bart Rothwell, director of wireless gaming for Sony Online Entertainment. "The BREW platform allowed us to create a rich game environment for the mobile phone that will please our diehard community of EverQuest players. We are also excited about the total package BREW provides -- giving us a business solution that allows us to bring our popular games to a new segment of the market and to monetize that content."

"The development team that created Sony Online Entertainment's EverQuest: Hero's Call for wireless handsets has set an important precedent in bringing rich and compelling content to mobile consumers," said Gina Lombardi, senior vice president of marketing and product management, QUALCOMM Internet Services. "Sony Online Entertainment is taking advantage of the flexibility and wide range of capabilities the BREW platform provides to give consumers access to non-stop action and adventure, anytime, anywhere."

Deployments of the BREW solution continue as carriers throughout the world join Verizon Wireless and ALLTEL in the United States, KTF in South Korea and KDDI in Japan in commercializing BREW-based services. U.S. Cellular has launched a BREW user trial and China Unicom announced its plans to launch BREW-based services in China. Twenty-nine BREW-enabled handsets are already available to consumers worldwide, and 30 device manufacturers have indicated their interest in the BREW platform.

QUALCOMM's BREW platform is a thin application execution environment that provides an open, standard platform for wireless devices. The BREW platform is part of a complete, end-to-end solution for wireless applications development, device configuration, application distribution, and billing and payment. The complete BREW solution includes the BREW SDK (software development kit) for developers, the BREW applications platform and porting tools for device manufacturers, and the BREW Distribution System (BDS) that is controlled and managed by carriers -- enabling them to easily get applications from developers to market and coordinate the billing and payment process. Carriers' BREW-based services will enable consumers to customize their handsets by downloading applications over the air from a carrier's application download server. The BREW platform is a product of QIS, a division within the QUALCOMM Wireless & Internet (QWI) Group of QUALCOMM Incorporated.

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