FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

EMPEROR: BATTLE FOR DUNE GOES GOLD

Westwood’s first 3D RTS game set to ship June 12

LAS VEGAS, NV (May 21, 2001) – The battle for spice will begin in less than three weeks. Emperor: Battle for Dune has gone gold and will ship June 12 in North America, Westwood Studios announced today. The game will begin appearing in stores June 13 and should be fully distributed by June 16. Emperor: Battle for Dune is part of the EA Games family of games from Electronics Arts (NASDAQ:ERTS).

Emperor: Battle for Dune is Westwood’s first 3D real-time strategy game and the sequel to Dune II, the game that launched the genre in 1992. It was Dune II that laid the foundation for Westwood’s Command & Conquer franchise, which has gone on to sell more than 15 million copies worldwide.

“Our goal was to take everything we’ve learned about real-time strategy games and bring it all into a fully 3D world, keeping the accessibility and gameplay, but taking advantage of the spectacular graphics 3D acceleration provides,” said Chris Longpre, producer of Emperor. “Beyond that, we wanted to tell a great story and the richness of the Dune universe gives us the best setting imaginable.”

The story that drives Emperor starts with the disappearance of the galaxy’s ruler. His throne is up for grabs and players can choose to control any of three unique sides in their bid to control the empire: the noble Atreides, the evil Harkonnen, or the insidious Ordos. Each is equipped with vast armies and exotic weapons, but the battleground and keystone to victory is the planet Dune. The side that wins Dune will control spice production and take the throne. Players will also wage war on four other planets, including the green, pastoral world of Caladan, the polluted wasteland of Geidi Prime and the icy orb of Draconis IV.

With Emperor, Westwood is adding a new level of strategy to the RTS genre with a non-linear planetary campaign that features 33 different maps and more than 100 missions. Players will be able to decide for themselves which territories to attack and defend. In addition, players will be able to completely customize their armies by forming alliances with up to two of the five sub-houses, such as the Tleixu, Ix, Fremen, Guild and Sardaukar, in the game.

Emperor will feature enhanced play over a Local Area Network and the Internet. Players can engage in fierce combat with each other or play cooperatively through specially created missions over Westwood Online(sm). A built-in worldwide ranking system allows players to track their victories and defeats against other Internet gamers.

Gamers can order Emperor online at www.eastore.ea.com or call toll free at 877-EA GAMES (877-324-2637). Emperor can also be ordered from Babbage’s at www.gamestop.com and from Electronics Boutique at www.ebworld.com. Those who pre-purchase Emperor from these locations will receive three additional multiplayer units. Those who pre-purchase will receive a special code to “unlock” the units over Westwood Online. This will give these players a distinct advantage during multiplayer games.

More information about Emperor can be found at www.westwood.com.

Westwood Studios is a prominent publisher of best-selling PC, and next-generation console games. Formed in 1985, Westwood Studios has released several popular titles and franchises including: Dune™ 2000, the Lands of Lore™ series, the Kyrandia ™ adventure trilogy, Monopoly® for the Internet, Blade Runner™ and the Command & Conquer product line. Westwood is a wholly owned subsidiary of Electronic Arts.

Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:ERTS), headquartered in Redwood City, California, is the world’s leading interactive entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, Electronic Arts posted revenues of more than $1.4 billion for fiscal 2000. The company develops, publishes and distributes software worldwide for personal computers and video game systems. Electronic Arts markets its products under three brand names: EA SPORTS™, EA GAMES™, and EA.COMSM More information about EA’s products and full text of press releases can be found on the Internet at http://www.ea.com.

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Electronic Arts, Westwood Studios, EA GAMES, EA SPORTS, Red Alert, Lands of Lore, Kyrandia and Command & Conquer are trademarks or registered trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. EA.COM is a service mark of EA.com Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

For more information call: 

Amy Farris 

Public Relations Westwood Studios 

702/228-4040, ext. 27341 

afarris@westwood.com

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