For immediate release

CELEBRITIES JOIN EA SPORTS BIG AS CHARACTERS IN SSX TRICKY

 Lucy Liu, Oliver Platt and David Arquette headline the star-studded cast for SSX Tricky

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – October 9, 2001 – Electronic Arts (Nasdaq: ERTS) announced today that SSX Tricky, the latest title from the EA SPORTS BIG brand, will integrate the voices and personalities of top celebrities from film, music and the performing arts into the characters in the eagerly anticipated follow up to SSX, the critically-acclaimed and top-selling original video game for the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system. Lucy Liu (Charlie’s Angels), Oliver Platt (Lake Placid) and David Arquette (Scream) are just a few who will contribute their vocal personalities to original characters in SSX Tricky.  Terms of the agreements were not disclosed. 

“I love to play video games myself, but not having done this before I really didn’t know what to expect,” said Oliver Platt.  “I just took what was on the page and tried to make it as big and stupid as possible.”  Platt continued, “I don’t actually snowboard, but I guess I do now.  Who knows, maybe after playing SSX Tricky it’ll be automatic.”

Joining Liu, Platt and Arquette are Grammy-winner Macy Gray, actor Billy Zane (Titanic), actress Patricia Velazquez (The Mummy Returns), performance artist Jim Rose (The Jim Rose Circus) and alternative music recording artist Bif Naked. 

“I love video games,” said Macy Gray.  “Now that I’m a video game character I feel like I’ve made it, I’ve finally arrived.”

The celebrity voice-overs will be incorporated into each characters pre-race, in-race and post-race dialogue.  In addition, their real-life counterparts inspire the personalities and look of the celebrity-voiced characters in SSX Tricky. 

All the voice-recording sessions were video taped and will be used for a “behind the scenes” feature included on the SSX Tricky DVD disc.  Here, players will be able to see the celebrity talent as they’re recording their dialogue and obtain exclusive interviews and insight from the personalities behind the riders, all on the same DVD disc as the SSX Tricky game.

“We are excited we secured such a tremendous cast of talent to work on SSX Tricky,” said executive producer Steven Rechtschaffner.  “We believe these personalities, each with their own attitude and style, will make the riders more compelling and the story of SSX Tricky deeper, bringing players back for a unique gaming experience every time.” 

SSX for the PlayStation®2 is the top selling original title for the PlayStation 2, as of September 2001, according to TRST Data.   SSX has not only enjoyed retail success, but it bowled over the game industry media as well, demonstrated by more than 12 interactive entertainment industry award nominations for 2000, including a nomination for the Blockbuster Entertainment Award for PlayStation 2 “Game of the Year.” SSX garnered five awards from the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences including Console Game of the Year and Sports Games of the Year. SSX won “Game of the Year” from PSM and “PlayStation 2 Game of the Year” from PSE2 Magazine and received Germany’s Gamespot.de Gold Award amongst other international nominations.

SSX Tricky will be available this winter on the PlayStation 2 console, the Xbox^™ video game system from Microsoft® and the Nintendo GameCube^™.

 ABOUT SSX Tricky

SSX Tricky utilizes DVD media that allows for additional content including a new “DVD-like” 3D front end, as well as exclusive behind the scenes footage from voice recording sessions to off the mountain interaction between the riders.  New tracks, environments and configurations allow riders to pump up their trick repertoire.  SSX Tricky also features new music from the cutting edge world of electronic breaks and beats cut by such turntable all-stars as Mix Master Mike of the Beastie Boys, The Plump DJ’s and others.  SSX Tricky will be available on the PlayStation®2, Nintendo GameCube™, and the Xbox™ in winter 2001.

Game Website: http://ssxtricky.ea.com

ABOUT 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 $1.3 billion for fiscal 2001. The company develops, publishes and distributes software worldwide for the Internet, personal computers and video game systems. Electronic Arts markets its products under four brand names: EA SPORTS^TM, EA GAMES^TM, EA SPORTS BIG™ and EA.COM^SM. More information about EA's products and full text of press releases can be found on the Internet at http://www.info.ea.com.

Electronic Arts, EA SPORTS, EA SPORTS BIG and EA GAMES are trademarks or registered trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries.  EA.COM is a service mark of EA.com Inc. PlayStation is a registered trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.  Xbox and Microsoft are trademarks of Microsoft Corp.  Nintendo GameCube is a trademark of Nintendo.  All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

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