Sony Online Entertainment and its European partner Koch Media announced EverQuest II Echoes of Faydwer is in the UK store after the game invaded US market yesterday.

Basingstoke ¨C November 14, 2006 ¨C Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE), a global leader in the online games industry and Koch Media announced that EverQuest® II Echoes of Faydwer™ is shipping to retail stores in UK.

The retail version of the game is available for a suggested retail price of 24.99 , and includes the base EverQuest II game, the Echoes of Faydwer expansion, and the two previously released expansions, Desert of Flames™ and Kingdom of Sky™.

"Our goal with Echoes of Faydwer is to solidly deliver on the best parts of the classic EverQuest feel, while adding plenty of new and exciting places to the world," said Scott Hartsman, senior producer of EverQuest II. "With its rich, vibrant environments, amazing sounds and music, brand new race to play, and the largest collection of places to adventure, Faydwer is shaping up to be a fantastic experience for all EQ2 players, new and old alike."

This new EverQuest II expansion is the first to provide content for all players, from level 1 to level 70. Echoes of Faydwer introduces a new playable race, The Fae. This winged, fairy-like race lives in the arboreal city of Kelethin, the new starting location for the Fae, as well as Dwarves, Gnomes, Half Elves, High Elves and Wood Elves. Kelethin is one of many new zones players will explore, all of them based on zones from the original EverQuest, until now separated by 500 years of conflict and cataclysm. Players can also quest through other popular zones from EverQuest, such as Butcherblock Mountains, Castle Mistmoore, Crushbone Keep and Steamfont Mountains.

A new Deity system also awaits players in Echoes of Faydwer. Adventurers can choose to worship one of eight gods from the original EverQuest, opening up a new line of quests for new loot, items and even more powerful spells. Cloaks, a highly requested item from the player community, have also been added to this new expansion, for solo players as well as customizable cloaks for guilds. Echoes of Faydwer includes over 350 new quests, armor, and new horse mounts available to players of all levels.

Players will encounter over 40 new types of creatures, more than 20 new zones and adventure areas, obtain all-new items, equipment, spells and tradeskill recipes and will be able to compete against other players for new PvP (Player vs. Player) rewards for PvP-enabled servers. The Achievement system introduced in the Kingdom of Sky expansion has been enhanced to include additional sub-class abilities, allowing players to further customize their characters¡¯ abilities.

About Sony Online Entertainment
Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE) is a recognized worldwide leader in massively multiplayer online games, with hundreds of thousands of subscribers around the globe. SOE creates, develops and provides compelling entertainment for the personal computer, online, game console and wireless markets. Known for its blockbuster franchises and hit titles including EverQuest®, EverQuest® II, Champions of Norrath®, Untold Legends™, and PlanetSide®, as well as for developing Star Wars Galaxies™, SOE continues to redefine the business of online gaming and the creation of active player communities while introducing new genres on various entertainment platforms. Headquartered in San Diego, CA, with additional development studios in Austin, TX, Seattle, WA, Denver, CO, and Taiwan, SOE has an array of cutting-edge games in development. SOE is owned by Sony Pictures Digital and Sony Computer Entertainment America.

SOE, the SOE logo, EverQuest and PlanetSide are registered trademarks of Sony Online Entertainment LLC. Untold Legends is a trademark of Sony Online Entertainment LLC. All other trademarks and trade names are properties of their respective owners.

About KOCH MEDIA
Founded by Franz Koch and Klemens Kundratitz in 1994, Koch Media is a leading production and marketing company for digital entertainment products in Europe. The company focuses on publishing and licensing software products, games and films on DVD. Koch Media?s sales, marketing and distribution activities cover the whole of Europe, and the company has achieved strategic cooperation agreements with numerous software and games manufacturers: G-Data, JoWooD, Lexware, Pinnacle, Square-Enix, Sunflowers, Ulead, etc. While Koch Media?s head office is situated in Planegg, near Munich, the company also maintains further branches in Germany, England, France, Austria, Switzerland and Italy.
More information: http://www.kochmedia.com and http://www.deepsilver.com