EA Announces Plans For The Sims Hot Date Expansion Pack

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EA Announces Plans For The Sims Hot Date Expansion Pack

Third Add-on Disk to 2000 and 2001's Top-Selling PC Game in Stores this Fall

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., July 5, 2001 - Electronic Arts (Nasdaq: ERTS) today announced plans to release this Fall The Sims™ Hot Date Expansion Pack, a new add-on disk to the top-selling PC game of 2000 & 2001, The Sims™. The Sims Hot Date Expansion Pack represents an entirely new experience for The Sims-dating! With exciting new characters, interests, romance objects, and an all-new Downtown area filled with restaurants, shops and parks, The Sims Hot Date will get your Sims off the couch and into the singles scene. Play matchmaker for your Sims and watch them become Casanovas or Casanevers.

"Just like everyone, the Sims are looking for love," said Tim LeTourneau, Producer at EA's Maxis™ studio. "Hot Date allows Sims to experience the hilarious ups and downs of the dating game."

Players can have their Sims ask each other out on a date or try their luck with an in-game dating service. Arrange to meet another Sim Downtown at exciting and romantic locations that the player can create. Everything from a candlelit dinner, a drink at the bar or a rendezvous in the park is possible as your Sim attempts to orchestrate an evening to remember.

Once your Sim is out with that special someone, additional interests and new interactions keep the conversation flowing and chemistry clicking. Sims can now flirt, play footsie, engage in a little tonsil hockey, or converse in Simlish about new and diverse interests. Being a fun and fascinating date gets your Sim one step closer to a goodnight kiss or more!

Players can watch sparks fly or fizzle as their Sims meet and date a host of new characters. Sims can spurn the advances of The Jock, welcome the overtures of the Femme Fatale, find true lust with Mr. Medallion, or strike out with the Blonde Bombshell. Over 100 new objects, including the Picnic Basket, Cuddle Couch and the Love Tub, allow players to set the mood for their Sims. Find your Sim a soul mate…or have fun trying with The Sims Hot Date.

The Sims' unparalleled success has already inspired the creation of two add-on packs, The Sims Livin' Large which shipped in September 2000 and The Sims House Party which shipped April 2001. The Sims Livin' Large allows players to put their simulated families from The Sims into new extreme situations and settings and The Sims House Party gives players the chance to host outrageous parties for their Sims. Combined sales for both titles in North American top one million units.

The Sims, the wildly popular game that allows players to create a neighborhood of simulated people known as "Sims" and control their lives, skyrocketed to the top of the charts when it began shipping to stores in February 2000 and has quickly become a universal gaming and cultural phenomenon. It was the best selling PC game of 2000 and 2001 according to Reston-based PC Data. Translated into 13 different languages, the game has sold over 4 million units worldwide. For more information on The Sims, The Sims Livin' Large, The Sims House Party, and The Sims Hot Date visit http://www.ea.com.

Electronic Arts, 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 2001. The company develops, publishes and distributes software worldwide for personal computers and video game systems. Electronic Arts markets its products under four brand names: EA SPORTS™, EA GAMES™, EA SPORTS BIG™ 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.