February 10^th, 2004 (12:00am) - Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) today announced that Champions of Norrath has shipped to North American retail stores. Champions of Norrath, available exclusively on the PlayStation 2, brings gamers into its immersive fantasy universe as they experience exciting hack-and-slash action. Champions of Norrath has more game features than any other game in the genre, including five playable character types, randomly generated dungeons and voice chat during online, four players co-op action. Champions of Norrath carries a suggested retail price of $49.99.

“We believe that Champions of Norrath is one of the greatest action RPGs the PlayStation 2 has ever seen,” said Don Vercelli, senior vice president, sales and marketing, Sony Online Entertainment. “No other game in the genre can match the features that Champions of Norrath offers, with up to 70 hours of gameplay per character, randomly generated dungeons, online and offline cooperative multiplayer adventuring, both voice and keyboard chat and an amazing graphics engine. We’re very proud of the game and we think that players are going to love it.”

Champions of Norrath features thousands of items, weapons and spells, unparalleled character customization, randomly generated dungeons that create a different and unique gameplay experience with each adventure, online and offline cooperative multiplayer adventuring, and an amazingly detailed 3D engine with multiple camera angles.

Champions of Norrath offers an online multiplayer component for no additional cost to players (players are responsible for providing a broadband internet connection for online play). Up to four players per game can adventure in Norrath via their broadband internet connection, using the PlayStation 2 Network Adaptor (sold separately). Players have the freedom to join an existing game or host their own through SOE’s matchmaking service, SOEGames.net. Champions of Norrath has both USB headset voice and keyboard chat support, allowing players to plan strategies during online play (USB headset/keyboard optional, each sold separately). Alternately, up to four players can use the Multitap (sold separately) to play together on a single PlayStation 2.