April 26^th, 2004 (12:00am) - Sony Online Entertainment Inc. (SOE), a worldwide leader in massively multiplayer online (MMO) gaming, today announced that Beta sign-ups for EverQuest II will begin in May and the Beta testing program itself will begin in June. EverQuest II will be available at retail in North America after the Beta program is complete later in the year.

"We’ve been playing EverQuest II internally for months and we’re finally ready to begin letting people in to see the world we’ve built over the last four years," said John Smedley, president, Sony Online Entertainment. "Beta testing is incredibly important for a game like EverQuest II as it helps us both to identify technical issues and continue to polish the game before it goes live. This is one of the final steps in developing a game as huge and important as EverQuest II, and we’re looking forward to seeing how players react to the game."

Dedicated, longtime subscribers to SOE’s EverQuest Legends service will be the first allowed into Beta, followed by players that fulfilled the requirements of the Lords of EverQuest special offer. Additional Beta testers will be selected from applications received through the EverQuest II website. Gamers interested in signing up for the Beta are encouraged to visit http://www.everquest2.com beginning May 3, 2004 at 10:00 A.M. PDT, for information on how to apply for a Beta slot. SOE will notify qualified Beta applicants in stages over the coming months.