Westwood releases major patch for Earth & Beyond public test

WESTWOOD STUDIOS RELEASES MAJOR PATCH FOR EARTH & BEYOND PUBLIC TEST

New patch now live 

LAS VEGAS, NV (July 1, 2002) –
Westwood Studios(tm) announced today that it
has released a major patch for Earth &
Beyond(tm) that includes new grouping features, an upgraded skill
system, and an improved chat interface. 
Earth & Beyond is an online role-playing galaxy that will be
published by EA (NASDAQ:ERTS) under the EA GAMES(tm) brand in summer 2002. 

This patch
incorporates most of the game’s major features into the public test.  From now
until the game’s launch in late summer, the development team will continue to
fix bugs, balance, and add content to the game universe.

Westwood is
ramping up the public test of Earth &
Beyond, over the next few months. 
Thousands of new testers will be selected in this month, and anyone wishing to
participate in the public test can sign up online at

www.earthandbeyond.com.    

The patch
includes: 

• Improvements to the grouping and
  formation systems, including the addition of the basic functionality of a
  guild system

• Improvements to the in-game
  monsters, including damage effects, combat attributes, and behavior patterns
  

• Upgraded interiors in several
  star bases

• Improved chat interface,
  allowing players to more easily initiate a chat channel and to also find
  friends in-game

• Upgraded skill system, including
  new skills, improvements to existing skills, and new visual effects

• Enhancements to existing
  sectors, including new sounds and art

• Improvements to the in-game
  music, including the addition of new music in space and inside
  starbases

• New animations for many avatars,
  and improvements to existing avatar movements

• More options during character
  creation

• An upgraded and expanded star
  map, so players can more easily find their way around the game universe
  

• Improvements and bug fixes to
  many random and scripted missions

• Improvements and bug fixes in
  the warp system

• Upgraded vendor terminals,
  allowing players to more easily buy, sell and compare goods

• An updated look and
  functionality of the manufacturing and vault terminals

Current testers
will be automatically updated with the new patch the next time they log onto
the game.

In
Earth & Beyond, players become the
captain their own starships and live star-spanning adventures as they explore,
trade and fight with thousands of others. Testers
will be part of the creation process and will see the universe take shape
around them as the developers add more sectors, planets, missions, quests,
monsters, characters, features, evolving plot lines and more.

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ABOUT
WESTWOOD STUDIOS

Westwood
Studios^TM is a prominent publisher of best-selling PC and
next-generation console games.  Formed in 1985, Westwood is the creator of the
15-million + selling Command
& Conquer^TM

franchise that includes
Command & Conquer^TM, Tiberian
Sun^TM, and
Red Alert^TM
1 and 2 and Command & Conquer Renegade. 
Westwood has also released award-winning titles such as
Blade Runner^TM,
Monopoly(r), and
the Lands of Lore^TM
series.  Looking forward, Westwood is expanding to new franchises and genres
with upcoming titles such as Earth and
Beyond^TM. 
More information can be found at the
company’s official website at

http://www.westwood.ea.com. 

ABOUT
ELECTRONIC ARTS

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 $1.7 billion for fiscal 2002. The company develops, publishes and
distributes software worldwide for the Internet, personal computers and video
game systems. EA 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://info.ea.com.

Electronic Arts, Westwood Studios, Earth & Beyond, Command & Conquer, Command
& Conquer Renegade, Tiberian Sun, Red Alert, Lands
of Lore, Earth and Beyond, EA SPORTS, EA SPORTS BIG and EA GAMES are
trademarks or  registered trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. in the United
States and/or other countries.  EA.COM is a service mark of EA.com Inc. All
other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.