INTEL AND SQUARE ENIX COLLABORATION BRINGS FINAL FANTASY® XI TO MAINSTREAM CONSUMER PCs

Square Enix |

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tokyo, (September 17, 2004) - Intel Corporation and Square Enix Co., Ltd. ("Square Enix"), a leading Japanese game developer and publisher, announced today that FINAL FANTASY^® XI for Windows^® can now be played on mainstream consumer PCs with the Intel^® 915G Express chipset which is supported by an integrated graphics technology. In the past, additions of costly external graphics card were required to play FINAL FANTASY XI on a PC due to its advanced graphics.

The Intel 915G Express chipset is a key component for volume mainstream PCs for the second half of 2004 and beyond, and its internal "Graphics Media Accelerator 900 (GMA900)" achieved 1.7 times of 3D graphics performance1 compared to Intel's previous generation chipset with integrated graphics.

"We are very pleased to announce that FINAL FANTASY XI can now be played on high-volume, consumer PCs featuring the Intel 915G Express chipset with integrated graphics, in time for the holiday season," said Bill Siu, Intel's vice president and general manager of the Desktop Platforms Group. "With this new PC, more consumers can take advantage of the new media capabilities in graphics and audio to experience the excitement of 3D online games like FINAL FANTASY XI."

"Combining Intel's integrated graphics technology and Square Enix's software technology, we can enable more consumers with affordably priced PCs to play FINAL FANTASY XI, a game which requires intense graphics performance. We are so pleased with the timing as FINAL FANTASY XI and the expansion pack, Chains of Promathia, are both now open to European gamers. The expansion pack is already available to Japanese users and will soon be released to other supported regions such as North America, making FINAL FANTASY XI a truly global experience. We hope to provide new gaming experiences on various PC platforms with the continued collaboration between the two companies," said Yoichi Wada, President of Square Enix.

"In the online game market segment, the high performance PC is the leading platform and given the broadband infrastructure advances in Japan, we must have faster growing opportunity in this market," said Kazumasa Yoshida, Representative Director and Co-President, Intel K.K. "Intel desires to expand PC and online game market in Japan by collaborating with the leading game industry companies like Square Enix in technology and marketing."

Intel and Square Enix have also been collaborating on FINAL FANTASY XI performance optimization for PCs featuring the Intel^® Pentium^® 4 processor supporting Hyper-Threading Technology2.

FINAL FANTASY XI is played by half a million people worldwide and is the first cross-platform, cross-continent massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). The two companies will continue collaborating to enrich content running on PC platforms and reach more end users, not only in Japan but worldwide.

About Intel

Intel, the world's largest chip maker, is also a leading manufacturer of computer, networking and communications products. Additional information about Intel is available at www.intel.com/pressroom.

About Square Enix Co. Ltd.

Headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, Square Enix Co., Ltd. (Square Enix) develops, publishes and distributes entertainment content including interactive entertainment software and publications in Japan, North America, Europe and Asia. Square Enix brings two of Japan's best-selling franchises - FINAL FANTASY^®, which has sold over 60 million units worldwide and DRAGON QUEST (DRAGON WARRIOR. in Europe) which has sold over 35 million units worldwide - under one roof. Square Enix is one of the most influential providers of digital entertainment content in the world and continues to push the boundaries of creativity and innovation. More information on Square Enix can be found on the Internet at http://www.square-enix.co.jp.

*Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.

Intel and Pentium are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries.

*® 2001- 2004 SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD. All Rights Reserved. Title Design by Yoshitaka Amano. FINAL FANTASY, TETRA MASTER, and VANA'DIEL are registered trademarks of Square Enix Co., Ltd. PLAYONLINE, RISE OF THE ZILART, THE CHAINS OF PROMATHIA and the PLAYONLINE logo are trademarks of Square Enix Co., Ltd.

1. Compared 3D graphics performance with Intel 865G chipset based platform using 3DMark 2001 SE. Detail information is available at http://www.intel.com/update/contents/dt07041.htm.

2. Hyper-Threading Technology requires a computer system with an Intel^® Pentium^® 4 processor supporting HT Technology and an HT Technology enabled chipset, BIOS and operating system. Performance will vary depending on the specific hardware and software you use. See www.intel.com/info/hyperthreading for more information including details on which processors support HT Technology.

SQUARE ENIX CONTACTS:

Stephanie Journau / Abbass Hussain

Square Enix Ltd.

+44 (0) 20 7291 5100

[email protected]

[email protected]

Felice Wu

Square Enix Inc.

+1 310 846 0400

[email protected]

INTEL CONTACTS:

Shannon Love

Intel Corporation

+1 480 554 2988

[email protected]

Hisashi Nagai

Intel K.K.(Japan)

+81 3 5223 9100

[email protected]