NHL Eastside Hockey Manager Players To Get Behind The Mask

SEGA | FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

LONDON, UK - March 29th, 2005 - SEGA Europe and Sports Interactive, the creators of the NHL^TM: Eastside Hockey Manager series, are offering hockey fans an unmissable opportunity to feature in the game's latest incarnation, NHL^TM: Eastside Hockey Manager 2005.

NHL^TM: Eastside Hockey Manager 2005, which is due for release this summer, boasts an incredible 32,000 players and staff - all listed in minute detail with more than 50 attributes each. However, as the game progresses and players retire, the database evolves and replaces the real players with fictional 'regenerated' players. Through this 'Face In The Game' promotion, SEGA and Sports Interactive are offering fans the opportunity to become one of these regenerated players.

"Allowing our fans to put their faces into the game is just a small way of us saying 'thanks' for all of the support that we've been shown over the years that the Eastside games have been in development," says Risto Remes, Lead Developer of NHL^TM: Eastside Hockey Manager. "We've always said that this game is 'by fans, for fans' and now we can say it's 'with fans' too."

To become a Face in the Game, EHM fans need to submit a digital photograph of themselves that will be used as the face of one these 'regenerated' players. In addition to providing a digital representation of their face, fans should also supply their name, age, favourite club and as many details as possible so that Sports Interactive can add depth to their new digital persona. Full details are available online at www.sigames.com/faceinthegame/.

SEGA and Sports Interactive ran a similar promotion for the smash hit football management simulation Football Manager 2005 (released October 2004) which resulted in 10,000 users submitting their faces and details for inclusion in that game.

Guidelines:

There are a few restrictions as to the style of photos, which will be acceptable: the shots should not contain any team colours, for example.

Also, as regenerated players are usually aged between 18 and 25, only photos which represent people within that age range will be used to depict players. All other photos supplied will be used to represent non-playing staff.

Further information, including details of the size and composition of acceptable photos, is available from www.sigames.com/faceinthegame/ .

About The Game:

The second in the series, NHL^TM: Eastside Hockey Manager 2005 is a comprehensive ice hockey management simulation featuring more than 15 playable leagues, a comprehensive database of 3,200 teams and over 32,000 players and staff. NHL^TM: Eastside Hockey Manager 2005 is slated for release across Europe and North America in Summer 2005 and is officially licensed by the National Hockey League Players' Association.

NHL is a trademark of the National Hockey League. All rights reserved. Officially licensed by the National Hockey League Players Association

About Sports Interactive

Sports Interactive (SI), the creator of the Championship Manager? series, is the world's leading developer of sports management simulations. Founded in 1994 and based in Islington, North London, SI has a full-time staff of 34 and employs the services of more than 2,500 part-time researchers across the globe. Five of SI's creations are among the UK's Top 20 best-selling PC games of all time. The company's future games will be published by the global computer and video games giant, SEGA. Further information on the company is available from its website, www.sigames.com.

About SEGA Europe^®

SEGA Europe Ltd. is the European Publishing arm of Tokyo, Japan-based SEGA Corporation, a worldwide leader in interactive entertainment both inside and outside the home. The company develops, publishes and distributes interactive entertainment software products for a variety of hardware platforms including PC, wireless devices, and those manufactured by Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. SEGA Europe's web site is located at www.sega-europe.com

Contact:

Stefan McGarry, Public Relations, SEGA Europe Ltd

Tel: +44 208 996 4456

[email protected]