Press release: 2002-08-15: SEGA MOBILE ROLLS OUT ITS FIRST WIRELESS GAME WITH SEGA Monkey Ball

This is an unaltered copy of a press release, for use as a primary source on Sega Retro. Please do not edit the contents below. Language: English Original source: Sega Mobile website

Popular Console Franchise Goes Mobile with SEGA Monkey Ball Now Available through PCS VisionSM from Sprint

San Francisco, Calif. and Overland Park, Kan. - (August 15, 2002) - It's time to monkey around! SEGA MobileTM, a division of Sega.comTM, Inc. dedicated to bringing SEGA® content to the mobile market in North America, today announced the availability of SEGA Monkey BallTM through PCS VisionSM, a next generation wireless service recently launched nationwide by Sprint (NYSE: FON, PCS), which operates the largest all-digital, all-PCS nationwide wireless network. Based on the hit console game, SEGA Monkey Ball delivers the adorable characters and fun-filled puzzle games right into the hands of Sprint wireless customers using Vision-capable PCS Phones. One of the first full-color mobile games offered to Sprint wireless customers, SEGA Monkey Ball is available on Vision-capable PCS Phones for a charge of $3.99 per download for 30 days of play.

A free, five-stage demo of SEGA Monkey Ball will be embedded on select Vision-capable PCS Phones. Sprint wireless customers will be able to download the full version of the game with all 15 levels onto their phones by selecting "Games" from the Web homepage on their handsets and scrolling through the list of available titles to select SEGA Monkey Ball. Customers can also purchase the game on www.sprintpcs.com by accessing the content catalog and selecting "Games." SEGA Monkey Ball fans will be billed on their monthly Sprint wireless invoice.

"Videogames have become a mainstream activity that not only includes the home videogame console segment but has also expanded beyond the living room into wireless entertainment," said Fred Huey, COO of Sega.com. "The wireless gaming industry is an untapped market with millions of consumers already wireless phone users. SEGA Mobile is dedicated to bringing quality entertainment content to this large community of potential gamers."

"Sprint is pleased to be the first and only U.S. carrier to provide exciting SEGA Mobile games to wireless customers," said Scott Relf, senior vice president of marketing for the PCS Division of Sprint. "With the enhanced speeds and color graphics of PCS Vision and the mobility of Vision-capable PCS Phones, the next evolution of gaming is clearly wireless."

In SEGA Monkey Ball, gamers guide a spherically-encased monkey through 15 exhilarating levels of puzzles and obstacles to reach the goal line. In this game, gravity is your enemy; if players tilt the puzzle board too far, they'll send the lovable monkey into the deep abyss making the Vision-capable PCS Phone vibrate. The phone also vibrates and makes a sound when players make a goal. In addition, players face numerous hurdles along the way including wind, icy terrain, moving platforms and black bananas that will make any monkey go bonkers.

Following the release of SEGA Monkey Ball, SEGA Mobile will be releasing a host of additional SEGA games for Sprint wireless customers, including classic titles such as Pengo and SEGA Fast Lane. SEGA Mobile is committed to bringing quality video game content to the burgeoning wireless video game market in the U.S., be it classic SEGA content or new titles in a variety of genres including puzzles and sports. With market research firm, Frost & Sullivan, expecting revenues for wireless gaming to reach to $9.34 billion in 2008, SEGA Mobile is well positioned to become one of the leading providers of wireless games in the U.S. market.

Initially, PCS Vision will include services that allow consumer and business customers to use their Vision-enabled PCS Devices to take and receive pictures, check personal and corporate e-mail, play games with full-color graphics and polyphonic sounds and browse the Internet wirelessly with speeds comparable to a home computer's dial-up connection. The shift to providing clarity you can see and hear has revolutionized virtually every aspect of wireless service from Sprint.

For more information, please visit www.us.segamobile.com and www.sprint.com/mr. For screenshots visit ftp://ftp.accesspr.com/PUBLIC/Sega.com/Sega_Mobile/.


About SEGA Mobile
SEGA Mobile (www.us.segamobile.com), a division of Sega.com, is an interactive gaming division that is dedicated to bringing the thrills and excitement of networked gaming to cellular phone and PDA users in North America. The new division consists of Publishing, Content delivery, and Marketing teams solely focused on providing innovative, unique and classic content for the mobile market.

About Sega.com, Inc
Sega.com, Inc. (www.sega.com) is a network entertainment company that integrates Internet technology with innovation while leveraging a video game heritage dating back more than 50 years. Sega.com also built SegaNet the only high-speed online console gaming network and community destination for gamers. Sega.com is dedicated to bringing the technology and content required for networked entertainment to game developers and game players alike, leveraging the network possibilities for a multitude of devices including game consoles, cellular phones and PDAs.

About Sprint
Sprint is a global communications company serving more than 26 million business and residential customers in over 70 countries. With approximately 80,000 employees worldwide and more than $26 billion in annual revenues, Sprint is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying state of the art network technologies, including the United States' first nationwide all-digital, fiber-optic network. Sprint's award-winning Tier 1 Internet backbone is being extended to key global markets to provide customers with a broad portfolio of scalable IP products. Sprint's high-capacity, high-speed network gives customers fast, dependable, nonstop access to the vast majority of the world's Internet content. Sprint also operates the largest 100-percent digital, nationwide PCS wireless network in the United States, including more than 4,000 cities and communities.