XFIRE™ LAUNCHES AT DEMO 2004: SOCIAL NETWORKING APPLICATION DESIGNED SPECIFICALLY FOR ONLINE GAMERS

New Free Service Lets Gamers Track, Alert, and Connect Easily with Friends Online

SCOTTSDALE, AZ (DEMO 2004) – February 16, 2004 – Ultimate Arena, Inc., the leading tournament platform for multiplayer online gamers, today announced the release of Xfire™, a free service that lets gamers track, alert, and connect easily with friends online.  Xfire automatically tracks when and where gamers’ friends are playing PC games online. With one click, gamers can instantly join their friends’ games.

Xfire also supports in-game Instant Messaging notification, which alerts friends playing online when a buddy is ready to jump in.

Xfire users can:

• Join a game already running with one click

• Automatically be alerted when their friends are playing online

• Find and play with friends of friends

• Inform friends that the user is interested in playing a particular game

“A majority of gamers prefer to play their favorite online games with friends, but find it a pain to organize,” said Mike Cassidy, Chief Executive Officer of Ultimate Arena, Inc. “Xfire eliminates the hassle by changing the online gaming experience from being game server-centered to being player-centered. Xfire lets gamers track, alert, and connect to their friends playing online.”

“I’m a gamer myself and I love everything Xfire allows me to do,” said Chris Shipley, Executive Producer of DEMO.  “When I first heard about it, I thought it was a great idea, and I wondered why no one else had done it before.”

Xfire’s user-friendly interface lets gamers know when, where, and what game their friends are playing at any time. Xfire supports numerous server and non-server based First Person Shooter, Real Time Strategy, and Role Playing games.  Xfire is a free service supported by “Message of the Day” sponsors. 

Games supported by Xfire currently include: America’s Army, Battlefield 1942, Counter-Strike, EverQuest, Halo, Lineage, Quake III, Starcraft, Unreal Tournament 2003, Warcraft III, Call of Duty, Final Fantasy XI, and over 50 more.

To download the free version of Xfire please visit www.xfire.com.

About Ultimate Arena

Ultimate Arena was founded by Max Woon, Dennis "Thresh" Fong (World Champion of Quake and Doom), Mike Cassidy (former CEO of Direct Hit), and David Lawee. Ultimate Arena, Inc. is funded by Draper Fisher Jurvetson and is based in Menlo Park, California.

CONTACT:

Brooke Hammerling

PR21

415-596-5428

brooke.hammerling@pr21.com