Aspyr Announces Fighting Fantasy for DS

Aspyr Media and Big Blue Bubble have partnered to launch Fighting Fantasy: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain for Nintendo DS. Based on the legendary book series by Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson, Fighting Fantasy: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain is a first-person fantasy role-playing game that takes players on an elaborate adventure through the Firetop Mountain Keep, the scene of the first entry in the renowned literary line. With a highly optimized 3D engine, dynamic lighting and highly detailed, full-frame animations, Fighting Fantasy: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain fully immerses players in the dank, eerie depths of each dungeon and passage.

"Fighting Fantasy: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain is our most ambitious Nintendo DS project to date," said Damir Slogar CEO of Big Blue Bubble Inc. "Driven by the vision of bringing next gen console gaming to the handheld platform, as well as our passion for role playing games, we spent the past few years working on a game that will showcase how this FPSRPG on Nintendo DS can and should look."

Mr. Slogar added, "both Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson shared our vision and helped us recreate the world of Fighting Fantasy. The last step was finding a publisher with the same enthusiasm and Aspyr filled this role perfectly."

"Fighting Fantasy: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain might be the best looking game that we've ever seen on Nintendo DS and the opportunity to work with the likes of Ian Livingstone, Steve Jackson and the talented team at Big Blue Bubble was too good to pass up," said Ted Staloch, Executive Vice President, Aspyr Media. "The series created by Ian and Steve turned fantasy books into unprecedented interactive experiences. The game that bears the franchise's name will do the same for RPG gaming on a handheld."

Fighting Fantasy: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain follows a lone adventurer on his travels through the old Dwarven keep within Firetop Mountain. Now the residence of an evil warlock and hordes of foul creatures, the keep is a mysterious and dangerous place from which no one has returned in many years. As players guide the adventurer through the many passageways and dungeons, they develop the character's abilities and attributes to suit their play style. Enemies will fall before the player's brute strength with sword and axe, power of the arcane arts, nimble quickness or custom combinations of skills. A wealth of weaponry, armor, potions and enchantments are equipped through an intuitive drag-and-drop inventory system while helpful (or not-so-helpful) NPCs provide guidance, quests, trade goods and skill training.

The Fighting Fantasy book series launched in 1982 with the first title, The Warlock of Firetop Mountain. Authors Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson created a revolutionary new idea for the fantasy genre: the reader would become the hero of his or her own fantasy adventure in a story that would be part book, part game. After each paragraph a decision must be made: which way to turn, whether to fight or flee, which mysterious character to approach, and what risks to take. Each choice sent the reader to a different page to discover the consequences of their choice, with each read-through ending either in disaster, or with the discovery of the ultimate goal. To date, the series has seen more than 70 titles published and more than 14 million copies sold worldwide.

Fighting Fantasy: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain for Nintendo DS will be available this holiday season.