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British gaming legends Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson have teamed up with Bad Management to bring the classic Fighting Fantasy series of solo role-playing books to a new genweration through portable console platforms (PSP).

The Fighting Fantasy gamebook series is a publishing phenomenon, with total worldwide sales of over 15 million books in 26 different languages and established the Games Workshop co-founders Livingstone and Jackson as creative pioneers of interactive entertainment.

Pictured (right): Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone - continuing to forge new directions in British gaming.

Solo Roleplaying

Commenting, Ian Livingstone said, "Fighting Fantasy built up a huge, worldwide fan base over the years. We believe that players will really enjoy the adventures in a new way on DS and PSP. Fighting Fantasy's interactive structure is ideal for bite-sized chunks of gameplay which is important for these devices."

Steve Jackson, Fighting Fantasy's co-creator; added, "We're convinced that innovative handheld versions will challenge and entertain a whole new generation of gamers - as well as existing fans - and will form the basis of a new portable gaming franchise."

John Cook, Senior Partner at Bad Management remarked, "Finding the right development and publishing partners for this project will be the key to its success. With such a reputation and sales history, there is bound to be a lot of interest in the brand alone; but we're looking to team the guys up with collaborators who truly understand the nature and potential of this unique, premium IP."

Ian Livingstone OBE is Product Acquisition Director and former Chairman of Eidos - the folk behind the world-conquering Lara Croft: Tomb Raider franchise. Chair of the Computer Games Skills Forum he was the co-founder of Nottingham-based high street gaming giants Games Workshop, was formerly editor of White Dwarf magazine - during it's early role-playing games phase - and co-creator of the Fighting Fantasy series.

The Warlock of Firetop Mountain

With Livingstone the co-founder of Games Workshop and co-creator of Fighting Fantasy Steve Jackson is now Professor of Game Design at London's Brunel University. He also created F.I.S.T. - the world's first interactive telephone game.

Originally published in the 1980's by Puffin Books starting with The Warlock of Firetop Mountain in 1982, the Fighting Fantasy solo gamebook series included many titles, among them Deathtrap Dungeon, Caverns of the Snow Witch and the science fiction adventure Starship Traveller. The first twenty odd were return entirely by Jackson or Livingstone and spawning a veritable mini-industry of lookalike solo roleplaying gamebooks that were released throughout the 1980s. The range was recently re-launched in the UK by Icon Books.

For more information on the world of Fighting Fantasy visit the official website at: www.fightingfantasy.com

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