We have some great news for those patient and accommodating fans of Arc the Lad. The English-version emulation of the game has been completed and is set for re-release on January 18th in the PS one Classics, Imports section, on the EU PlayStation Network. We would like to apologise for the inconvenience and sincerely thank all of you for your immense patience during this process.

Many of our games are true Japanese imports. When we first released Arc on the EU PlayStation, the game was in Japanese. But a game of Arc’s complexity needs to be in English. Working Design’s wonderfully localized version is still one of the most appreciated tactical RPGs of all time. So we can now present the full depth of story in English that was needed to enjoy this game.

Players follow the young adventurer Arc, who sets out to save a world teetering on the edge of oblivion. But he’s not alone; seven different party members will join the quest over the course of the game, each one bursting with dozens of hand-drawn frames of animation that immerse players in the surreal fantasy landscape.

Arc the Lad introduced gameplay features like jumping and body blocking that extended the tactical strategy element. Further enhancing the game’s presentation, the epic soundtrack is widely remembered for its excellence. Players can also choose to plumb the depths of an optional 50-level dungeon that, if conquered, will influence future events in Arc the Lad II, unlocking a key character and a separate side quest.

If you haven’t already, make sure to follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/monkeypawgames.

Thanks again for your support and expect even more classics returning on MonkeyPaw Games soon!

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When my son talks about his favorite rock bands and the music of today, I always advise him to listen to the blues. To fully understand music, you have to look at its roots. The blues brought us many of today’s contemporary sounds. Art of any form is a collection of creative inspiration. Past masters influence resonate with today’s prodigies and new art is conceived. The same is true of games.

One reason retro gaming is enjoying its recent renaissance is because gamers want to go back to their roots. Today’s games, with their mesmerizing graphics, sometimes lack a simple hook. Graphics can become a form of marketing, which can distort the mechanics and gameplay. Retro games didn’t have that luxury.

MonkeyPaw is all about the chance to relive some of those great games that made you a gaming junkie. So today we present a title that reminds us of our fighting game foundations. Galaxy Fight is a classic SunSoft title that strangely never found its way West.

You’ll see the first time an “endless” platform was used in a fighting game and how well it influenced other games. Galaxy Fight has a rhythm that just flows into fun. Retro gaming is where you’ll see today’s games in their infancy… and you might even hear a little blues humming inside your head.

Galaxy Fight is available from PlayStation Store from 10 January, 2012.

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With Christmas just around the corner, ’tis the season to be jolly! And now you have 12 extra special reasons to be jolly as the 12 Deals of Christmas come to PlayStation Store.

During the month of December – up until Christmas Day – PlayStation Store will feature 12 amazing deals for you to unwrap. However, each deal will only be available to redeem from PlayStation Store for 48 hours, before – like Santa on Christmas morning – it vanishes…

Each of the 12 Deals of Christmas will start and stop at 12:00pm (GMT) on the following dates:

• Christmas Deal 1 – 1st to 3rd December

LittleBigPlanet 2 + 10 free DLC packs (Jak and Daxter Costume Kit, Festive Goodies Level Kit, God of War Level Kit, Heavenly Sword Level Kit, inFAMOUS Costume, Killzone Costume Kit, Kratos Costume, Sackboy On The Run Dynamic Theme, MotorStorm Costume, Animals Costume) – €34.99/£24.99 (extra 10% discount for PlayStation Plus members)

• Christmas Deal 2 – 3rd to 5th December

Up to 50% Driver: San Francisco with an additional 10% discount for PlayStation Plus subscribers.

• Christmas Deal 3 – 5th to 7th December

Get up to 50% off Child of Eden in PlayStation Store.

• Christmas Deal 4 – 7th to 9th December

Up to 31% off Section 8: Prejudice + free DLC.

• Christmas Deal 5 – 9th to 11th December

Up to 55% off Warhammer 40k: Space Marines

• Christmas Deal 6 – 11th to 13th December

Up to 55% off Payday: The Heist

• Christmas Deal 7 – 13th to 15th December

Up to 33% off Micky’s Wild Adventure

• Christmas Deal 8 – 15th to 17th December

Up to 42% off Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition

• Christmas Deal 9 – 17th to 19th December

Up to 31% off Deus EX: Human Revolution Complete Edition (Including the full game and the Explosive mission, Tactical Enhancement and Missing Link DLC packs)

• Christmas Deal 10 – 19th to 21st December

Up to 55% off Renegade Ops

• Christmas Deal 11 – 21st to 23rd December

• Christmas Deal 12 – 23rd to 25th December

So don’t miss out on some great one time offers – take a sleigh ride over to PlayStation Store for the 12 Deals of Christmas.

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If you like great platformers (and we know you do – remember Rayman on the PSone?!), we at Ubisoft Montpellier prepared a little surprise for you – a demo for THE platformer of the year, of the decade, of the century, of the universe and beyond (yeah we’re a little excited): Rayman Origins. And even greater: it’s available today PSN!

In this demo, you will be able to play 3 of the 60+ levels created for the game, each in a different one of the 6 totally different environments of Rayman Origins. There are so many great things in the game that it was quite hard to choose which levels to put in the demo, but this should give you a glimpse of what you can expect from the game. You’ll find incredibly fun old-school 2D side-scrolling platforming adventures, gorgeous hand-drawn art in full HD (1080p, exclusively for the PlayStation3!) running at 60 fps, and, last but not least, you can play in crazy 4 players co-op.

Of course Rayman Origins can still be played alone, but the game and this demo are also fully playable in jump-in jump-out anytime 4 players co-op. Anyone can join whenever they want, give a few slaps, and leave without even having to pause the game! Well, that’s assuming they’d want to leave, which is pretty unlikely… but I guess sometimes nature calls.

Also, because we know you guys are skilled gamers, don’t be fooled by the bright and happy appearance: the game is not easy, in fact it’s pretty damn challenging if you want to complete it (and I assume some of you like platinum, don’t you? . Of course beginners are welcome in co-op, but you’ll definitely need talent to see the end of the 20+ hours of gameplay the game has to offer!

The countdown is on! We’re really excited to deliver this game 2 weeks from now on November 24th – save the date! But we’re not the only ones who are excited – the first reviews of the game call it (and I’m quoting) “a Platforming Masterpiece” and “Living, Breathing, Perfection”. Wait, it gets better! The Official PlayStation Magazine gave a 9/10 score + gold award to the game!

But enough reading, it’s time to play the game and decide for yourself! Download it when PlayStation Store updates later today and we really hope you’ll have as much fun with the game as we had making it!!

Oh, and one last thing you might not know: the game is also coming to the PS Vita for the European release, and I can tell you it looks amazing, so stay tuned!

More info on the game on our official Facebook page – thanks for reading and enjoy the demo!

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Since the release of Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone’s Fighting Fantasy: Talisman of Death, we’ve been asked one question more often than any other: “When are you doing The Warlock of Firetop Mountain?” So, I’m delighted to be able to answer this one finally. We will be releasing an adaptation of the first book in the Fighting Fantasy series, Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone’s Fighting Fantasy: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain on the 9th November 2011, priced at £3.49/€3.99.

Since the release of Fighting Fantasy: Talisman of Death we’ve been keeping a close eye on our fans’ thoughts on the game to see what we could be doing better, and that’s why Fighting Fantasy: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain will include the following features and improvements:

• The Log Book now remembers which book you were in (Character, Item or Page)
• The user can now return to the top of the page by pressing the up button when the first option is highlighted
• A ‘Good’ generic alignment portrait has been added to Character Bios
• A new mini game has been added to the end of the quest

As in Fighting Fantasy: Talisman of Death, the game features new combat, skill and luck systems for those who want a more interactive experience, while allowing everyone who wants the original gamebook experience on their PlayStation to play with the original dice based system.

So why are we doing The Warlock of Firetop Mountain now? Well, back when we first acquired the rights to convert the Fighting Fantasy books to the PlayStation Mini format, each of us had their own personal wish list of books we’d like to convert. The book that introduced the world to Fighting Fantasy back in 1982 – The Warlock of Firetop Mountain – featured on everyone’s list. So, while in the end we chose to start off with Talisman of Death, we promised ourselves that – if we got the chance – the next book we did would be Fighting Fantasy: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain.

Before I sign off, I’d like to say thank you to everyone who supported the release of Fighting Fantasy: Talisman of Death, therefore giving us the opportunity to convert more of this fantastic series. Growing up, the Fighting Fantasy series were a massive part of my childhood and if you had told the younger me that I would get the chance to work on them it would have seemed unbelievable. Coming back to them as an adult (well, sort of J) I’ve found they hold up remarkably well and it has been a pleasure to work on them.

Join us!

You can find out more about Laughing Jackal, or subscribe to our weekly Blog’s RSS feed at our website: www.laughingjackal.co.uk

You can also find us under @LaughingJackal on Twitter, under Laughing Jackal Ltd. on Facebook and watch cool vids on our LaughingJackalGames Youtube Channel.

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