PSN+ subscribers get free Simpsons Arcade Game next month

Sony's just unveiled a preview of the free games coming to PSN+ in February. First up on Feb 7 is The Simpsons Arcade Game, an HD remake of Konami's 1991 beat-'em-up with online four-player co-op. The title, which takes cues from Final Fight as well as Konami's own Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, is notable for the sheer density with which it piles on the in-jokes – doubly impressive given the relative paucity of same the developer had to work with back in '91.

Above: The SD original. Those jaggy things making up the picture are called "pix-els"; we didn't have many to go round back then

If your tastes lean more toward the non-animated, February will also see PSN+ subscribers get free access to Far Cry 2 and the PS1 version of Final Fantasy V. The final week of February sees six free Genesis titles – Altered Beast, Comix Zone, Streets of Rage II, Golden Axe, Sonics 1 and 2 – go live, giving you no end of curiously wide streets to walk along while bashing colorful enemies in flamboyant ways. And if you're a non-PSN+ subscriber, Simpsons Arcade has yet to be formally announced for XBLA, but we bet it'll happen any day now.