King of Fighters XII battles onto the PS3, Xbox 360 @ Gaming Target

Written by John Scalzo on March 04, 2009

News: SNk's fighting franchise is back.

Publisher Ignition Entertainment and developer SNK Playmore have announced that King of Fighters XII (yes, number twelve in the series) is coming to the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It is currently on track for a July release.

King of Fighters XII marks a turning point for the 3-on-3 2D fighting series as SNK has dropped all of the standard definition art used in previous games in the series and redrawn all of the character sprites and backgrounds in beautiful high-resolution.

УOur development slogan for KOFXII is УKOF Re-BirthФ and we've aimed to create an entirely new King of Fighters game. To make this a truly unique fighting game, we've revolutionized the graphics by creating state of the art visuals - and made no compromises in that process whatsoever,Ф said Masaaki Kukino, SNK Playmore.

УI couldn't think of a more appropriate way to commemorate The King of Fighter's 15-Year Anniversary than with a gorgeously animated, high-definition installment that updates the KOF legacy for a new generation.Ф said Shane Bettenhausen, New Business Development Director of Ignition Entertainment. УWhile other fighting games have abandoned the time-consuming process of creating beautiful 2D art, KOFXII fully embraces the refined aesthetic beauty that only human hands can produce.Ф

Ignition and SNK have packed the first trailer to the game in with King of Fighters '98: Ultimate Match, the recently released PlayStation 2 remake of the fifth game in the series. They've also released it online and you can check it out below.