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King of Fighters XIII review: Sweep the leg
It's tough living in someone else's shadow. Your achievements may be numerous and impressive, but existing outside of the limelight can be disheartening after a while. Constantly fighting for relevance in a crowded genre is a consuming, arduous fight; one that SNK Playmore has waged ever since Fatal Fury: King of Fighters went toe to toe with Street Fighter II in 1991. The result of that fight may be contentious in the mind of the fighting game community, but Joe Public and his Mortal Kombat Blu-ray feel otherwise; while series like Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat invaded American pop-culture and became household names, King of Fighters continued to toil away in obscurity, releasing game after game for its dedicated cult following. Things are different now, though. Street Fighter IV kick-started a renaissance in fighting games, reigniting the mainstream consumer's interest in the genre, which paved the way for impossibilities like Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and the incredibly successful rebirth of Mortal Kombat. In this new age of fighters, could it finally be SNK Playmore's time to shine? Will their latest entry, King of Fighters XIII, capture the minds and hearts of those unfamiliar with series? Probably not. SNK Playmore remains so unplugged from what is happening in the rest of the genre that its latest excursion feels like an old friend, rather than a revolution. Because of this, however, King of Fighters XIII is the best KOF game ever made, despite the fact that it isn't as flashy or user friendly as its contemporaries.%Gallery-126135%
King of Fighters Online proves you can kick butt in short skirts, literally
Throughout all of the countless MMOs that we've played, we've always asked ourselves one important question: "Where is Mai Shiranui and why can't I be her?"Today, fellow online gamers, is when that question is finally answered in four words: King of Fighters Online.Yes, the iconic fighting game is making its way to the online stage in the form of a multiplayer brawler. Players will be able to take on not only one another, but also team up for cooperative missions and boss battles. While it's unclear if a "create a fighter" mode will be introduced, the full roster of KoF characters will be available to play. Furthermore, players will be able to jump from character to character during battle by "poofing" into the next character on their roster, much like the team switches from the offline games.Interested in seeing the game in a preliminary demo before it goes into service next year? Why then all you have to do is hit "continue reading" as we've cleverly embedded the first gameplay trailer after the break!
King of Fighters XII screens reveal new anti-aliasing feature
Click to embiggen.We're happy to be able to bring you these exclusive screens of King of Fighters XII, if only because it meant we got to look at screens of King of Fighters XII. Seriously, look at this thing. We couldn't be happier that SNK Playmore got the money together to make an HD fighter. Thanks, Doki Doki Majo Shinpan!As far as we know, these are the first screens of the Xbox 360/PlayStation 3 version, and for the most part, they look exactly like the (amazing) arcade game, with one small difference: the North American console version has an optional anti-aliasing filter for the character sprites, which is enabled in all of these screens. We think that the new art looks wonderful without any extra smoothing.KOF XII is scheduled for a worldwide July release.%Gallery-47801%
King of Fighters XII at AOU 2008
Some of you might remember our post about King of Fighters XII coming to the PS3 in 2009. That seems like a long time from now, but don't worry old school fighting fans -- 2008 won't be going down without a little SNK love. The SNK-Capcom website tells fans that the AOU 2008 expo in Tokyo's Makuhari Messe convention center will feature King of Fighters XII in video format. Not much else is know about what will be shown at AOU, but we do know that KoF XII will use a whole new game engine and rehashed old character sprites will be a thing of the past. The game is expected to come out first in the arcades by June/July 2008, running on the Taito Type X². A PS3 port (and possibly an Xbox 360 port) will follow in 2009.
