It was yesterday when my mind was full of fighting games, resulting in an interesting time traveling session, and today I have hints that all this fighting hype will last more than anticipated. I say that especially because one of the most appreciated franchises in the genre, King of Fighters, prepares to go next gen with the release of a new title in the series, The King of Fighters XII.

The legendary 3-on-3 fighting game series that united rival brawlers from SNK Playmore’s classic arcade franchises has undergone a complete graphical overhaul. The antiquated character sprites used over the past 14 years have been dropped in favor of all-new, high-resolution fighters fluidly animating across painstakingly detailed, 100% hand-drawn backgrounds!

“Our development slogan for KOFXII is “KOF Re-Birth” 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,” said Masaaki Kukino, SNK Playmore.

The King of Fighters XII is scheduled to hit PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles in July 2009.