Newly Hand-Drawn in High Resolution, The Fight is on in August 2009 on PLAYSTATION®3 and Xbox 360®

Essex, UK – July 2, 2009 – Ignition Entertainment Ltd., a worldwide publisher and developer of video games has announced that All Interactive Entertainment (AIE) will be the exclusive distributor for the widely anticipated The King of Fighters XII in Australia and New Zealand.

With a release date scheduled for 28 August 2009, Australian and New Zealand fans will enjoy the excitement of the next instalment of the hugely successful King of Fighters franchise at the same time as their European counterparts. More importantly, avid fans will embrace a limited edition collector’s box set which features a 15cm figurine of one of the main characters and a copy of The King of Fighters XII game.

The legendary 3-on-3 fighting game series that united rival brawlers from SNK Playmore’s classic arcade franchises celebrates its 15th Anniversary in style with the release of The King of Fighters XII. For the first time in its history, this epic martial arts showdown has undergone a complete graphical overhaul. The antiquated character sprites used over the past 14 years have been dropped in favour of all-new, high-resolution fighters fluidly animating across painstakingly detailed, 100% hand-drawn backgrounds.

“Our development slogan for The King of Fighters XII is “King of Fighters 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.

“I 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 King of Fighters legacy for a new generation.” said Shane Bettenhausen, New Business Development Director of Ignition Entertainment. “While other fighting games have abandoned the time-consuming process of creating beautiful 2D art, The King of Fighters XII fully embraces the refined aesthetic beauty that only human hands can produce.”

And it seems that all this effort and attention to detail is certainly starting to pay off with The King of Fighters XII receiving glowing endorsements after this year’s E3.

IGN – Best of E3 2009 – Best Fighting Game – Winner
GameFocus – Best of E3 Fighting Game – Winner
GameSpy – Best of E3 2009 – Best Fighting Game – Runner Up
1UP.com – Best of E3 2009 – Best Fighting Game – Runner Up
GameSpot – Best of E3 2009 – Best Fighting Game – Finalist

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The King of Fighters XII has been rated PG – Mild Violence by the OFLC and has a RRP of $89.95 in Australia, with the limited collector’s edition having a RRP of $119.95 in Australia.