KoF12 may be many things, but a good business decision, it’s not. SNK is doing KoF12 as a labour of love, not because it made the most business sense to them.
As for the sprites, you can view samples of them here. As has been stated, they’re drawn at a lower resolution (half of 720p, or 640x360), then they blow them up x2 to fill out a 720p screen.
Wow that’s basically only double of 3S’s resolution. LOL. Are the backgrounds the same resolution?
I guess that’s the only way they could see themselves using that much sprite data without being too labor/hardware intensive.
If they had made it 3D- it would have gotten confused with the MI series.
Personally, I think they may have been better off using this style to make a Fatal Fury game first, then make a KOF.
While the actual resolution is disappointing, please don’t knock the graphics until you actually see them live. The game looks rather stunning in the arcade IMO and the internet videos and screenshots do it a huge disservice.
That said, after seeing the amazing art in Vanguard Princess, I must say that I question the per-character timeframe estimates that have been quoted here in the forum in related threads dealing with hand-drawn high resolution art.
I agree most people don’t have the luxury of an arcade(including myself), so playing other people has to be based in your local community or online. But until online is perfect I can never depend on it to be a reliable source for competitive gaming. I still play most of all my casuals offline with friends or other gamers around town, but I don’t disregard online, I just can’t depend on it.
I’m not saying online isn’t intergal to KOFXII or any modern games success, but online is still a luxury. When I was a kid I couldn’t even dream of something like that being possible. So if KOFXII came without the online function I wouldn’t be to particularly crushed. I never said online doesn’t work, I personally just don’t expect to depend on it, I consider it to be a nice bonus.
I guess the best way I could sum it up would be this…
[media=youtube]jETv3NURwLc[/media]
SNKP would have to do a lot more to loose me as a fan then give some crappy online service.
ultima, just cause a game is 3d doesnt automaticly make it a good business decision. sf4 isnt the first 3d street fighter you know. im glad kof12 isnt 3d, good business decision on behalf of snk.
I’m so glad I didn’t waste my money on BlazBlue the other day but i’m just excited knowing thats finally the official release date and hopefully the delay was to add MAI lol
Do you even know what consists of “good business” in the first place? The goal of a business is to make money. Nothing else. Wasting three years and tons of money on a VERY EXPENSIVE graphics process for a game that’s barely getting any hype is the furthest freaking thing from good business.
It is a good fan-pleasing decision. It is in no way a good business decision.
You may be right, but these games survive in the end from the fans. Compared to SF popularity, KOF barely registers to the general public. But if you look at the history of SFII Capcom ported and whored this game out to everything and released 234825148957435 different versions. If you played video games in the 1990’s it was hard not to know what SF was. So SF4 already had a great marketing campaign based on nostalgia.
It’s hard to hype a game that most people don’t know exists outside of the fighting game community. It also doesn’t help with SF/KOF fan segregation.
this is how SNK DID the KOF Sprites acorrding to Wiki
1st. SNK creates 2D character graphics
2nd. SNK then uses 3D software tools to make to turn 2D Character graphics into 3D.
3rd they then select moves for each character and change them back to 2D , Then they added details like expressions and etc.
4th the staff then makes fixes to each design.
edit: I have to argee KOF XII looks amazing, I like the coloring, lighting , shading and the attention to detail.
Ultima is right. Here’s why:
You have a scenario where little Johnny Commonkid is going to the mall to buy a new game. He spots two monitors with two games running on them. The first monitor has KOF XII, the second has Tekken 6.
The first thought that comes to Johnny’s mind is:
“KOF XII looks old. I don’t think I’m willing to spend 60+ dollars on that.”
Johnny’s second thought would go prtty much like this:
“When I get home, I’m going to wreck some shit with King.” This thought occurs because Johnny has already made his purchace of Tekken 6 due to the visual appeal that 3D games have on the masses.
No matter how much anyone praises 2D, it will never…ever… outsell/perform better in the current market than a 3D game will. The only people that are going to buy this new KOF game are serious fans and a few hundered curious gamers. As good as the game will probably be, it will be in the bargain bin within 3 months time because of its niche market appeal. Mark my words.
Hey, guys! Check this out!
Shane Bettenhausen of Ignition does a brief interview with Masaaki Kukino, the producer of The King Of Fighters XII.
http://gamevideos.1up.com/video/id/25491
Now to me, I think he’s just making the same ol’ excuses for why the game came out the way it did (anyone that remembered the arrogant claims they made back a couple of years ago may know what I’m talking about) cause I think they could of done so much more with this game but whatever. :rolleyes:
Anyways, enjoy! 
to tide the time until KOF XII release here are IGN’s and Gamespot’s hands on impressions of the game .
note: the articles are old
http://ps3.ign.com/articles/991/991475p1.html
Gametrailers Best Fighting game of E3 2009 award ( SD only)
http://www.gametrailers.com/video/best-fighting-best-of-e3/51670
Pretty much. The “Re-birth” bullshit was not there from day one. It was made up half-way into the production.
It won Best Fighter at E3 from IGN too, beating SC, Tekken, TvC…
Not necessarily. I do not have a true competitive local scene NOR do I play online.
So what do I do? I travel outside of the US. I go to Mexico to play and that makes all the difference. So it is whatever works for certain people.
Then why do you have a PS3?! SEND IT TO ME!
Because I have been nominated as Clan Leader!!! :wgrin:
Donate to my PS3 fund? I’m about… 325 bucks short.:sad:
I wasn’t too excited about the game due to its limited roster, but it’s slowly winning me over. The graphics actually impressed me. I can’t wait for Tatsunoku vs Capcom comes to the U.S either.
For some reason I assumed you already had one, my condolences Hatred 