Well it's about time. The Xbox 360 version of King of Fighters XII has finally been patched to fix its various online troubles and stability issues. Its PS3 counterpart was issued some time ago, as it didn't have the red tape and nonsensical certification hurdles, and this should bring the 360 version up to speed.
The patch addresses everything from matchmaking and chat restrictions to response time and lag issues, so hopefully whatever was broken before will be kosher from now on. Let's hope nothing slipped between the cracks, lest we wait through another several months of Microsoft hoop jumping for it to be fixed.
The update is live now, so if you found the game less than playable online before, it might be worth giving another shot. Hit the jump for all the details in the official press release.
SNK PLAYMORE RELEASES ONLINE GAMEPLAY UPDATE
FOR THE KING OF FIGHTERS XII™
Newly Released Online Patch Fully Optimizes Gameplay on Xbox 360® Video Game and Entertainment System from Microsoft
October XX, 2009 – Today SNK PLAYMORE released a new online update patch for the award-winning The King of Fighters XII that fully addresses previously known issues to help optimize online gameplay on the Xbox 360® Video Game and Entertainment System from Microsoft. In addition to the optimization of online matches, this patch also fixes a variety of in-game issues including specifications to the tallying of TrueSkill points in a ranked match, correction to movements of specific character combinations and/or match-ups, and specifications related to in-game chat capability restrictions.
This update places greater importance on the game’s response time by changing the way game data is processed and synchronized during online matches. These changes provide players a stable gameplay environment regardless of specific internet conditions resulting in a smoother more intuitive experience. The update also prevents players from experiencing slowdown during an online match when connections are less than optimal.
“The King of Fighters is one of the most popular fighting game franchises of all time,” said Shinya Morishita, SNK Director of Japan and US Relations. “SNK PLAYMORE and Ignition Entertainment have worked together very closely to ensure that we have addressed all gameplay concerns. We are both committed to supporting quality products and are excited to announce the release of this new gameplay update which allows our fans to continue to enjoy The King of Fighters XII.”
SNK PLAYMORE would like to apologize for any inconvenience or trouble they might have caused to fans of the The King of Fighters. SNK PLAYMORE strives to improve the system of quality control for this title and all SNK products. SNK PLAYMORE asks for your kind understanding and looks forward to continued support from its loyal fans.
The King of Fighters XII features four gameplay modes, new gameplay elements such as Critical Counter Attacks, arcade-style online lobbies, a worldwide online ranking system and more. The 22 hand-drawn characters include favorites from earlier The King of Fighters including Kyo Kusanagi, Athena Asamiya, Terry Bogard and Leona Heidern. Additional information about the game can be found at the game’s official website: www.kingoffighters12.com, on Twitter: www.twitter.com/KOF12 and on Facebook: www.facebook.com/kingoffighters12.
The award-winning The King of Fighters XII was released on July 28, 2009 for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system.
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Contest:
7:40 PM on 10.30.2009
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Not to mention that all the new gameplay systems were flashy joke garbage. If I wanted custom combos back, I'd play Alpha 2. Which I wouldn't do.
And also, I say this was my favorite game, because for most of the fighting games I've played in the last year, balancing has always been the big issue. KoF XII was the only fighter that I personally thought had no bad match-ups at all, on or offline. Even when I lost matches online, I never walked away feeling that my opponent's character was over powered in any way against mine. Just my two cents..
Seconded.
King of Fighters hasn't been a relevant fighter in, well, ever. This was supposed to be an evolution of the series, and instead we got a bastardization of what used to be good.
I feel like the company had planned like 10 more characters (ones that people actually WANTED), 10 more stages, and several more modes, but they just ran out of time and put out half of a product.
I literally have NO idea what the developers were thinking when trying to determine an audience for the game. They screwed over the hardcore fans by removing a TON of series favorites (and it's not like they added anything new to make up for it) and they made it unappealing to new players by giving you nothing more than arcade and versus.
It's like a raincloud just follows SNK around.
KOFXII is the most balanced 2D fighting game I've played. Even though my main is bottom tier (Clark), it has never held me back. Compare that to the respective bottom tiers from SF4 or BlazBlue.
Sure, SNK made a lot of crappy decisions with KOFXII, but I enjoyed it for what it was. Considering its the last true KOF we may see (considering the KOF:MI and 3D Samurai Showdown abominations will likely bankrupt SNK), I'd say it could have gone a lot worse. At least it isn't KOF2k1 or 2k2.
Also, I am not a long-time KoF player (I've had only brief sessions with some of the later installments), but I can understand how jarring it must feel to have the characters you love stripped unceremoniously from the game. However, I have serious concerns when a roster of 20+ characters is ever considered a fraction of what is necessary to create an awesome fighting game. I feel it does a great disservice to the playability of the game and the uniqueness of the characters if the ranks aren't culled at some point in a series' lifespan.
I suppose what I'm getting at is that KoF was getting crufty.
Finally, just shut the hell up about the super moves. SFII didn't have supers and it was effing rad.
That's just the thing though - people don't care about balance or gameplay. They want flash. They want extras. They want a ton of characters, even though only 5 or 6 of those characters will actually be useful while the rest of the cast is just for show. Sure, I would have loved to have seen a lot of other characters in here (especially Kula), but I can make due, and I'd rather my favorite characters not be present than they be present but completely useless. (See Marvel vs Capcom 2)
I think any real fighting game fans can appreciate KOFXII for what it is - a game where victory or defeat is based solely on the players, not the characters they choose. All the people who complain about characters like Terry no longer having his Power Dunk seem to not realize that the Power Dunk made Terry an absolutely broken character. Something needed to be done about it.
As for people complaining about lack of specials/supers - Clark only has two specials and one super. Hasn't held me back at all.
Hell, I've seen Dan players dominating on Youtube. The players using the character still has as much to do with who wins as it does in KOF12. KOF12 has tight gameplay and that's an established fact. What it doesn't have is any freaking content. SF4 and BlazBlue has tight gameplay AND content, not to mention fleshed out online mode. This isn't a Neo Geo fighting game here, the standards are different. The complaints about KOF12 are legit, (it's half a game and a rip off at it's launch price) and only the worst kind of fanboys will refuse to recognize that.
I have no clue why you guys are bitch about making a Garou 2, considering I'm the only person on Live that bought Mark of the Wolves.
as of late, tiering and balance hasn't been as important as it used to be. We're not talking about Marvel 2 levels of game brokenness between low tier and top tier.
That being said, KOFXII is very much a roll back to what KOF 94 and 95 were like.
It's not really the fact that it's bare-bones (that only really concerns casuals), it's that it doesn't do anything new.
I didn't want to hold onto a $60 game because it looked pretty, and had "solid" mechanics that every other KOF game had. I'll just play every other KOF, and graphics aside, I personally enjoy the art design/character designs for Blazblue/Guilty Gear much more. No story in KOF XII, while non-important to most really just helped make all the character seem flat, and uninspired: I couldn't really "get into" the characters anymore.
Believe me dude, PLENTY of people use console characters, and "low tier" characters. They're only low tier because you have to work to make them useful, but when you put in that work they're just as viable as the higher tier characters. There isn't a single character in SF4 that is completely useless.
Well, I guess you have a point that it doesn't really do anything new. Still, I found Clark a lot more usable than Dan and Bang (which was a shame, because I loved both Dan and Bang), which is something I really value.
@ Randolph
I won't refute that the game is "light" on content. I'm just saying that, for me, I couldn't care less. SF4 has a ton of challenges and endings. BlazBlue has a very complex story and a hard-as-nails survival mode. However, those don't really matter to me. All that matters to me is the versus. For me, KOFXII did it better than BlazBlue and SF4, simply because I could pick and character and not have to be tremendously better than the people who only pick the broken as hell characters. Different strokes for different folks.
As for low-tiers being just as usable as high-tiers, I'd still say that a person has to have a tremendous amount of skill over their opponents in most fighting games to do that. What's going to happen when you fight someone who is just as good as you are with Dan, except with Sagat?
I just pick the characters I like - the ones that appeal to me through their design or their personality. That's what makes it all the more annoying when I realize that the character I choose is the character I have to spend ages mastering, while everybody else got the character who can be used within seconds.