We’re truly living a fighting games renaissance. Ever since Street Fighter IV reignited the genre back in 2009, we’ve been getting a number of interesting and diverse titles, from the lush visuals of BlazBlue to the air combo extravaganza of Marvel Vs. Capcom 3. Along the way, we had The King of Fighters XII from SNK Playmore, touted as a “re-birth” of the traditional 3-on-3 series. And although it really gave new life to the franchise with gorgeous hi-def 2D sprite art and sleek animation, the game delivered little in terms of contents.

Two years later, SNK Playmore is hard at work to regain the crown with The King of Fighters XIII for PlayStation 3, picked for publishing by Rising Star Games in Europe. And based on the prospects, thirteen seems to be the lucky number for KOF. The game was originally launched in Japanese arcades back in July 2010, being praised by fighting game connoisseurs for its vastly expanded roster (31 playable characters, including the return of fan favorite Mai Shiranui), revised fighting system (with faster gameplay and elements from previous titles in the series), and a multi-path Story Mode (with the conclusion of the Ash Crimson trilogy). For the home version, the team is adding even more fighters, stages and a variety of game modes – not to mention balance adjustments based on feedback from players of the arcade version.

Scheduled for November 25th in Europe, The King of Fighters XIII is aimed at long time fans and fighting games enthusiasts in general. To know more details about this return to form, we reached to Producer Kei Yamamoto from SNK Playmore in Japan, as he goes in depth about gameplay, story, netcode, and future plans – yes, we begged for asked about KOF on PS Vita; too. So read on to know what await you later in November and leave your favorite KOF memories in the comments!

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Hi all, my name is Yen Hau and I’m the Product Manager at Rising Star Games. I just want to tell you all about a gem of a game coming out next year called Half-Minute Hero for your PSP. Some of you may have heard something about it already but I thought it would be nice for me to personally introduce it to our European community.

I’ve had a play on it last night and I must say the rumours are true…its absolutely bonkers! You basically have to kill the bad guy in under 30-seconds, and all from the time you accept the quest. So you have to run from the quest giver to where the boss is, upgrade your gear, buy herbs, defeat monsters (think of FFIV when you have to run from the castle, over the world map with random encounters) and finally kill the boss all in this time. It takes a bit of getting used to at first, but once you’ve passed the first level (with a few deaths, guaranteed!) the whole thing becomes second nature. I haven’t had much time to check out the other chapters yet (there are 4 storylines to go through, Hero, Evil Lord, Princess and Knight, all with different play styles) but will post what they’re like once I get round to it.

So far I’m loving the game and it has managed to keep my Monster Hunter UMD out of the drive for more than a day! As you can tell, I’m really excited about the release of this game, it is a refreshing take on the RPG genre and genuinely puts a smile on your face when you play it. At the moment we are scheduling the release for Q1 2010, sometime around February. It all looks on course so hopefully there won’t be any delays, but I’ll keep you all updated on its progress. Either way, check out the excellent feedback following the recent US release on the internet, it really does warrant a look into.

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