1UP have done a decent preview of The King of Fighters XII, that has some interesting info and a couple of videos that are worth a look. One thing that is disappointing is that they confirm the game doesn't use the GGPO network code, in the same way that Super Street Fighter 2 HD does. It's a shame SNK didn't go that route because the netplay in that game does work very well, and anyone that has tried GGPO would probably tell you how much of a good job it does.




That aside, I am starting to get more and more pumped for the games release in July. It can't come quick enough if you ask me. Not sure whether to get the PS3 or 360 version, but I have the feeling I might have to get both so I can play all my friends... although I'm leaning towards the PS3 version as I already have arcade sticks for that system and I hate the 360 pad for fighters.


Link: 1UP Article -->

Yet more KOF XII news for you. The French site Jeuxactu.com has apparently obtained an advanced preview build of the Xbox 360 version of the game, and has captured over 200 high quality screenshots of the game in action, for your viewing pleasure!




This has got me even more excited for the game, and the release date is of course drawing ever closer. I did spot one thing of interest in one of the cut scene screenshots too; check out this image... is that a certain Art of Fighting 3 character I see? There's nothing to suggest that he is a playable character or ever will be, but you never know.


I am wondering though; how many of you will pick the "anti-aliased" graphic mode that the game offers, and how many will stick with the rather more pixellated look? To me it does look like you can mostly see the pixels when the camera zooms in, but personally I will probably stick with them... it depends how it looks on my TV really, but lots of 2D stuff does tend to look very rough on a HDTV so I will probably have a mess with the 4 levels of filters that are available.


Head over to this link to check out all the images. Thanks to Cyberfanatix for the heads up!

I am a little out of date with all the latest SNK news due to my prolonged absence, but I thought I'd post about something that I just read. Apparently KOF XII for the PS3 and Xbox 360 is going to feature downloadable content. While I am all for DLC, and quite happy to pay a little bit if it is something that is worth it, I think many companies just use it as an excuse to get more money from people... I'm really hoping this isn't the case with SNK and KOF XII!




It's possible that they might offer stuff like extra costumes (see SFIV), which personally I would avoid like the plague and not even consider buying, but what about the prospect of extra characters? If they added them later on and released them as free updates then fine... but if you had to pay for them? Ugh. What do you guys and gals think of this? Let's say for example that SNK released a character pack that featured Mai Shiranui and it cost a few $'s/£'s? Would you be tempted? Personally, as much as I would want Mai enabled, I don't think there is anything that would make me pay extra cash for it! What happened to the days when playing the actual game and completing it was what you did to enable extra content?




As much as DLC can be a great thing, it really has made certain companies greedy... (cough... Capcom.... cough). I hope SNK isn't going to go the same route. As an example of good DLC, Valve recently put out the survival pack and other updates for Left 4 Dead for free, which is great (as a side note I am hopelessly addicted to that game right now ;). Hell, if they release some good extra stages for L4D at a later date and charge a little for them, if I think it's worth it then I'll grab them. Paying money for stuff that should already be a part of the disc or should be free is a big no no for me personally though!


Opinions? Obviously we don't know what DLC will be available for KOF XII yet so it may turn out to be great and it may even be free, so it is all speculation at this point. How much are you willing to spend though?

Time for the news posts to start up again... yea I'm back finally! I wanted to do some stuff on the site last week but I ended up being offline as my ISP completely screwed my Internet access for 7 or 8 days. Not good! Anyone else out there loathe Virgin Media? ;)






Game Informer have posted a good interview with Shane Bettenhausen from Ignition Entertainment, which is quite a good read. Click the "Read More" link below to view it! You have to laugh at the fact that he called KOF XII a "Sausage Fest"! ;)


Thanks to Cyberfanatix for the heads up!

Oooh, an actual news update... surely something must be wrong with Kaz? ;)

Movieset.com have posted a short behind the scenes video of the upcoming KOF live action movie, directed by Gordon Chan (of Fist of Legend fame). Have a look and make up your own mind from the little bit we get to see:




I think my opinion on this is the same as most KOF fans, but for now I'll just say that I am going to try and keep an open mind. It can't be as bad as the Chun Li movie can it? (which I am yet to see, but I don't think I have seen even one semi positive review of that yet)


King of Fighters is set for a release later in the year.


Source: MovieSet -->

10 YEARS OLD TODAY!!!



Hey all... now I know I have been away for a while and not posting much due to some personal issues, but I am going to try to get back to some kind of normality as soon as possible. However I realised that I REALLY had to post today, as it is kind of a landmark in the history of this site. March 18th 1999 was the day the site officially went online, way back in the bad old Fortune City days, meaning NeoGeoForLife is now 10 years old! Hard to believe, but true, I still can't believe we are here after all this time and still discussing Neo Geo and SNK games, but very glad that we are!


I haven't been able to do much work on the site, but Emo Fairy was kind enough to make some wallpapers in celebration of the sites 10th birthday. Both are available in the fan made wallpapers section, or by clicking the thumbnails below!




Enjoy! Many thanks to Emo Fairy for taking the time to make them! Hopefully I will be back soon with more updates!

Another Sunday, and another Game of the Week. This time I figured I would pick something right out of left field, and went for a game that not many people seem to pay much attention to.




While the series this game is a spin off from (Far East of Eden) is quite popular in Japan, it's not all that well known in the west, so the characters in the game won't be familiar to most. It's a surprisngly fun game to play though; it isn't the greatest example of weapons based fighting, and it might be a little too "cute" for some, but if you have never tried it you could do far far worse!


If you would like to discuss this game and check out some media for it including music, video and screenshots, check out the discussion thread, and let us know your thoughts on it. Also, be sure to vote in the Kabuki Klash poll inside the thread!


Link: Kabuki Klash Discussion Thread -->

RiKo sent in some new scans, which have been uploaded to the image gallery! We're building up a little collection of scans now, if you have any magazines that you could scan, especially ones from the 1990's, please let us know! It's a great blast from the past reading these.




The first batch are from Edge Magazine, and feature vintage reviews of KOF '94, Pulstar and Viewpoint, and also a more recent look back at Viewpoint. The second lot are from a feature RetroGamer magazine ran showing their "Top 25 Beat 'em Ups". Definitely worth a read as there are some interesting picks alongside the more obvious ones.


Click the links below to check out the scans! Many thanks to RiKo for scanning and sending them in!


Links:

- Edge Magazine Scans -->
- RetroGamer Magazine Scans -->

Another one that is long overdue: Metal Slug is our Game of the Week! It seems a lot of people wanted to see this one picked, and they are probably right: after all this time we still hadn't covered this series at all, so it was about time! :)




Head to our discussion thread, where you will find video, screenshots, audio and other media for the game, and come and let us know what you think of it. Is it one of your favourite titles? Also, don't forget that we have a high score challenge running on the game this week - check out the high score challenge forum for more info and to post your best scores. This is one of the few games I have one-credited; it was a long time ago, so I'm going to get some practice in and hopefully set a decent score again! :)


Link: Metal Slug Discussion Thread -->

I have uploaded another set of MP3's to the jukebox for your listening pleasure! Today we have 11 tracks from the Neo Geo CD version of Voltage Fighter Gowcaizer, once again provided by merlin!




This was never one of my favourite games, but I have always liked the music. The Neo Geo CD version is especially good (depending on your tastes) as it features lots of singing, which I think fits really well. If you have never heard the music from VFG before, you may now listen to it in the NGFL Jukebox! :)


Many more tracks to come soon so check back!


Link: NGFL Jukebox -->

SNK have updated the official KOF XII website with four new screenshots and info, which shows off the new energy bars that they have added (as requested by people at the last set of location tests), and some new background effects on the stages.




Click "Read More" below to read the rest of this article!