Atlus announced that they will be publishing King of Fighters XIII on the Xbox 360 and PS3 and a number of issues have been addressed including faster fights, smoothed out network play and even more moves, modes and abilities than before.

Ryo Mizufune, President of SNK Playmore commented in the press release, saying…

"We are excited to work with ATLUS to bring THE KING OF FIGHTERS XIII to North America," …"Fans have waited patiently for an HD iteration in the series that could live up to the proud tradition of classics like KOF '98. We view KOF XIII as an opportunity to deliver a high definition KOF game that meets and exceeds fan expectations. We have worked very hard to listen to all of their concerns and suggestions, to incorporate all of their feedback and ideas, and we hope that XIII becomes one of their favorite games in the series."

It’s true that two of the very best iterations in the series was King of Fighters ’97 and King of Fighters ‘98. What made ’97 so cool was that it concluded the storyline proposed in KoF ‘96 and concluded it with an amazing showdown where a lot of fan-favorites didn’t walk away from the fight alive. It’s going to be a tough challenge for SNK Playmore to incorporate a meaningful story while maintaining strong fighting mechanics in KoF XIII if they’re hoping for it to be the very best in the series.

The newest game will contain HD sprites, reworked backgrounds, brand new Neomax super moves, less restrictive camera controls and cleaned up character sprites.

The King of Fighters XIII is scheduled to release this holiday season for the Xbox 360 and PS3 here in North America. For more info you can hit up the Official Website.