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Namco explains its decision to delay Frame City Killer on Xbox 360 - it's all about the graphics and gameplay
12:52 Namco's 360 action game Frame City Killer has seen some negative press recently, following the release of some less-than-spectacular screenshots from the game last month. In response to the feedback, Namco delayed the game beyond its initial February Japanese release date and are now feverishly working away on new features, as well as upping the title's visual splendour.
Speaking to Famitsu, producer Kentaro Kawashima and director Masaki Kunimori touched on why they chose to delay the game. One of the problems the developers had to deal with was the Epic's Unreal Engine 3. "The Unreal Engine itself is an exceptional engine," commented Kunimori, "but there are many areas that are not yet complete, and it will take some time for us to do customizations."
Kawashima added, "If we hadn't used Unreal Engine 3, the situation would have been even worse. This time, we learned quite a bit, so next time we use Unreal Engine 3, I believe development can go more smoothly."
"This is an area where, the more time you take, the better it will become," said Kawashima. "Of course, our graphics lead is having to work hard."
In addition to the visuals, the FCK team has been using the additional development time to dream up some new game features. Kunimori revealed plans to add new side missions to the game, as well touching on the possibility of online functionality. Kunimori explained that he envisions a game environment where players are constantly exchanging data and sending messages back and forth online. Whether this makes it into the final game remains to be seen.
Frame City Killer is currently penned for a Summer 2006 release.