Namco on Frame City delay

Namco's shed some more light on why it decided to delay Unreal Engine 3-based Xbox 360 title Frame City Killer, following speculation that it was because everyone thought the screenshots were cack.

Speaking in one of a kind drum-beating Japanese mag Famitsu Xbox 360, the developers said it was all about getting used to the engine and that the extra time meant more content would go in too.

In comments translated by IGN, Masaki Kunimori described the tech as "exceptional" but added "there are many areas that are not yet complete, and it will take some time for us to do customisations".

"If we hadn't used Unreal Engine 3, the situation would have been even worse," he said, before adding that he expected development on Namco's next UE3 game to "go more smoothly".

Visuals are currently the focus of much scrutiny, he says. "This is an area where, the more time you take, the better it will become."

The added development time could also give Namco the chance to add in side missions and maybe even a bit of online functionality - there are no plans for full online modes, but some sort of intel-swapping idea might be good, says Kunimori.

Frame City Killer puts players in the role of an assassin sent into Frame City to go and duff up some nasty gangland fellow, and the idea is to try and frame up the "perfect hit".

The game's due to be published in Europe by EA - following US and Japanese delays, which pegged the game back to summer, EA currently lists it as "2006" and nowt else.

Expect more release date news soon.