January 31, 2006 - Namco' s Frame City Killer has been the butt of quite a few jokes following the release of some hideous screenshots to the Japanese gaming press last month. Someone at Namco apparently took note of the feedback, and the result was a delay past the title' s February Japanese release date. Producer Kentaro Kawashima and directory Masaki Kunimori touched a bit upon the delay in the latest issue of Famitsu Xbox 360.


One of the problems the game' s development staff has had to deal with is Unreal Engine 3, the new engine from Epic that powers the title. Frame City would have been the first title to use the engine had it made the February date. " The Unreal Engine itself is an exceptional engine," commented Kunimori to the magazine, " but there are many areas that are not yet complete, and it will take some time for us to do customizations."
Asked if using an engine developed by an outside company is difficult, Kokumori made mention of the amount of time required for communication, presumably referring to the need for external support. Kawashima chimed in with: " We can definitely say this, though. 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.

Frame City will see some visual improvements, Kawashima confirmed with the magazine. " This is an area where, the more time you take, the better it will become," he shared. " Of course, our graphics lead is having to work hard."

Outside of visuals, the development staff is looking into adding more content to the game. While the game' s storyline is set, Kunimori revealed plans to add new side missions to the game, time permitting.

Online content may also feature in the final build, time permitting. Rather than true Online play, though, Kunimori envisions a game environment where players are constantly exchanging data with one another, checking the Online status of friends and sending messages back and forth. This is just an idea right now, though, and it may not make it into the final game.

So when can we expect to at last adventure through this first Japan-developed Unreal Engine 3 game? Kawashima wouldn' t give a specific date, but did promise an announcement shortly.

It still looks rubbish (not just visually). The glasses that guy has on, the animation, even the premise. It' s not gonna be a big game and even the thought that they could have considered to release it as it was is an example of Namco' s inexperience in that genre.

Can you say Death by Degrees?

oh no please don' t say that :)

I can hardly believe that they thought it would sell. It was dreadful (i did NOT buy it).

Namco do a small number of very good games. Ace Combat (if that' s your thing), The Katamari games, Ridge Racer Type 4 and the PSP Ridge Racer were good but i think the series needs a major update regarding it' s gameplay mechanics, the Tekken and Soul Calibur games and the Tales and Xenosaga games.

But stuff like:

Dead to Rights/II
Death by Degrees
Ghost Hunter
Kill Switch
Sniper Elite
Spawn Armageddon
Street Racing Syndicate
Urban Reign

...they just suck ass!

Guess which group FCK will join?!

I won' t buy this game unless they change homeboy' s glasses!

Note to Namco: If you want to have a " cool" character, do NOT make him wear skiing sunglasses that cost $1.99 at the local gas station!

ORIGINAL: Majikdra6on

Guess which group FCK will join?!

Nice initials! Think they did that on purpose?

Improving those graphics is not as important as changing the design - like you guys said ...those fuckin glasses .

MAijk Ridge Racer Type 4 - I love this game - it' s my favourite RR and one of the best Arcade racers ever.

Now that I think of it - it' s very hard for any company having some AAA franchise to develop a new game that' s more than mediocre - KONAMI , NAMCO , SQUARESOFT (remember their racing game?)

On the other hand you have guys like CAPCOM , NINTENDO who specialize in making great new games inside their old IP' s.

Even more - Capcom is the only developer who' s made original games like Viewtiful joe , killer 7 and is clearly not affraid of bringing something new and with high values.

Capcom' s probably my favourite developer. I LOVE the Resident Evil series (especially 4) and admire the fact that they changed a tired mechanic and created a way for the franchise to continue without pissing harcore fans off as well as netting tons more new ones.

I like the look of Lost Planet too, i think it' s gonna be big.

Viewtiful Joe and Killer 7 are excellent examples of their creativity. Killer 7 specifically got me going, even though some people don' t like it. It' s seen as style over substance but it' s not like that, ...it' s a really good game (bit odd though). Viewtiful Joe kicks ass, i can' t wait for a next-gen Joe!

I love RE series and I love RE2 the most - RE4 didn' t really seem to me like a part of the OLDSCHOOL RE series.Those remakes for GCN were just gorgeus (I still need to play RE0).RE4 is a fantastic game - I think they should have started a new IP with it since the only RE thing about it is the character.I didn' t like the story though - seemed stupid to me (but didn' t hurt the game at all).

It wasn' t supposed to though. The original RE games (RE2? YES!!!) were getting repetative and was becoming a tired formula. RE4 broke new ground for the series, and to be honest i prefer it. I' m disappointed they are going back to zombies after letting us fight the villagers/monks etc in RE4. Zombies are pretty innocent really, just infected undead, but the villagers were more human (?) and were evil (faster, smarter, chainsaws!!!).

Erm, Leon, Ada (from RE2), Wesker (meaning Umbrella) were all involved in RE4. Wesker and Ada (working for Umbrella) were trying to steal ' the sample' from RE4' s actual badguys.

UMBRELLA are naughty!

I don' t know how they plan to get Chris (seen in the RE5 trailer) to Somalia (?). Raccoon City was nuked so i suppose Umbrella are testing the T/G/? virus elsewhere.

I thought Code Veronica was good at first, then got bored of it very quickly!

The films SUCK!!!

I do however love Milla Jovovich! Look out for her in Ultraviolet soon!

Erm, Leon, Ada (from RE2), Wesker (meaning Umbrella) were all involved in RE4. Wesker and Ada (working for Umbrella) were trying to steal ' the sample' from RE4' s actual badguys.

Shit I forgot but it doesn' t matter - I really liked the old formula and I love RE4 for what it is at the same time

Code Veronica was my favourite next to RE2.

I had very low expectation for those movies anyway so I wasn' t that dissapointed :)

I think I might try RE4 again since I don' t remember it well

Yes, go play it now! Ha!

I got both versions (PS2 and GCN), but i' ll still be tempted to get the PC port (oh yes they are!) if they add something extra like they did for PS2.

The Mercenaries mode is addictive! I seriously can' t get enough of it and i' ve had RE4 (for GCN) since it' s release date in March (18th i think) last year.

My favourite game of last-gen!

hmm I finished the gamecube version - now I have PS2 ...Maybe those extras will make up for some downgraded looks

When it comes to Resident Evil games I' m in the extreme minority when it comes to favorites..

My favorites in order are: Resident Evil 4, Resident Evil Code: Veronica, followed by Resident Evil 0...

I loved Resident Evil 4 for a wide variety of reasons.. More freedom, Much smarter enemies working together to bring you down, Shop/Merchant to purchase weapons from, then shooting his a$$ after purchasing what I needed and watching his lifeless body drop to the ground,,, better camera, some control over the camera, Leon saying " shit" all throughout the game, the ability to shoot weapons after they' ve thrown at you, etc. etc..

I loved Resident Evil Code: Veronica simply because it was my first Resident Evil.. I was a Resident Evil virgin until I got my hands on the Dreamcast version of Biohazard Code: Veronica. Played it, finished it, really liked it. I liked Claire, and despite what people say, I liked her Leonardo DiCaprio-look sidekick as well ;).

I really liked Resident Evil 0 because of the Partner Zapping system as well as the claustrophobic train setting. While on the train I thoroughly enjoyed having only two directions to run - left or right -, not like the confusion encountered in wider areas like a mansion where you have so many doors to choose from.


The Resident Evil game I disliked the most, and this is where just about EVERYONE disagrees with me, was Resident Evil 2. Even though I finished it, I struggled all through the game, I just wasn' t as into it as I was with the others. Plus, I' ll probably be laughed out of the forums for this, with the exception of Resident Evil 4 I played those games without using the Map, so you can only imagine the MASSIVE amount of backtracking and redundancy involved.

LOL!

When RE2 came out it was a graphical marvel. I played the demo over and over and then got the game when it came out. It was a huge game (then when you finished it, you hadn' t) and i loved the fact that there were actually 4 ways to play it through the two paths. To see everything you had to play both paths as both characters, then play as Tofu and Hunk through their own little missions (Hunk who they brought back for the RE4 mercenaries mode is one tough mother!).

RE3 was nowhere near as good as RE2, though it had a mercenaries mode too and brought back the Hunters (evil bloody green frogmen?). RE2 had more replay value.

Still, RE4 is the high point of the series. The originals Gamecube remake looked gorgeous ad Zero was cool but other than the character swapping in Zero and the ' make a zombie eat a grenade move in the remake' they didn' t offer anything new.

I don' t want to wait until next year to play number 5!

OK, Namco are currently looking for people to send them ideas about what to do with Frame City Killer.

Go here and give them a piece of your mind..

http://www.framecityunderground.com

I' ve sent them my semi-professional opinion and had to sign up twice (using two different email accounts) to get what i wanted to say through because they are limiting people to 2000 characters.

I still wasn' t finished.

Anyway, it' s not often that comapnies like Namco ask for ideas, and the game DOES look awful, so some of you should let them know what would make it better.

Perhaps you could even post the ideas you sent them here too (i' ll be re-writing mine because i forgot to save it and just sent it to them).

They will stop taking ideas on 28th Feb so try to act quickly!

They should make it that when your character is about to die it does a victory dance in confusion then falls flat on the floor bleeding.
I' m kidding.
What would be cool is a level like where your on see through glass and you shoot your oponent making them fall in a cage full of tigers.

No, don' t send them that!

Again...

Namco are currently looking for people to send them ideas about what to do with Frame City Killer.

Go here and give them a piece of your mind..

http://www.framecityunderground.com

I' ve sent them my semi-professional opinion and had to sign up twice (using two different email accounts) to get what i wanted to say through because they are limiting people to 2000 characters.

I still wasn' t finished.

Anyway, it' s not often that comapnies like Namco ask for ideas, and the game DOES look awful, so some of you should let them know what would make it better.

Perhaps you could even post the ideas you sent them here too (i' ll be re-writing mine because i forgot to save it and just sent it to them).

They will stop taking ideas on 28th Feb so try to act quickly!