Frame City Killer killed; RPG to replace it in lineup

11 Comments by Dan Choi May 12th 2006 12:39PM
Filed under: Microsoft Xbox 360, Action, RPGs, E3, Business

If internet reports are to be believed, Frame City Killer has been cancelled, with an unnamed RPG replacing it in Bandai-Namco's roster of upcoming games.

We knew that FCK (as it's affectionately known in the gaming community) was having some problems -- with multiple delays stemming from poor graphics and inadequate content -- but most 360 owners expected the game to come out one way or another sometime later this year.

If you're a member of the Frame City Underground (the official fan community for the game), a pretty clear announcement in English has already been made. Check out the full text below. FCK ... we'll miss you.

[Thanks, murph, Blue_Six, & a tipster who'd like to remain anonymous; via Evil Avatar & GameFront]

See also:

Original Japanese announcement page; Google auto-translation
Frame City Killer missing until summer at the very least
Namco responds to criticism, sends Frame City Killer back to the lab
Frame City Underground official announcement (must log in for it)

NEWS - 25 FC$

Frame City Killer Cancelled

Posted on May 12, 2006 11:05am EDT

A message from NAMCO:

Hello Team,

Thank you for your support for the past year on Frame City Killer. Unfortunately, we have some disappointing news - due to unforseen issues in the development, we have made the decision to cancel the game. We appreciate all the enthusiasm you have shown on our project, and hope that you will keep your eyes out for our future projects. NAMCO BANDAI Games America is invested in delivering great games, and hope to work with you again in the future.

Sincerely,

NAMCO BANDAI Games America Marketing Team

...more news on the community to come shortly...

Tags: affectionately known, AffectionatelyKnown, announcement, Bandai Namco, Bandai-Namco, BandaiNamco, delay, delays, e32006, English, FCK, Frame City, Frame City Killer, Frame City Underground, FrameCity, FrameCityKiller, FrameCityUnderground, inadequate content, InadequateContent, Japanese, later this year, LaterThisYear, member, miss, multiple delays, MultipleDelays, Namco, official, official fan community, OfficialFanCommunity, poor graphics, PoorGraphics, problems, translation, unnamed

Source

(Page 1) Reader Comments

_: May 12th 2006; 12:43PM

What the FCK? :P Maybe the FCK team moved over to the PS3 division to work on Tekken 6. :D

Regula Oblique: May 12th 2006; 12:45PM

it looked like junk anyway.
sorry to anyone who thought differently.

Dwide Schrude: May 12th 2006; 12:59PM

I'm actually pretty disappointed about this, but I can't say I didn't see it coming. A co-worker of mine used to work in Xbox 360 Certification Testing at VMC in Redmond, he said that when they got a build of FCK it was one of the most sloppy and unplayable things anyone had seen and it failed 100% of the testing criteria. Even still, I think the game had potential, the environments looked great and the whole "Visual Acid" thing might have added some cool Matrix-like effects to the gameplay.

It's sad to see another high-profile Japanese-developed 360 game go bad, first Ninety Nine Nights and now this. Japanese titles just seem to have something about them that sets them apart from American and European titles, I can't really pinpoint what it is, it might be that certain flair of unintentional wackiness, or maybe it's just more of an artistic approach to gaming. I'm not someone who always likes to see dead-serious realism in games so it's an attribute that I would really miss if Japanese 360 development waned out. Oh well, at least we still have Lost Planet to look forward to.

Will: May 12th 2006; 1:33PM

That's unfortunate. I really liked the idea and the visual style to it. Oh well.

dsub: May 12th 2006; 1:53PM

"What the FCK? :P Maybe the FCK team moved over to the PS3 division to work on Tekken 6. :D"

Judging by there progress and success in developing this game, I'd say that would be a bad thing.

_: May 12th 2006; 2:07PM

5. "What the FCK? :P Maybe the FCK team moved over to the PS3 division to work on Tekken 6. :D"

Judging by there progress and success in developing this game, I'd say that would be a bad thing.

Posted at 1:53PM on May 12th 2006 by dsub 2 stars

Maybe I should have included a /sarcasm?

>_>

ShinobiFist: May 12th 2006; 4:11PM

"It's sad to see another high-profile Japanese-developed 360 game go bad, first Ninety Nine Nights and now this"
Were did you hear this? I'm not getting any info from Google or Gamespot(even IGN). I'm actaully looking fwd to N3.

Brian: May 12th 2006; 5:53PM

I have a theory. To give the appearance of supporting X360, they put a crappy team together to slap some western-centric fps and try to rush it through certification. Now that sony has announced the pricing of PS3 and guaged the publics cool reaction, they probably decided to take X360 more seriously. Now they are releasing an RPG which will appeal to the Japanese market and probably have a real QA team.

ozymandias: May 12th 2006; 7:04PM

dude ran like a fag.

Wild Homes: May 13th 2006; 9:03AM

I think what the N3 comment refers to was some hype going round the wire in the last 48 hours apparently revealing that the game sucks. I remember reading something about it, but after DW5:E I was planning on passing on another h'n's blisterfest just for achievements and the news didn't excite me. I guess people who've had hands-on time with the title have come away very unimpressed. again, I'm waiting for Microsoft to pony up and just buy Atlus, Natsume, or Nipon Ichi.

refinedsugar: May 13th 2006; 10:36AM

Wow didn't see this one coming... I've seen enough print ads for it and the video cutscene slash trailer on a OXM disc months ago looked impressive.

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