It's something of a shame that Namco has had to cancel development of the 'a bit' anticipated Xbox 360 crime romp Frame City Killer, originally slated to be on shelves around the world last Christmas.

According to a posting on the official Namco Japan homepage, "Namco's Xbox 360 title, Frame City Killer, slated for a spring 2006 release, has been cancelled due to a variety of circumstances. We apologise to everyone who was looking forward to it. The company will continue to develop high-quality titles for the Xbox 360 other next-generation machines, including a new RPG, which will be announced soon."

No specifics were offered by Namco and it's interesting that the game, although conspicuous by its absence at E3, was not missed on the showfloor. Then again, it's somewhat easy to miss a single game during the Greatest Show on Earth.

Should we discover what went wrong at Namco, you'll be the first to know.