As someone who was very excited to play David Jaffe's big return to car combat this year, this is disappointing news indeed but ultimately not surprising. Jaffe responded to the announcement that Twisted Metal will miss its October release window and be pushed back to next year with the following:
"Thing is, you gotta trust me when I tell you that – with this extra time
for tuning and polish – the game is going to be so much better than it already
is."
Assuming the game is near completion at this point in time means a good
few more months for what is supposedly just polish and refinement. I personally
get the feeling that Eat Sleep Play is taking this opportunity to add as much more
content as they possibly can, on top of getting a heck of a lot more time to
make the game play and feel that much better which, hey, you can't blame them
for doing. From what I've seen of Twisted Metal, it already looks as
polished and refined as heck, but I guess in the modern gaming climate you
really do want to get your game to be as good as you possibly can before it's
finally released.
David Jaffe further added to his comment on the PlayStation Blog with:
"Most importantly, we plan on treating you – the kind folks who play our
game (and pay our bills) – like the VIPs that you are... You
only deserve our best and we appreciate your understanding as we take a little
more time to guarantee that our best is what we deliver."
So no car combat this year it seems, but given some of my favorite games of
all time (Batman Arkham Asylum, Half-Life 2, StarCraft 2)
have gone through massive delays in the past, I suppose it’s safe to assume this
delay is only a good thing.