Unfortunately, it looks like aficionados of insane vehicular mayhem will have to wait a bit longer to get their hands on a new helping of Twisted Metal.

In a contrite blog post released this morning, series show-runner David Jaffe announced that Twisted Metal will not be released on October 4 as expected. He wrote:

Jaffe continues, explaining the reasons for the delay:

We’re not shipping Twisted Metal October 4th, 2011. We’re going to miss our date. We’re going to be late.

The post goes on to clarify that the game could be ready to ship in October, but the team at Eat Sleep Play is unsatisfied with what would likely be the finished product. As such, the developer has elected to delay the release until an unspecified date in early 2012. He stands behind the game as it is, even assuring fans that it would be a good game if it suddenly went gold tomorrow.

However, Jaffe emphasizes that Eat Sleep Play is looking to release, “. . . the best Twisted Metal ever made.”

While this will come as a disappointment to all those who wanted to jump in the driver’s seat of an armored ice cream truck come October, one has to admire the frankness with which Jaffe approaches the matter. It’s become an unfortunate industry joke that Triple-A games can ship to consumers lacking polish or even sporting whole nests of bugs. Had Twisted Metal been yet another of these, it would have become a mere footnote in a long litany of big budget disappointments. If the franchise is truly going to take off and go roaring down the highway once more, it’ll need to do so with its best (and shiniest) wheel forward.

This is, of course, all contingent on whether the game truly ships in early 2012 or if it’s further delayed down the road. As Jaffe notes, we’ll just have to stay tuned for all the pertinent details.

Are you gnashing your teeth over Twisted Metal’s delay? Do you appreciate developers taking extra time to polish games–even if it means they miss announced release dates? Share your road rage–and all those bright Twisted Metal memories–in the comments!

Twisted Metal will be released for PlayStation 3 in early 2012, apparently.

Source: PlayStation.blog