Killer 7 in stores 7/7; no Geist until August

One of the most interesting games on Capcom's upcoming release schedule is Killer 7, the cel-shaded shooter from Japanese designer Goichi Suda. In fact, despite being originally slated for release in 2003, Killer 7 has been a perennial fixture of the publisher's coming-soon calendar for nearly three years, thanks to a series of delays.

The latest of these delays occurred this week, when Killer 7, which had been set to ship in the US next week, was quietly pushed back to the first week of July. "The official ship date for Killer 7 is 7/5, with the game hitting store shelves on 7/7," a Capcom rep told GameSpot. "This way, stores will have Killer 7 on 7/7. Kind of a cool play on dates." Capcom did not offer any reason for the delay other than "the usual process of getting the game through production."

Killer 7's development has become fairly infamous over the years. It first gained notoriety for being one of the "Capcom 5," a quintet of titles originally thought to be GameCube-exclusive. However, like Viewtiful Joe and Resident Evil 4, Killer 7 was eventually announced for the PlayStation 2 as well. Both versions of Killer 7 will ship simultaneously.

Another upcoming GameCube game--this one a definite exclusive--has also been delayed. Nintendo confirmed to GameSpot that Geist, the spooky first-person shooter from Florida-based n-Space, will now not ship until August. It had been originally slated for a 2004 release before being pushed back to 2005. In March, Geist was confirmed for a June release.

GameSpot's previous coverage has much more information on--including previews of--both Killer 7 and Geist. Both games are rated M for Mature, and both will retail for $49.99 when they (finally) arrive on store shelves.