Earlier today at Wizard World Philly, 00.19 and I took in the NECA panel to check out all of the upcoming action figures the company would be making. Being that everyone at the office has been going nuts for their Gears of War figures, I couldn't wait to see what was coming up next.

During the slide show, a picture was shown of a completed Prototype figure, which we also saw at New York Comic Con last month. Though the figure is completed, Director of Product Development Randy Falk stated that it would be awhile before the figure was released, since the game had been pushed back to 2009.

Though the fact that Prototype has been delayed is old news, the reason why was new to us: according to Falk, Grand Theft Auto IV did such a fantastic job of recreating New York (which is also where Prototype is set), the developers felt that they needed to take a few extra months to step up their game in order to reach the same level that GTA IV did.

While I don't mind a game delay if it means the finished product is going to be that much better, I'm not sure how to feel about Prototype now. They already cut the co-op from the game to meet a "Late 2008" date that obviously didn't work out, and now they have delayed the game even further because they don't think they can measure up? I know GTA IV set the bar really high, but if they don't have enough confidence in Prototype, how is anyone else going to?

Of course, the game could come out next year and blow everyone away, at which point I'll totally eat my words. Either way, NECA's figures look fantastic. We'll be bringing you more news on NECA's properties in the future, and be sure to check out TheQuarterbin.com for any Wizard World news you may have missed.

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