I think it has something to do with the minimap. When the game displayed everyone's location on the continental map it used to cause heavy lag... Maybe give people an option to disable just the minimap? It would stop complaints here and in this thread http://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/index.php?threads/selective-hud-how-to-improve-frames.49789/ and also remove some of the screen clutter that some people are bothered by.
lol, my minimap is broken anyway. Turning it off would probably make it more useful, so at least it's not misleading.
Yes, most of the team all went on vacation around the time of release for this game. Also the ones who did not go on vacation keep posting about all the interviews there on, so it seems like no ones behind the wheel atm.
