Without Leslie Nielsen, the prospects for a new Naked Gun movie are slim, but the franchise is coming back--as a social network game. Now before immediately dismissing it, the developer's plans sound an awful lot like the sort of adventure games Telltale has been making. The Naked Gun: International Crime Unit Police (yep, I.C.U.P.) will have players form squads to solve episodic mysteries.

The game is being built on GameCentric Media's 'Story Box' engine. In the announcement press release, GameCentric owner Paul Limon, whose resume includes a long turn at Blizzard in creative roles on games including Starcraft and Diablo II, said, "With Story Box we hope to deliver something that has yet to be seen in this arena. Since adventure gaming mechanics have proven to be highly successful in other casual arenas, it's a natural progression."

Working with Limon are Robert LoCash, who wrote and produced two to the Naked Gun films, and Nick Creature. Of working on the storied franchise, Creature said, "As a writer who grew up watching Police Squad and the Naked Gun films, I can't tell you what an incredible feeling it is to be able to put things in Frank Drebin's mouth." Uh, yeah, sounds like Creature at least has the shtick down pat.

No release date for the game was provided but given the typical quick turnaround time for social games we shouldn't have to wait long. In the meantime, a few characters can be seen on the GameCentric Media site, including Norberg. I hear OJ won't be reprising his role but the developers are after an equally intriguing celebrity to take over.