Katamari Damacy Sequel Announced

GamesIndustry.biz has the news that a sequel to Katamari Damacy, the best selling ball rolling game, is going to be coming up sometime next year. From the article: "Namco is working on a sequel to its quirky and innovative PS2 title Katamari Damacy and plans to release it in Japan on the PlayStation 2 during its 2005 financial year, according to a report on US website IGN."

Comments

Europe

[kerincosford]

Are us lowly Old-Worlders going to be allowed to buy it this time?

Obligatory webcomic reference

[pogle]

http://www.reallifecomics.com/daily.php?strip_id=1 322

That game is so weird. Why anyone would want a sequel...I just won't understand some things, I guess.

Re:Obligatory webcomic reference

[McKinney83]

Don't forget the Penny Arcade link

Re:Obligatory webcomic reference

[dhakbar]

Every post of yours in this thread consists of you putting down other peoples' tastes in favor of your own. Get a clue, man.

Katamari Damacy is an awesome game. I enjoy it more than Super Monkey Ball or even the venerated classic, Marble Madness. You're just another clueless Slashdot critic.

Re:Obligatory webcomic reference

[May Kasahara]

And the VG Cats link!

Re:Obligatory webcomic reference

[dhakbar]

Super Monkey Ball is great, but it doesn't have some fruit saying things about his "royal rainbow" in broken Engish...

Re:Obligatory webcomic reference

[pogle]

Its my thread, that I started, and I'm not allowed to post my opinions? Yep, typical Slashdot behavior to be sure.

Once again, let me just state that I dont require anyone to change their opinions to suit my own. Simply because I don't like the game doesnt force you to change anything. Yeesh.

You're entitled to enjoy it more than Monkey Ball or Marble Madness (altho that game was annoying to no end on the last stage). I dont. Again with the whole freedom of choice thing that /. seems to hate unless its 'their' choice, not an opposite one.

Re:Obligatory webcomic reference

[Zorilla]

Yeah, but I think Captain Picard is better than Captain Kirk - wait - what were we talking about?

Re:Obligatory webcomic reference

[Zorilla]

"Innovation is a game that looks to have been designed while someone was drunk?"

Not to mention rectangular grannies, which are both drug induced and game-optimizing at the same time!

$19.99

[McKinney83]

Hope it stays $19.99(USD) like the first one was.

Re:$19.99

[Alkaiser]

What was funny was that if you bought it USED in Japan, it was still almost twice the price of buying it NEW in the US. The head of Namco US thought the product would be a complete failure, but everyone else thought it would sell, so they sold it cheap.

Re:$19.99

[Quobobo]

You did that too? I only decided to buy it after hearing how great it was from people in NA who bought it cheap. I go to the store, and... great. Used version's like 600 yen cheaper than the insanely expensive new version.

Still worth it though. :)

Great....

[Anonymous Coward]

So a game that stands out for being innovative, interesting, and new amidst a sea of sequels gets....a sequel. And the cycle continues....

Katahada Damahoocha

[tweder]

http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2004-10 -01&res=l

Never played it? Try it!

[Stormalong]

Seriously, if you've never played this, give it a try. I'm a typical gamer (currently playing HL2 and GTA: San Andreas), and I never would have thought to try this game, but my buddy brought it over and got us hooked. The next day my GF bought it at EB ($12 CDN used, plus she had $5 store credit, so it was $7). Its a helluva lotta fun for $7.

Its more fun if you have spectators, as they can see (and call out..."Ha! You picked up a cow!") all the wacky things you pick up, which you tend to miss as you are busy trying to control where the silly thing goes.

Re:Never played it? Try it!

[eamonman]

I found the Taurus and the Ursa levels to be the funniest and at the same time most frustrating in the game. All I can say is, I hate those floating Bear signs and those Cow traffic cones.

Its more fun if you have spectators, as they can see (and call out..."Ha! You picked up a cow!") all the wacky things you pick up, which you tend to miss as you are busy trying to control where the silly thing goes.

The funniest part of the game was the first time started to collect office buildings; the caucaphony of all the people screaming and telephones ringing will get your first-time spectator laughing.

Wow.

[ultramk]

I love this game so much, I bought a PS2 just to play it.

Seriously. (EB refurb, but still.)

In fact, it's still the only PS2 game I own. The other games I like are all on the xbox or mac/pc, but I couldn't pass this one up.

I mean, it's... well. Hard to explain. And now a new one? I just hope the dialog is as silly, and the music is as cool.

m-

Re:Wow.

[ultramk]

Oh, and the name... the best translation I found seems to be "Clump of Souls"

I mean, how cool is that? "Gonna go roll up a Clump of Souls, catch you later." Also, to paraphrase Dave Barry, Clump of Souls would be a cool name for a band.

Hell, there's probably a christian rock name with that name already... nevermind about the cool bit.

m-

Re:Wow.

[Bega]

I loved the use of language in the first game. "We got a present for the hard-working prince, but We couldn't be bothered to pick it up. Roll it up while you're at it."

Also, if you're interested, I strongly recommend getting Klonoa 2 for PS2. That and Katamari are my all time favorites. 3 And I can't seem to be thinking Katamari as a cruel game, even when you're thinking about that fact that you're rolling a ball of things, including people and animals, and then just send 'em out to space. Lovely.

changes to slashcode??

[XO]

some changes to html here have caused this article to seriously screw up browsing slashdot in Opera

Re:changes to slashcode??

[XO]

well, yes, it is offtopic, but it's very pertinent to slashdot, so i don't think it deserves a moderation, jerkoff.

I dissent. Monkey Ball is the best ball roller

[LordZardoz]

Super Monkey ball is the best game wherein you are rolling a ball. I will hear no arguments contrary to this.

END COMMUNICATION

At the risk of sounding weird

[Dark Paladin]

Why?

Yes, I plan on renting it within the next month or so, if only because I think it looks interesting and quirky.

But how far can you really take "roll around the ball and watch it get bigger"? I read the review from Mr. Roberts on InsertCredit.com and got pretty much all i needed to know (and in true Mr. Roberts style, more than I bargained for) - but what could you do in a sequel?

Well, other than make Namco more money, I guess.

Re:At the risk of sounding weird

[Anonymous Coward]

More levels.

Bigger levels.

More items.

And believe it or not, there really is some level design involved in the layout of all those miscallaneous items. You could make the levels hard by blocking off more areas to certain sizes (too big to fit or too small to make it through), making shorter time lengths, or simply having the "right size" objects you can pick up be less available. And this can all be carefully controlled to make the levels quite challenging I'm sure. There is also an unexplored element of the ball's physics which could open up levels that require more creative acrobatics for jumping gaps or somesuch.

Really, I don't care about the details as long as it's fresh and fun, though. $20 or $30 and a few days of my life is worth it.

katamari me like!

[apostrophesemicolon]

katamari damashii (jp title) or "clump soul" is one of the best games of 2004. If you havent tried playing it, you should go buy it now for only US$19.99

This Japanese Katamari official website (english version) is a better website that tells you what it is, and there are also wallpaper images for download (one of which i am using)

Re:katamari me like!

[buffer-overflowed]

Nah. It's a cult classic(and barely that because of all the publicity it's gotten), nothing more.

Saying it deserves Game of the Year status is like saying Rocky Horror deserved Best Picture.

Re:katamari me like!

[Zorilla]

I'd say more like The Fifth Element getting Best Picture. There's an example of a well-made, but drug-induced, movie.

There are few situations where Debo can be the President..."Ah don't want uh-incident!"

Re: Try playing it first

[pogle]

Theres nothing high and mighty about not understanding the appeal behind a game. I am friends with a lot of gamers (we did little else in college) and exactly one of them likes KD. The rest of us scratch our heads and try to figure out why. We certainly don't try to force him to stop playing it or make him not like it.

Stop posting as an Anonymous Coward and use an accout, and we'll have a real discussion if you want. You might even be able to explain it to me if you know how to carry on politely. But I'm done talking to ACs for the day.

Console envy

[Asmor]

Katamari is the first game that has -ever- made me seriously doubt my decision not to get a PS2. Why oh why can't it be released for Xbox or Gamecube or even Dreamcast? It seems like it would fit perfectly on the latter two.

Re:Console envy

[PacerGuy]

A port to GameCube is unlikely, as the game itself is controlled almost entirely via the two analog sticks... and GameCube controllers only have one.

Re:Console envy

[Alkaiser]

Most simple remapping of the controls. You can just use one analog stick, and then use the shoulder buttons for the rest of it. But this does fall right in line with Cubivore, I actually thought this game WAS for the GC at first.

Could be a great thing...

[PhoenixOne]

I for one would be interested in seeing what direction they take the sequel in. If they just improve the graphics or add new levels, then I will give it a pass. If, on the other hand, the developers are not just "one-hit-wonders" this will give them a chance to really wow us with more unique gameplay.

When you start making a game, you normally have a huge list of features you want. Over time that list gets smaller as you weed out the ideas that a) don't work or, b) you don't have time to add. Once you release the game, you feel regret for each feature in that second category that you couldn't add.

My hope is that they have a whole bunch of these features for KD2. :)

Katamari Democracy

[Geoffreyerffoeg]

The American version of Katamari Damacy.

How are they going to make a sequel to this game? Katamultiplayer (either timed competition or FFA snowball fight)?

What's next, McDonald's Happy Meal tieins: "Get your ball started with this goop, and add random household objects and Chicken McNuggets!"?

Katamari Damacy 2:

[UltimaL337Star]

Katamari Damacy 2: Polygons

Lots o reasons

[eamonman]

Reasons for the first game:

1. Gameplay/Level freedom (3 massive levels)
2. Music ("Naa nana na nananana na nana nanana!", or "You're lonely rolling star!") Kinda sticks in your head.
3. Precisely because it's weird. It's different. It's not FPS version #10^100.
4. 19.99!

Reasons for another one:
1. Possibliity of decent multiplayer. (Just imagine: continent sized multiplayer levels; each person starts off in some little random nook; Games end based on time limit or... "There can be only one"). Create network adapter support, and THAT would be cool.
2. Possibliity of more cool music.
3. Encouragement of cool, non-violent games: Note that you don't kill anything (although you would assume that little tweety birds you pick up initially would be crushed if you were picking up islands, whales, Petronas Towers, etc.)
4. 19.99? (pretty please?!?)

Gamecube has two analog sticks

[grahamwest]

If you look at this picture you can clearly see two analog sticks on the controller. They replaced the 4 C buttons from the Nintendo 64 controller with a "C stick".

Re:Gamecube has two analog sticks

[Gen. Rasputin X]

Yes, the gamecube has two analog sticks, but it doesn't have twin sticks. The C stick just isn't the same.

Re:Gamecube has two analog sticks

[PacerGuy]

The c-stick barely qualifies as a stick. It's hard to use analog control when the top of the stick is tiny and the surrounding plastic tries to force the stick into the 8 main directions.

Metaverse

[mollyhackit]

I imagine that this game represents what a slashdoting would look like in the metaverse

Re: Try playing it first

[pogle]

Its a new day so I'll bite on the AC thing.

Talking with ACs is near impossible, as any /. troll can come along and hijack things. You never know if you're talking to the same person, and it generally makes a reasonable conversation next to impossible beyond one or two posts.

Hence why I generally prefer talking to folks with accounts, so at least then I know I'm getting a consistent opinion from someone, rather than 5 trolls taking turns being idiotic as AC.

Re:Needs a port to the old GB Color!

[leoboiko]

I think the tilt sensor was embeed in the cartridge. It's fairly common to put extra hardware on them, an advantage of carts over CDs or DVDs. The Boktai series for GBA, for example, has a sunray sensor (not a common light sensor, but an actual ultraviolet light sensor).

Mawaru Made in Wario even has a tilt sensor.