We Love Katamari

We Love Katamari, the sequel to Katamari Damacy, is slated to be released in July of this year (in Japan). The U.S. release of the title is assured, but no specific date has been announced of yet. From the article: "We Love Katamari will have a whole new range of items for players to add to their Katamari, including everything from fish to world landmarks, like the Eiffel Tower. It will also feature a range of new settings both on and off of Earth, including urban, underwater, and mountainous locales." We've previously covered the July release date, but the assured U.S. release and the game's title are new.

Comments

Re:gamecube version?

[cgenman]

...and it revealed that, like its forebear, the game would be PlayStation 2-exclusive. - TFA

I'd call that a pretty big clue.

Re:But what about us...

[Raumkraut]

Apparently, there will be a European release, too! Woooo!

Such Innovation In a Time of Little

[rAiNsT0rm]

After covering the videogame industry for years, I absolutely love when a truly innovative game comes out with poor to no graphics and takes the world by storm. They affirm that there are still true game designers out there working on doing the one thing so many miss, making a fun game. You would think that would go without saying, but instead it's the exception not the rule. Licensed product that barely passes as a game, endless sequels with one or two added features, and the endless stream of sports titles that generally weaken each year except for the graphics. Games have become so diluted and wading through the hype cane become almost impossible... but then a little known game pops up with a $19.99 price tag that stores wouldn't even accept pre-orders on because "there's no way we'll sell out" and makes a huge impact. Congrats! This is what gaming should be about.

Re:Such Innovation In a Time of Little

[Phisbut]

After covering the videogame industry for years, I absolutely love when a truly innovative game comes out with poor to no graphics and takes the world by storm.

I don't want to sound rude or anything, but on several occasions, I have noted that most of the "diluted" games that have cool graphics but no gameplay are usually american games, while those truly innovative games come from Japan. We have reached a point in technology where graphics can't make a game better anymore.

Different culture and different market, but Japan doesn't care about graphics, it just wants to have fun, and that's where innovation comes from. It is really sad that so few japanese games actually make it to America, because they have a way of making games over there that could indeed revolutionize gaming. No wonder Nintendo, which is massively powerful in Japan, wants to revolutionize gaming with consoles that offer less graphics, but more innovations.

Re:Such Innovation In a Time of Little

[snorklewacker]

> I have noted that most of the "diluted" games that have cool graphics but no gameplay are usually american games

Final *cough* Fantasy

Nice movies on that DVD. Wish there was some game there too.

Re:Such Innovation In a Time of Little

[snorklewacker]

Peter Molyneaux, Will Wright, Warren Specter ... give me a few minutes.

Oh, but we have to love everything Japanese, isn't their culture so superior, everything that comes out of Japan is superior, blah blah blah. Well no, 90% of Japanese games are like "Super Princess Maker 23" that involve seducing cartoon children by clicking through menu dialogs so trite as to make Leisure Suit Larry look like William Shakespeare.

Katamari was a hit because it stood out, and it stood out by actually being fun.

Re:Such Innovation In a Time of Little

[UWC]

I'll add Tim Schafer and Sid Meyer to that list.

And I'll add Mahjong(sp?) and terrible dating sims to your Japanese game list. I'm not saying that non-Japanese shovelware is all that much better, but the Japanese game industry is not pristine. We get the cream of the crop over here and miss maybe a couple of the good games every year. Also, Katamari Damacy would have failed over here if it was $40 or $50, and its success would likely have been diminished even at $30.

And I love how these game threads devolve into "Where's the innovation?", "Katamari Damacy! I am gaming elite!", and "Japan!11!!"

The best part is that this entire thread is about a Katamari Damacy SEQUEL, and the only new features mentioned are "more items to roll up."

The Western game industry has been behind some nice stuff, too. Everyone talks about how graphics are superfluous. The Splinter Cell games would not be the experience that they are without advanced lighting techniques. And each iteration has been adding genuinely new features and gameplay and actually getting better. Frequency and Amplitude are by Western developers. It's just not as black-and-white (another amazingly unique game, though you mentioned Molyneux already) as the Japanophiles constantly decree. There are conutless studios that routinely turn out great game experiences with unique additions. Grand Theft Auto. Jak & Daxter 1-3. Sly Cooper. These all add something unique and valuable to the gaming landscape and all are, what? Oh, wow! Not Japanese!

Play games that are good. Don't throw blanket statements over large chunks of the world. Deciding that a game that rewards playing for 80 hours to get the Blade of Obsessive Button Mashing or that features a sticky ball against quirky music and art somehow elevates an entire country's work above that of the rest of the world does not make it so. Oh, and saying "Kawaii", "Baka", "Arigato", "Sumimasen", and "Ittadakimasu" at every opportunity does not make you any better than someone else who hasn't seen all the episodes of Jubei-chan the Ninja Girl subtitled three times on fifth-generation bootleg tapes.

Thank you.

Re:Such Innovation In a Time of Little

[UWC]

Whoa, wait a second, so the secret to a good game is just to be "quirky"? All that gameplay and smooth control and crap are just kludges, and all I really ahve to do is come up with something so far out in left field that no one in their right mind would have imagined it before in video game form? Man, I can't wait to get started on Turd Surfer: Slippy's Adventure through the Water Filtration Plant. Each level ends in you getting past all the sanitation measures. The control scheme has you use only L2, the triangle button, and the right analog stick. The graphics will mostly be neon flashing sprites. Music to be performed by some guy with a gutbucket. It won't sell worth crap, but "true gamers" will latch on to it for years. Heck, I don't even need to do that. If I want to get the Japanophile seal of approval, I just have to mold a pressure sensor in some crazy way. Bug Smasher Pro! Stomp that beetle and see how many points you get! Home version of the controller only $30! Sequels are rhythm-based and set to mindless J-pop.

I did not deny for a second that there are some innovative games from Japan. Nintendo makes great games. I simply stated that there are innovative games that are, apparently through some little-known flaw in the rAiNsTOrm Theory of Gaming Quality, somehow NOT made in Japan. While I know you enjoy your hyperbole, Splinter Cell is only on its third iteration. Each one has added unique new facets that affect the gameplay in positive ways. And out of curiosity, what do you think of the Metroid Prime Gamecube games, developed by Retro Studios, which I assume to be non-Japanese? Wait, hold on, I'll do it for you: "Typically pedestrian hack-job of a beloved and unique franchise. I resolved never to play it when I heard that it's in first-person."

Co-op mode

[JonBob]

The article mentions a cooperative mode in this iteration, with two players working in sync to move a single katamari. I think this is the most exciting part of the announcement; we could guess most of the rest, really. This is a great reason to buy the new edition. Personally, I didn't enjoy the battle mode in the first volume (which the article says will be improved as well), but co-op sounds like a blast.

Same-o sequel?

[7grain]

"... a whole new range of items for players to add to their Katamari, including everything from fish to world landmarks, like the Eiffel Tower."

Hmm. I vaguely recall picking up lots of fish in the first one, and something that looked a lot like the Eiffel Tower at the end of the 'World' level.

No matter. A few new maps would be enough to make me happy! Hopefully they'll keep the "punks" on motorcycles that say "bim-bim-bim-bimbimBIMBIM-bim!"

Re:gamecube version?

[JimTheta]

I suspect it's the reason why Nintendo wisely decided to opt for the unusual control mechanism in Metroid Prime

I suspect the reason is that Metroid Prime is not that kind of game. It's about exploration and discovery, not about showing off your mad skillz by fragging all the other guys in the frat house.

$20 for a controller that only works with 1 or 2 games is over-priced. 'nuff said,

No, not "'nuff said". You sound like you think you have the definative gamer opinion. Surprise, dude, you don't. Maybe you can't afford them on your allowance, but somebody must be buying them, because they keep making them.

And stop posting as AC.