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New Katamari game revealed! Or is it?

W

Wario64

works for Gamestop (lol)
http://www.psxextreme.com/scripts/news2/new.asp?newID=3663

Katamari No More

Before all the hub-bub of the Business Brief, we brought you a story about the official Katamari website, Katamari on the Web, being shut down in three days. Well, that time has transpired and what are we left with? Not a mention of a new Katamari, but instead a goodbye note of sorts heralding the shutting of the website and the dissolution of the team behind everybody's favorite series.

It would appear that, at least in the foreseeable, there will be no more games in the franchise (the last of which is the impending Me and My Katamari for PSP releasing later this month), which is a shame because the possibilities for a next-gen adventure would've been insane! Perhaps all is not so bad, though, as we were never meant to get a sequel or a PSP game in the first place. Those came from the demand of gamers and Namco brass.

While the Prince may be shelving his magnetic ball of stuff for good, the message also gives us a silver lining: "The Katamari Doctor" (series creator), as they call him, is working on a new game of a different type. It cautions, however, that there will be no rolling around or making large things, so it may not be any fun and would be a waste of your time to anticipate it.





OOPS!
 
Farewell :(

edit:
title08lp.gif
 
Wow...Namco not milking a series...unbelievable...I wonder what is this team going to make next...

Gundam Damacy soon to be announced :lol
Tales of Katamaria later on :)

I'm gonna miss Katamari...
 
That's sad. Never played a Katamari game but Im buying "Me and My Katamari", should be a great portable experience. :)
 
Thank God he got his way.

Katamari is perfect as is. 2 great titles, and a (hopefully) similarly great portable title. More than enough. I feel bad that he was forced into making the 2 sequels, and I'm happy it ended like this, the series closing (for now?), not being milked and butchered by others, and him not leaving the gaming industry for good.

This isn't a sad funeral, it's a happy one.

P.S. Just in case anyone gets the wrong idea, Katamari is one of my absolute favorite series' around now. I would just much rather it end like this than some other way.
 
I'm actually happy about this.

The first game was great, but by the time of the second, I felt that the series was less of a novelty thanks to most of the Japanophiles who liked it because it was a "niche" title in attempt to try and look cool or whatever.
 
Sugarman said:
I want one for PS3 :/
Click to expand...
I'm assuming the original game was made on a shoestring budget based on shitty graphics and a brilliant control scheme. I'm not really sure why they would blow the bank on PS3 development to make another shoestring budget game.
 
*gasp*

Then again, modeling and constructing cities to PS3 levels would've been hell on the developer. Still, this is a heck of a bummer, but at the same time, it'll be good to see the creatives behind it work on new games, not just reworking the same concept.
 
I have mixed feelings regarding this news. On the one hand, I would have happily bought new Katamari games for the rest of time. On the other hand, sometimes its good to say "the end" to something, even if its been successful. Leave it while its hot.
 
The Katamari creator's an ass.

I don't give a damn that you want to innovate with every single game - Katamari Damacy was NOT PERFECT. Christ, it was fun, but it was short, multiplayer sucked, and there was so much potential for innovation without killing the franchise. It's people like him that create this idea that a sequel in a franchise cannot be innovative. Online play? Expand on multiplayer? Create-a-level, create-a-character, adding to the number of items possible in a level, improving visuals, more players at one time, more levels, more gimmicks and more content in general?

The first Katamari had the gameplay and Eternal, but no content.

The second Katamari had the gameplay and content, but no Eternal.

The third Katamari had the content and Eternal, but not the gameplay (it's not as good)

So, they decided to end the series on the note of "incomplete"?

I'd take a Katamari game put together by developers not involved in the originals over it dying - as long as they finally make a complete Katamari and listen to the people who buy their games.
 
"More content" is not really creativity. It's the opposite.

Looking forward to seeing what else they come up with :).
 
A Link to the Past said:
The Katamari creator's an ass.

I don't give a damn that you want to innovate with every single game - Katamari Damacy was NOT PERFECT. Christ, it was fun, but it was short, multiplayer sucked, and there was so much potential for innovation without killing the franchise. It's people like him that create this idea that a sequel in a franchise cannot be innovative. Online play? Expand on multiplayer? Create-a-level, create-a-character, adding to the number of items possible in a level, improving visuals, more players at one time, more levels, more gimmicks and more content in general?

The first Katamari had the gameplay and Eternal, but no content.

The second Katamari had the gameplay and content, but no Eternal.

The third Katamari had the content and Eternal, but not the gameplay (it's not as good)

So, they decided to end the series on the note of "incomplete"?

I'd take a Katamari game put together by developers not involved in the originals over it dying - as long as they finally make a complete Katamari and listen to the people who buy their games.
Click to expand...

Wtf is an eternal in your context? And expecting a designer who made his name known by creating an innovative game to shell out paltry sequels on a yearly basis is selfish. He wants to move onto something else and I respect that.
 
A Link to the Past said:
The Katamari creator's an ass.

I don't give a damn that you want to innovate with every single game - Katamari Damacy was NOT PERFECT. Christ, it was fun, but it was short, multiplayer sucked, and there was so much potential for innovation without killing the franchise. It's people like him that create this idea that a sequel in a franchise cannot be innovative. Online play? Expand on multiplayer? Create-a-level, create-a-character, adding to the number of items possible in a level, improving visuals, more players at one time, more levels, more gimmicks and more content in general?

The first Katamari had the gameplay and Eternal, but no content.

The second Katamari had the gameplay and content, but no Eternal.

The third Katamari had the content and Eternal, but not the gameplay (it's not as good)

So, they decided to end the series on the note of "incomplete"?

I'd take a Katamari game put together by developers not involved in the originals over it dying - as long as they finally make a complete Katamari and listen to the people who buy their games.
Click to expand...
So, is there a perfect game? You make it sound like devs cannot move on from a franchise until they do the perfect game (which will never exist).

I´d love more devs and publishers would have the balls to stop doing sequel after sequel of their games, even when they haven´t acomplished the "perfect" game.
 
Probationsmack said:
Wtf is an eternal in your context? And expecting a designer who made his name known by creating an innovative game to shell out paltry sequels on a yearly basis is selfish. He wants to move onto something else and I respect that.
Click to expand...

Eternal is playing a level without a time limit. For some reason, they decided to not put it in WLK.

And so when we want a sequel to an incomplete game, we're selfish, but when a developer tells us that it's perfect, and it doesn't need a sequel, and any flaws present in the game don't matter one bit, they're selfless?

Multiplayer was unfun in the first game, and only mildly interesting in WLK (the co-op was decent, but it was too frustrating with the removal of the on-screen controller). Instead of trying to INNOVATE, why don't they - God forbid - try to PERFECT the game?

I never said I wanted "pointless sequels". I want sequels because they HAVE to exist - am I selfish for wanting a perfect Katamari game? Maybe. But does that matter in the end? There has never been a perfect Katamari game. The original Katamari game was pretty much an experimental game. It was just ten total variations of three different levels. One thing that spiced up the game was being able to explore the levels without having to worry about running out of time. In We Love Katamari, many expected it to surpass the original, considering it had the same gameplay, and a grand amount of content in comparison - and the expectation that they wouldn't do something as stupid as removing the option to not have a time limit, but lo and behold, they did something THAT stupid. So, in the end, We Love Katamari bombed in comparison to Katamari Damacy in many people's opinions. And the last game in the franchise, Me and My Katamari, had Eternal, and had content. But for some reason, it hit them that people want both Eternal and content at the same time. But for some reason, it escaped them that the gamers also wanted the same gameplay. With the fact that the creator wasn't involved in Me and My Katamari, the fact that it had Eternal is probably the reason why WLK did not.

But seriously, summary: Abandoning a series and not making any attempt to make the perfect game in said series is retarded. No one should applaud him for abandoning the series.
 
Katamari was fun the first time, I'm happy he's moving on to something else. Namco sucks for forcing out a sequel even though it was against his wishes.
 
nine words said:
So, is there a perfect game? You make it sound like devs cannot move on from a franchise until they do the perfect game (which will never exist).

I´d love more devs and publishers would have the balls to stop doing sequel after sequel of their games, even when they haven´t acomplished the "perfect" game.
Click to expand...

Fine, how about he actually puts effort into IMPROVING the game? Just by a little bit? Although, God forbid that the developer be expected to put any effort into that.

And you might as well be saying that all franchises should be dropped after the very first game in favor of innovation.

Would you say the same for Final Fantasy? Or Dragon Quest? Or Fire Emblem, Famicom Wars, Mario, Sonic, Donkey Kong, Kirby, Mega Man, Pokémon, Zelda, Metroid, Seiken Densetsu, Bomberman, Castlevania, etc.? If the developers for those didn't want to make a second game, we wouldn't have Final Fantasy VI, Dragon Quest VI, Fire Emblem (whichever one), Advance Wars, Super Mario Bros. 3, Donkey Kong Country 2, Kirby Super Star, Mega Man 2, Pokémon RuSa, A Link to the Past, Super Metroid, Seiken Densetsu 3, Saturn Bomberman or Symphony of the Night.

Katamari has several flaws, and the developer is essentially saying "so what?". Multiplayer blows - that's one of the biggest flaws in the series, in one that could have been an amazing multiplayer game.

Seriously, stop defending him. Wanting to innovate is fine, but when it involves abandoning an essentially incomplete franchise, no.
 
A Link to the Past said:
But seriously, summary: Abandoning a series and not making any attempt to make the perfect game in said series is retarded. No one should applaud him for abandoning the series.
Click to expand...
How about letting things remain imperfect and instead let the creators of games constantly come up with new ideas?
 
The first katamari was good, I didnt need it to be perfect. ALL of the games that I love including my favorites of all time are not perfect games and all have their flaws.
 
A Link to the Past said:
And you might as well be saying that all franchises should be dropped after the very first game in favor of innovation.
Click to expand...
Not everything is a "franchise." All your doing is spouting marketing bullshit.
 
Wario64 said:
http://www.psxextreme.com/scripts/news2/new.asp?newID=3663

Katamari No More

Before all the hub-bub of the Business Brief, we brought you a story about the official Katamari website, Katamari on the Web, being shut down in three days. Well, that time has transpired and what are we left with? Not a mention of a new Katamari, but instead a goodbye note of sorts heralding the shutting of the website and the dissolution of the team behind everybody's favorite series.

It would appear that, at least in the foreseeable, there will be no more games in the franchise (the last of which is the impending Me and My Katamari for PSP releasing later this month), which is a shame because the possibilities for a next-gen adventure would've been insane! Perhaps all is not so bad, though, as we were never meant to get a sequel or a PSP game in the first place. Those came from the demand of gamers and Namco brass.

While the Prince may be shelving his magnetic ball of stuff for good, the message also gives us a silver lining: "The Katamari Doctor" (series creator), as they call him, is working on a new game of a different type. It cautions, however, that there will be no rolling around or making large things, so it may not be any fun and would be a waste of your time to anticipate it.





OOPS!
Click to expand...
Meh, if the PS3 comes through on the promise of upconverting the 3D vectors to render at high-def resolution, that'll be fine. I never got through even half of the levels in "We <3 Katamari"
 
A Link to the Past said:
And you might as well be saying that all franchises should be dropped after the very first game in favor of innovation.
Click to expand...

If the team doesn't want to work on it anymore. Yes.

A Link to the Past said:
Katamari has several flaws, and the developer is essentially saying "so what?".
Click to expand...

Yep. Kojima will soon be moving on from MGS, none of which are technically "perfect". Are you going to bug him about it too? He's got other things to do with his life, other franchises to launch.

A Link to the Past said:
Seriously, stop defending him. Wanting to innovate is fine, but when it involves abandoning an essentially incomplete franchise, no.
Click to expand...

I suppose all creative types should be manacled to their franchises for life and work their fingers to the bone until utter fan perfection is achieved or eternity itself expires. Because that's what it's really all about: you.
 
Billy Rygar said:
How about letting things remain imperfect and instead let the creators of games constantly come up with new ideas?
Click to expand...

Good point. Who cares that the multiplayer is shit? Who cares that it's short? Who cares that there's tons of potential for the franchise? The gameplay was fun! </Katamari sheep>

Stop brown nosing the guy. Christ, how about he at least TRY to make the perfect game? I don't give a shit that he wants to make a new game every other year, because every single game he makes will be imperfect, unfinished, incomplete, etc. He won't think that any flaws found in the game are big enough to make a sequel to fix them, regardless of if they're minor or major flaws.

Probationsmack said:
The first katamari was good, I didnt need it to be perfect. ALL of the games that I love including my favorites of all time are not perfect games and all have their flaws.
Click to expand...

The first Katamari was short. The first Katamari had bad multiplayer. The second Katamari was long. The second Katamari improved on multiplayer, but it still wasn't fun. He objected to any attempt at improving Katamari, as if Katamari peaked with the first game (it didn't).

Billy Rygar said:
Not everything is a "franchise." All your doing is spouting marketing bullshit.
Click to expand...

And all you're doing is brown nosing the creator. "Well, he doesn't have to cater to gamers, he just has to cater to his ego! He shouldn't be expected to make improvements, no matter how necessary they are!" Christ, get over him. You make it seem like no game ever made needs a sequel. Katamari Damacy didn't have to be perfect, but what, am I selfish for expecting him to not abandon a game that needed improvements?
 
A Link to the Past said:
Fine, how about he actually puts effort into IMPROVING the game? Just by a little bit? Although, God forbid that the developer be expected to put any effort into that.
Click to expand...

This effort should´ve been put when doing the first, maybe the second game. Not in the third or the fourth (so they wouldn´t be needed at all)

And you might as well be saying that all franchises should be dropped after the very first game in favor of innovation.
Click to expand...

My point is most games don´t deserve t be a franchise. Not many games in my eyes deserve to have a sequel. Look at Viewtiful Joe, a very good brawler, now it was far from perfection, still a solid game for its genre. There have been a second part, a portable version and a fighting game based on the characters. Was anyone of them inspired? not at all, they were mere products. Look at Devil May Cry, do you think DMC2 should´ve existed? No, it was a mere product that was released after the impact of the first game. Now DMC3 had new elements and brand new ideas. But in my eyes, it should be DMC2, since the real 2, shouldn´t have existed.

My point is that you don´t need to go releasing sequels if you don´t have anything good or new to add, and more importantly, if you don´t feel like doing it.

Katamari has several flaws, and the developer is essentially saying "so what?". Multiplayer blows - that's one of the biggest flaws in the series, in one that could have been an amazing multiplayer game.
Click to expand...

I can live with an imperfect game in my life. Super Monkey Ball had a terrible camera, SMB2 was worse in about every aspect, except the multiplayer. If AV have not anything better to outdo SMB1, the series is well done for me. If SMB2 was a game based on multiplayer in opposition to single player, I wonder why the game couldn´t have been a totally new franchise, not putting SMB single player experience name to shame. So, as much a I love SMB, it should´ve ended on the first chaper and SMB2 should be a totally different game.

Seriously, stop defending him. Wanting to innovate is fine, but when it involves abandoning an essentially incomplete franchise, no.
Click to expand...

I´m not defending him as an individual. I´m defending everbody that is a creative mind and don´t want to continue working on something that is not creative for him anymore, and have the balls to stop it. If more devs acted like that, we would get more games like Meteos or Lumines.
 
Dsal said:
If the team doesn't want to work on it anymore. Yes.



Yep. Kojima will soon be moving on from MGS, none of which are technically "perfect". Are you going to bug him about it too? He's got other things to do with his life, other franchises to launch.



I suppose all creative types should be manacled to their franchises for life and work their fingers to the bone until utter fan perfection is achieved or eternity itself expires. Because that's what it's really all about: you.
Click to expand...

The difference is that Katamari wasn't a game that peaked, not even close. Stop portraying it as such. I could name 20 things that he could add to a Katamari game.

*gasp* Do my eyes deceive me? Instead of actually using an argument, someone is taking my usage of the word perfect to mean literally perfect?

Oh, wait, I forgot. Sheep.

Guess what Katamari has that MGS lacks? Glaring flaws. Easily improvable.

And you have essentially stated that because I don't like my games to be unfinished, I am demanding that he never make a game that isn't Katamari.

Stop being such a sheep to the developers, directors and writers. Let me guess - you would say that no one should be upset with JRR Tolkein if he decided to not write RotK after finishing TTT, deciding that he didn't feel like completing the book so he can write something new? I don't mean to shock you, but SOME people might *gasp* want the developer/director/writer to TRY to make it perfect? Trying to make it perfect won't make it perfect, but at least the guy fucking tried.

Oh, and stop supporting the idea that the only way for a game to be innovative would be to make it a brand new game. That's just stupid.
 
A Link to the Past said:
Fine, how about he actually puts effort into IMPROVING the game? Just by a little bit? Although, God forbid that the developer be expected to put any effort into that.

And you might as well be saying that all franchises should be dropped after the very first game in favor of innovation.

Would you say the same for Final Fantasy? Or Dragon Quest? Or Fire Emblem, Famicom Wars, Mario, Sonic, Donkey Kong, Kirby, Mega Man, Pokémon, Zelda, Metroid, Seiken Densetsu, Bomberman, Castlevania, etc.? If the developers for those didn't want to make a second game, we wouldn't have Final Fantasy VI, Dragon Quest VI, Fire Emblem (whichever one), Advance Wars, Super Mario Bros. 3, Donkey Kong Country 2, Kirby Super Star, Mega Man 2, Pokémon RuSa, A Link to the Past, Super Metroid, Seiken Densetsu 3, Saturn Bomberman or Symphony of the Night.

Katamari has several flaws, and the developer is essentially saying "so what?". Multiplayer blows - that's one of the biggest flaws in the series, in one that could have been an amazing multiplayer game.

Seriously, stop defending him. Wanting to innovate is fine, but when it involves abandoning an essentially incomplete franchise, no.
Click to expand...

At the end of the day you are assuming your opinion of Katamari is the same as the creator's. Maybe in his eyes he didn't see any worthwhile improvements? Maybe he viewed the first game as fine as it was?

Yes the multiplayer was rubbish, but the concept and controls just didn't suit it. To make a worthwhile multiplayer it would probably have had to go down the Monkey Ball route, with party game style minigames. This would have totally changed the focus and how people saw the game, and I can totally understand how he might not have wanted to do that.

The first Katamari just had something about it, it held together well and it felt complete even with the pointless 2-player mode. The sequel although not a bad game, just felt a bit messy and just didn't have the magic the first game was. You could tell the first game was a labour of love, and that's why it works so well. And if someone's heart isn't in something, you are never going to be able to reproduce that in a sequel.
 
A Link to the Past said:
Stop being such a sheep to the developers, directors and writers. Let me guess - you would say that no one should be upset with JRR Tolkein if he decided to not write RotK after finishing TTT, deciding that he didn't feel like completing the book so he can write something new? I don't mean to shock you, but SOME people might *gasp* want the developer/director/writer to TRY to make it perfect? Trying to make it perfect won't make it perfect, but at least the guy fucking tried.
Click to expand...
ROTK was planned. You know the whole issue of "plot" and what not. The Katamari creator never set out to make more than one Katamari game. In fact the second one ended up being an attempt to improve upon the first one, but he never wanted to in the first place. I can tell you alot of "imperfect" things I would rather noone messed with at all.
 
A Link to the Past said:
Stop being such a sheep to the developers, directors and writers. Let me guess - you would say that no one should be upset with JRR Tolkein if he decided to not write RotK after finishing TTT, deciding that he didn't feel like completing the book so he can write something new? I don't mean to shock you, but SOME people might *gasp* want the developer/director/writer to TRY to make it perfect? Trying to make it perfect won't make it perfect, but at least the guy fucking tried..
Click to expand...
Now, this is some serious twisting...

One thing is to leave a book incomplete (or a game). A very different one, is to do a flawed game (or book).
 
I have never stated that I want "KD with improvements", I want KD with IMPROVEMENTS! Just like DMC3 did some new things with the franchise, so could Katamari. Shit, add some "adventure levels", so to speak. KD is relatively unadventury, and mixing adventure gameplay with KD would do plenty to innovate the franchise. Regardless, the least I request of him is ONE more Katamari game that has content, perfect gameplay and Eternal mode. One of the killers of WLK is that they pointlessly removed Eternal mode. I think that one reason WLK wasn't as magical as KD is because you never had the opportunity to just explore the levels instead of being rushed through (I still can't get to 3,000 meters on the Elephant level).

Multiplayer worked to an extent in WLK, for the reason that it was essentially the main game, while KD was just some dinky little level. Problem with multiplayer was that it didn't last long enough.

It's kind of like Advance Wars - everyone felt that 2 was a pointless sequel, because it added only one unit, didn't improve on multiplayer, didn't add anything new and the only thing they really worked on was campaign. However, DS added Combat, Survival, Medals, leveling up units, powers, "Tag Teams", added new multiplayer and War Room stuff. All I'm saying is that if the creator put some effort into making the best Katamari game he can make, it would feel as magical as KD. We Love Katamari, just like AW2, were huge disappointments with people expecting it to be just a bigger and better franchise, but a true sequel could do what WLK was supposed to.
 
I understand where you are coming from, but I think you aren't giving credit where it's due. The first Katamari is blatantly something that has come from the head of a single person, it's a labour of love, and had a very strong idea of what it wanted to do. Imperfections and all. And you can be sure that he put a hell of a lot of effort into it.

In trying to improve on something with sequels, you often get a design-by-committee problem where suddenly everyone has their own idea of what needs to be fixed or changed. And then things start to be compromised to keep everyone happy, which means things get left out or watered down etc. Or you get a jumble of ideas. This is why We Love Katamari doesn't have the 'magic' of the original, it's an attempt to please everyone and doesn't have the same strong identity as the original.

Multiplayer would probably never have worked in it's current form, because the concept just doesn't suit it. It isn't competitive enough, you are too detached from what your opponent is doing, there's a fundamental problem of what to do when one player is big enough to pick up the other player, the controls don't suit quick reactions to the other player's actions, etc. etc. For multiplayer to work, it would almost certainly have had to go down the Monkey Ball route, with separate party-style mini-games different from the main game. And personally I don't want Katamari Party.

Finally whereas you can try and fix and add to a game in a sequel, you can't just copy everything that worked in the original. New content, new levels etc. mean a different experience. You probably would never have got your 'perfect' Katamari.
 
A Link to the Past said:
Online play? Expand on multiplayer? Create-a-level, create-a-character, adding to the number of items possible in a level, improving visuals, more players at one time, more levels, more gimmicks and more content in general?
Click to expand...

Despite any good intentions you may have, you are the enemy of innovation. I can't imagine any part of that list improving on what the first game did. KD did exactly what it set out to do and is a completely self-contained and fully-realized package, no matter what your expectations from other games might lead you to want out of it.

I get the feeling from Takahashi that he's a pretty restless guy. Namco twisted his arm into making WLK. After that was finished, he talked about how he wanted to design playground equipment. He's not content to rest on any one creation for too long, I don't think. Why begrudge him that? Appreciate KD for what it is, and appreciate real innovation when it oh-so-rarely rears its head in this industry.
 
jiji said:
Despite any good intentions you may have, you are the enemy of innovation. I can't imagine any part of that list improving on what the first game did. KD did exactly what it set out to do and is a completely self-contained and fully-realized package, no matter what your expectations from other games might lead you to want out of it.

I get the feeling from Takahashi that he's a pretty restless guy. Namco twisted his arm into making WLK. After that was finished, he talked about how he wanted to design playground equipment. He's not content to rest on any one creation for too long, I don't think. Why begrudge him that? Appreciate KD for what it is, and appreciate real innovation when it oh-so-rarely rears its head in this industry.
Click to expand...

Just because I want a sequel to Katamari does not mean I do not want innovation. No one says such of those who want a Mario sequel, or a Castlevania sequel, or a Mega Man sequel. Inafune, Miyamoto and Iga could have been making a new platformer or adventure or RPG or strategy game, but because of demand for sequels, they make sequels.

And those aren't my "only ideas" for a sequel. They're just the "well duh" ideas. The more innovative things he could do would be to give it some adventure aspects, objectives, and Hell, different style of Katamaris, like square Katamari, magnetic Katamari, diamond Katamari, sticky Katamari, etc. It would add more possibilities to navigating levels.
 
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