Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments
Search

News for nerds, stuff that matters

Slashdot Log In

Log In

Create Account  |  Retrieve Password

Katamari Team Disbands

Posted by Zonk on Sat Mar 18, 2006 03:37 PM
from the no-more-damacy dept.
Entertainment Games
Gamasutra reports that the team behind Katamari Damacy, We *heart* Katamari, and My My Katamari has dissolved. The official Katamari site states that there are no plans for sequels to the hit rollin' games. From the article: "The official announcement does mention that 'Professor Katamari' (presumably Keita Takahashi) is currently working on a new game design, though apparently not with the core Katamari Damacy team. 'You don't roll things up, or get bigger, but you might find it interesting anyway,' says the site." Which is good news, considering his earlier comments about making playground equipment.
+ -
story

Related Stories

[+] What to Make of Keita Takahashi? 15 comments
Edge Online has a piece looking at the rise of Keita Takahashi, the creator of Katamari Damacy. From the article: "But just how do you accelerate from unknown newcomer, through cult hero, to toast of the establishment in the time it takes most developers to produce a single game? Back in 2003 Katamari Damacy was unknown, a demo disc given away at the Tokyo Game Show which was dismissed by many as a one-note wonder - a novelty game which no one would play for more than ten minutes. Then, some neat timing: just a fortnight after the game's release in Japan, and the early flurry of word-of-mouth from those whose interest had been piqued at TGS, Takahashi presented the game at GDC's experimental game workshop."
[+] Katamari Creator Critical of Revolution 397 comments
Gamasutra has an article on Keita Takahashi's reaction to the Revolution controller. From the article: "Takahashi commented of the Revolution, which has drawn widespread praise for its underlying concepts from other Eastern and Western designers: 'I'm not really interested in it. I don't think a controller should have that much influence on the enjoyment of games.' He continued: 'I see what [Nintendo is] trying to do, but they're putting such emphasis on the controller; 'Woah, this controller lets you do this!' and I'm thinking - are you messing with us?'"
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.

Katamari Team Disbands 45 Comments More /

 Full
 Abbreviated
 Hidden
More
Loading... please wait.

  • This is terrible (Score:4, Funny)

    by CriminalNerd (882826) on Saturday March 18 2006, @03:56PM (#14949174)
    This is really terrible news. I've always had fun playing the Katamari games in the past and the news that there would be no more sequels is truly shocking. Somebody should go out there and roll the entire team back into a katamari!
    • I know you probably just wanted to use the line about rolling the dev team into a katamari, but I have to say that I'm actually glad they won't be rehashing the game. One of the major reasons Katamari Damacy was so neat was that it actually had innovative gameplay and it'd be a shame to waste the talent behind it on remakes and sequels.
      • i read in an interview before the release of We Love Katamari that Takahashi Keita actually had to be roped into doing the sequel at all.. apparently it was only when he saw what namco had planned for the afforementioned sequel (a clone of the first, with a bunch of christmas graphics spliced in) that he got involved again. it IS a shame, though.. i could handle playing new levels of the same old katamari for YEARS to come.. :)
        • I doubt Namco actually intended to do that. I'm thinking it was deliberate blackmail. ;)

          Also, I imagine someone will make a Katamari clone at some point--it's a pretty simple concept, something of a cult hit, and all but begs to have a level editor...
    • If you like the Katamari games, you know, you can still keep playing the old ones! They don't have to make new ones for you to keep playing, you know!!

  • Great! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Zarxrax (652423) on Saturday March 18 2006, @03:58PM (#14949178)
    As much as I love a good game like Katamari, I don't want to be fed the same crap over and over. Katamari came, and it was good, now it's over. Time for some new stuff.
  • We *heart* Katamari
    You mean we ♥ Katamari!
    • Failing that, I do believe "We <3 Katamari" is the commonly-accepted substitute.

      Alternately, the Japanese title of "Minna Daisuki Katamari Damashii" or "Everyone Loves Katamari Damacy" should also be acceptable.
      • Smilies have gotten out of hand. I used to be able to decode a smily just by tilting my head. But what is a <3 or a o_o supposed to look like?
        • o_o == telephone
          3 == um, boobies?
        • Surely you jest? Or maybe have a very peculiar font.

          A o_o is a two eyes and a mouth, don't even have to turn your head. Horizontal emoticons of that variety are commonly used in Asia (and by Japan-fixated anime fans). <3 is, if you tilt your head in the opposite direction of a :) face, is clearly a heart, hence the "We < Katamari".
          • Thank you. It comes as no suprise to be told that I'm tilting in the wrong direction.

            But why on earth did o_o replace :). Less cute?

            • (*^o^*)

              kill me now...
            • Additional variety, I suppose...
              o_o = blank stare
              O_O = surprised?
              ô_o = raising an eyebrow, possibly
              o_O = confused-ish
              ò_ó = pissed
              ó_ò = sad or something
              >_< = $^#&^#$&*!!!!!
              ^.^' = typical us/japanese cartoon eyes with the ol' giant drop of.. sweat, I suppose

              And in addition, you can combine them with other characters for added personality ;)
              (>_<) = $^#&^#$&* CARTMAN!!!!!
              [-_-].zZ = sleeping
            • But why on earth did o_o replace :). Less cute?

              Well, ^_^ would actually be the replacement... the ^ representing anime style arch-shapped happy eyes, apparently. The o_o face is more of a blank stare, as someone else said. And it wasn't a matter of replacing so much as I don't think the :) style ever caught on in Japan (and wherever else the horizontal style is used). It's a cultural thing, don't worry about it. If you're really curious, try http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emoticon [wikipedia.org] .

  • It's something that happens (Score:5, Funny)

    by 0racle (667029) on Saturday March 18 2006, @04:04PM (#14949197)
    They'll be rolled into other departments.

  • Why the wailing and nashing of teeth? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by nweaver (113078) on Saturday March 18 2006, @04:06PM (#14949209) Homepage
    Katamari is a COOL game. But aren't 2 sequels enough?

    Given the creativity, wouldn't it be nice to see something else, rather than yet another "roll crap up" sequel?
    • Imagine all the people freed up to do other, even cooler things...

      As to the DS port, it can still be done pretty easily. Porting a game is not at the same creative level as creating a good one, and a technically compentent team can still do so. Hopefully keeping in mind a good control scheme.
  • Whatever new project they get rolling on, I'm sure they'll have a ball.

  • Good. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by drwiii (434) on Saturday March 18 2006, @04:18PM (#14949256)
    It was a good game, but now everyone can move onto creating the next big thing instead of trying to strangle the life out of a title from 2003.

    Who didn't see it coming, though? From one of the endings to "We Love Katamari": link [ytmnd.com]

  • Might be a good thing (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Y-Crate (540566) on Saturday March 18 2006, @04:58PM (#14949450)
    I've always preferred that good movies, TV shows, book series and games, etc go out on top, before becoming nothing more than a money factory devoid of any artistic merit.

    How many times have we all read that game series X is getting yet another installment with much-hyped additions that render the game just a marginal improvement over the earlier incarnations? How many times have we all purchased the latest game in a series only to discover we've been sold essentially the same game we already own? Sometimes it's good to just let a good thing die if you're not sure you can really take it any further without compromising the quality.

    There are plenty of games out there waiting to be made, riding the same franchises year after year, decade after decade usually ends with a group of hardcore fans that will likely lap up whatever you throw their way, while the masses that flocked to your games move on to something better.

  • grrrrrrr... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by nmaster64 (867033) on Saturday March 18 2006, @06:34PM (#14949903)
    Personally, I thought that was a series that just shouldn't be sequel'd too much, but there's one thing I'm disappointed about...where's the Nintendo DS version!? It was sort of psuedo-announced, even Nintendo Power reported on it, but then it just faded off. The game was so perfect for the DS, with it's touch control, and so not perfect for the PSP, with it's one analog nub. It's really a shame, because the DS was the only system that really had the perfect control scheme for it...and that would have been the perfect sequel for the series to go out on. The two sequels really don't live up to the original game in my opinion, but I think with the innovation of the DS, it really would have felt like a new game rather than just a quickly put together expansion on the original.
      • I'm unsure. In any case, I'm going to need a confirmation of the 2000 triangles figure, that seems too small for even Mario 64.

        (I'm not saying the DS IS strong enough to run a version of Katamari, just that 2,000 seems too small.)

        • I'm going to need a confirmation of the 2000 triangles figure

          At least this PDF [btinternet.com] lists a limit of 6144 vertices per scene, and if you search on forum.gbadev.org it should turn up more.

            • A lot of the geometry that I see in screen shots of Metroid Prime: Hunters could be faked with textures on a flat surface, as was done with N64 and PS1. But Katamari is different because it involves rolling up hundreds of objects, each of which must be represented with a separate mesh. Put on a Katamari game, enter a particularly dense area, freeze frame, count the objects in your playfield, and count the number of triangles that you think would be needed to represent those objects.

          • The same document, in the next section, suggests tricks, some of which may already be used in commercial software (like Mario Kart DS), for getting around that limit, including loading new vertex information on each scanline. Those techniques may not be universally applicable (it suggests that Mario Kart DS has some camera limitations because of it), but it seems that the limit may be escaped with clever programming.

            The document also admits that it's the product of homebrew reverse engineering and may be i
      • Do you think the DS's 3D hardware, with its limit of 2,000 triangles per scene, could have held up?

        Honestly, yes, I do. And I think that figure you pulled out of the air is bull too. I don't think the developer's would have had any trouble fitting it. Of course it wouldn't have looked as good as the PS2 or PSP version, but gameplay is the only thing that truly matters in a video game, graphics take a back seat. And if there was ever a game that's all about the gameplay, it's definitly Katamari...

        • He didn't pull it out of the air, that's the hard limit the hardware accepts.
          • I know, but it's still bull, because who said they needed to render that many triangles? There are other shapes too ya know...circles...squares...balls... :p

            In all seriousness however, I really don't think it'd be an issue. The graphics would be dumbed down a bit, but the gameplay is what's important. I think the reviews for the PSP game that are now coming down the wire prove that the DS may have been a better fit for Katamari. The graphics may be intact, but that's definitly not what made this series so e
  • We really enjoyed playing the two Katamari games that have been pushed in the U.S. so far. While they were simple in their concept, they had a very addictive game on their hands. Let's hope someone collects them into good projects in the future.
  • Katamari Damacy was (is) awesome.

    Gone are the days when Tetris, Katamari, and DOOM show up again, in a different, original form.
  • I was actually really hoping for a version of Katamari Damacy using the revolution controller. Watching my nieces play this game, while they flail the controller all over the air, made me think it would be an absolute perfect fit for the revolution.
  • I hope that the developer works on something new and interesting again and gives everyone another unique game to play. That would be much better than a third katamari. I had read elsewhere that what he wanted to do was make more appealing playgrounds for children with lots of round parts.

All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective owners. Comments are owned by the Poster. The Rest © 1997-2009 Geeknet, Inc.