Katamari Damacy 2 Due In July

A sequel to the ball rolling simulator Katamari Damacy is due out in July of this year, according to a Gamespot news blurb. From the article: "In Minna Daisuki Katamari Damacy, gamers once again assume the role of the diminutive hero known as the Prince of All Cosmos. And, once again, the prince must save the universe by rolling around a giant snowballing mass of sticky debris (katamari) to pick up various objects." Update: 04/08 06:02 GMT by Z : If it's okay with everyone, I'm just going to retcon this one and pretend that I know how to read.

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[Mr.Dippy]

"It will be priced at 4,980 yen ($46)."


WTF. The first game was 20 bucks. Just because the game was a underground hit doesn't mean the maker should sell out and over price the game. 50 dollar games make baby jesus cry.

gamecube?

[fireduck]

Every time I hear this game mentioned (the original actually), I can't help but think this would be a perfect Gamecube title. "Stick everything in your big ball o' crap" fits beautifully next to "town full of animals that trade shirts" and "diminutive astronaut throwing sprouts at pill bugs". I wish Nintendo would be a bit more proactive when it comes to nudging developers to release games for their system.

Re:gamecube?

[badasscat]

I agree with you completely. This gamne would fit nicely in the 'Cube library. Infact, I think that games like Katamari owe their existence to Nintendo.

Yeah, because it's not like Namco made Pac-Man before Nintendo even created their first home console, or anything.

Namco is an old-school developer just like Nintendo (and if you want to go further back, both Namco and Nintendo have been around far longer than video games have even existed). They've both been making video games since the early days of the video arcade, and they've both got their seminal classics and "quirky games" that helped establish genres. I wouldn't say Katamari Damacy "owes its existence" to Nintendo any more than I'd say Donkey Kong owes its existence to Namco.

Katamari Damacy is just the latest in a long list of Namco puzzle/maze games that started with the original Puckman (later renamed Pac-Man) in 1979 and has continued right up through the modern age with games like Mr. Driller, Star Trigon and now Katamari Damacy. The fact that KD is one of their best, most innovative and most recognized puzzle games in years doesn't mean it's outside their tradition, or more of a "GameCube" style game, or whatever.

Re:What is the point of this game?

[GTRacer]

Two sticks, one for each of the Prince's hands/arms. Easy.

If you can play Battlezone, you can play Katamari Damashii.

GTRacer
- Have soem cheese.

Re:gamecube?

[HAKdragon]

Nintendo doesn't get small games like this because they shun all but the largest 1st and 2nd party developers.

I take it you've never played Ikaruga or Alien Hominid

Re:In case anyone cares...

[Minna Kirai]

AC: Minna Daisuki basically means "Everyone (loves/really likes)"

True, but sentence order in Japanese is not the same as in English. Instead of "subject verb object", it is "subject object verb", or even "object subject verb", as each noun has a suffix telling which role it plays in the sentence. That suffix can be omitted, in which case the listener takes her best guess as to what role it plays. If you just say "Minna daisuki" by itself, that may be interpreted as "I love everyone", because that's more likely than "everyone loves me". (Test it yourself, such as by pasting words from it [namco-ch.net] into Bablefish [altavista.com])

So, if the verb isn't at the end, its not really a grammatical Japanese sentence at all, and the true meaning is anyone's guess. It could just as easily mean "Katamari Damacy loves everyone"... or, it could be an intentional mimicry of English word order (as in "Everyone Loves Raymond")