Katamari Damacy 2 Due In July 98
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.
Addictive as Hell (Score:2, Interesting)
Sold Out (Score:2, Insightful)
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.
Re:Sold Out (Score:5, Informative)
Dragon Quest VIII: Sora to Umi to Daichi to Norowareshi Himegimi will be released in Japan on November 27th for 8,800 yen ($84.45 US). [rpgfan.com]
Re:Sold Out (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Sold Out (Score:3, Interesting)
I do have to say that Metal Gear Acid so far is surprisingly successful at distilling core MGS gameplay elements down to a turn-based strategy format. The cards aren't just used in battles. They're used for everything, even moving, so the card-based aspect of it is completely integrated into the game. So with pretty much everything you do, you're weighing the options of turn delay (eve
Re:Sold Out (Score:2)
Hmm not sure if you like or dislike MG:A; your summary is very accurate, so you're probably like me and like to poke fun even at things you like.
Straying a bit tangential (although Katamari -> Sony -> PSP isn't that far, is it?), MG:A is definitely a very good game, despite the IGN review. There are times when I'm itching to play a "regular" MGS game, but I've already got 3+ other titles for that.
But bringing it back on-topic, I thought the original comment was hilarious.
Re:Sold Out (Score:2)
And such praise from a 3-digit UID! I'm glad the joke was appreciated by some.
Re:Sold Out (Score:2)
the idiot who modded it "Troll" shouldn't be modding the 'Games' section because they obviously don't understand game humor
if i had mod points, you'd get +1 Funny
Re:Sold Out (Score:2)
Notable: first smiley/emoticon I've used in quite some time. Didn't know how else to convey my tone this time.
Re:Sold Out (Score:5, Funny)
Yeah--the worst part is that giant robotic arm that comes out of nowhere, grabs you by the waist, carries you to the nearest game retailer, and forces you to buy it.
The injustice of it all, I tell you! If only there were some way of not buying these horribly overpriced games!
Re:Sold Out (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Sold Out (Score:3)
Re:Sold Out (Score:2)
Re:Sold Out (Score:5, Funny)
Well, as any smart provider of addictive substances knows, you *always* discount the first dose.
Relax, the $40 is just in Japan. (Score:4, Informative)
I bet you anything when they release it in the US, it will be at the same $19.99 price point.
Sneak Peek! (Score:5, Funny)
*skritcha-skritcha skratchitta-rachitta skOOOWP-a skritch skratch skratchitta-skritchitty-skritchitta skewww scratch skritchitta-sratcha-ratch sritch*
Re:Sneak Peek! (Score:4, Funny)
Poor people sure are different!
June! Now Longer and with Bonus Features! (Score:4, Funny)
Re:What is the point of this game? (Score:4, Interesting)
And yeah, I don't think there's any way that the game could have succeeded at $50. It's like a novel toy with some guided play and objectives, and I don't think many would see justification in paying $50 for that.
Re:What is the point of this game? (Score:5, Funny)
I have other ball-rolling games. Most notably - and most horribly - Fusion Frenzy for the xbox. You know, the game they have to GIVE away cause nobody in their right mind would buy it.
But Katamari is the only ball rolling game that's horribly addictive. It's because I love to see the world from different perspectives, and I love the whole klep-o-mania aspect of being able to reach out and steal everything into my big ball.
The soundtrack is adorable. It's the only one nobody asks me to turn down or turn off when I play video games. I sometimes find myself whistling the "roll you up into my life" song while doing housework. The opening title, with the psychadelic mushrooms, is so happy and peaceful. In fact, there's nothing violent in this whole game... and yet it's still fun. Well, you can pick up people, but they're still alive when you do that, and don't seem to be harmed that much.
The king's dialog is hysterical. That's another big part of the charm. The king is massively high on drugs, I think, and his inane comments really perk up the game. "155 maidens! The sky will be so lovely! Still, I am far, far, prettier than them..."
I've played a good number of games this year, but usually once I finish the game, that's it. I don't play it again. With Katamari, I often pick it up for a few minutes of happy ball rolling, constantly trying to beat my old scores and unlock the eternity levels on stars 4, 8, and the moon. Or find all the presents. Or finish my collections of objects. The replay value is incredible.
I can't wait for the next version. I only wish they'd announce a date so I could get my pre-order in. I worry that NAMCO will underestimate the demand and not make enough copies... it's very hard to get a hold of the original Katamari Damacy, due to NAMCO not wanting to flood the market, so I've been unable to give copies of this game away as presents to my relatives. I just want to make sure I get my order in early so I don't have to wait.
Re:What is the point of this game? (Score:2)
Huh? I've seen plenty of copies in stores (in particular Fry's and Best Buy) since January. It was only hard to find before that. I had to go to an EB in the middle of nowhere to get my copy.
Re:What is the point of this game? (Score:2)
Actually, the Super Monkey Ball games have a fair amount of addictiveness as well, though they're much harder than KD. (I've STILL never gotten to the Expert Extra or Master levels in SMB1.)
And don't forget about venerable arcade classic Marble Madness!
Re:What is the point of this game? (Score:3, Insightful)
If you can play Battlezone, you can play Katamari Damashii.
GTRacer
- Have soem cheese.
Re:What is the point of this game? (Score:3, Funny)
Games require a certain amount of difficulty to be engaging and fun.
The classical example is Doom, a game about killing monsters. The easiest, intuitive interface would be to have a 2d overhead map where you can click on each monster to explode it with an orbital laser... but that way is slightly less entertaining.
AC: I mean, no one has ever done a ball rolling game before using just one directional control, obviously you need
Re:What is the point of this game? (Score:2)
Judge for yourself [the-underdogs.org]
Re:What is the point of this game? (Score:1)
Re:What is the point of this game? (Score:5, Informative)
You should really just go out and rent/buy a copy. There's just no good way to describe the game using mere words--you really need to experience whole the giddily bizzare thing for yourself.
Re:What is the point of this game? (Score:3)
You 'win' the game when you create enough stars to repopulate (so to speak) the sky. In practice this is only about 15.
You 'win' each level by making your katamari big enoigh in the time alotted, or by rolling up enough of a certain type of thing, or by rolling up only a certain type of thing, or only the largest thing of a certain type.
But the fun isn't getting to the end. As the story sequences will clearly show you, the story is not exactly
Re:What is the point of this game? (Score:2)
Hahahaha, at least I rent at Blockbuster, with NO late fees !!!oneleven!! ;-)
food (Score:2)
Re:food (Score:1)
I'm missing a few pieces of sushi, not sure which level I missed them on.
Re:food (Score:5, Funny)
Giant Rolling Ball (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Giant Rolling Ball (Score:2)
Once you do you will understand. Just adding more things to pick up would guarantee them a follow up buy by the majority of their userbase.
Hell, I'd buy any new Katamari game just for the music.
Re:Giant Rolling Ball (Score:1)
Re:Giant Rolling Ball (Score:1)
Re:Giant Rolling Ball (Score:2)
Re:Giant Rolling Ball (Score:2)
I want to see how they can make another game where you roll a giant ball around, and manage to make it fresh again... it's like making Tetris 2. How much different can you make it without crippling what makes it fun?
Personally, and I think this actually speaks for a lot of Katamari Damacy fans, I don't think they have to change anything at all. Katamari Damacy itself was so good and so short that what I really, really want is the Katamari Damacy equivalent of a Blizzard expansion pack -- just more levels
A couple of things. (Score:5, Informative)
1. How did you manage to get the date SO WRONG?
2. It's only coming out in Japan in July, not America. We'll probably get it late summer early fall if we're LUCKY.
3. Is finding actual news really that hard? This is a press release. A non european/US press release at that.
You've been naughty. You get a copy of Eve Online for Christmas.
Re:A couple of things. (Score:2, Funny)
and finding actual news IS hard. i tried it once. the headlines i came up with were:
- davez0r has pizza for lunch...again!
- it's raining
- the weird dude hanging outside of gamestop says that star wars: galactic battlegrounds is the game of the year
gamecube? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:gamecube? (Score:1)
Re:gamecube? (Score:3, Insightful)
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 th
Re:gamecube? (Score:1)
Re:gamecube? (Score:2)
Re:gamecube? (Score:2)
On control scheme, the only thing the Gamecube controller is physically lacking is that the analog sticks don't also act as buttons, but I rarely if ever used the quick-reverse move on the PS2 version.
As for DS control, I'd like to see a top-down vi
Re:gamecube? (Score:1)
That's my main feature, I love being able to flip 180 degrees and roll the other way once I'm done with one row of objects.
Now the one thing I can't get right is dash. I just can't seem to get it to make the katamari move.... I can get it to roll fast, in the same spot, but it never seems to go anywhere.
Re:gamecube? (Score:3, Informative)
You know, the Namco of Pac Man fame?
And Soul Caliber II fame? (You know, the game, where Nintendo granted them the rights to use Link from The Zelda series in it?)
Check out Nintendo.com's master games list.
Also there are dual analogs. One's called a C stick. It might be a tad more awkward due to the non symatry, but it's entirly doable.
Re:gamecube? (Score:3, Insightful)
I take it you've never played Ikaruga or Alien Hominid
Re:gamecube? (Score:2)
Both Ikaruga and Alien Hominid basically bombed on the Cube. Gamecubers generally only buy Nintendo games and the odd huge third party title, unfortunately.
(Neither game was an exclusive to GC either, I should point out. Ikaruga was a freaking twice-removed port from its original Arcade and Dreamcast releases.)
Re:gamecube? (Score:1)
The layout would get uncomfortable really quickly, though - the C-stick is definitely designed for occasional tweaks to the camera angle, rather than being a main control.
A Mac version would be nice, especially if you could control it with the motion sensor in the new Powerbooks :)
DS Release (Score:4, Informative)
Personally, I'm glad it's out for the PS2. That means the most amount of people can enjoy it.
Re:DS Release (Score:1)
Can't wait (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Can't wait (Score:5, Funny)
you just need some more stamps, erasers, bugs, pencils, and thumbtacks first!
Re:Can't wait (Score:1, Redundant)
Cheap at $50 (Score:4, Interesting)
And Katamari Damacy is simply great, it beats anything Nintendo has come up with this generation, even their more original stuff this time around, Pikmin and Animal Crossing. Here's hoping other developers take a hint from its success.
But even with all this... I wouldn't have bought a PS2 by myself for it. $170 is too much for one game.
Re:Cheap at $50 (Score:2)
Re:Cheap at $50 (Score:2)
Again, you could interpret it as a knock against Nintendo. I rather think of it as a knock against the entire damn video game industry.
All that matters is.... (Score:1)
Re:All that matters is.... (Score:3, Funny)
Gads, you should have my girlfriend playing on the Taurus level. She barrels around a corner and I scream "LOOK OUT, A COW! ARGH!"
And she restarts for the 20th time, she's hell bent on getting that cousin. When she finally finds him, she's gently "sneaking" around the cows guarding him in a way that'd put Solid Snake to shame.
Finally did it. Don't think she got the gift though, so we'll be dodging cows for a while yet.
Re:All that matters is.... (Score:1)
i'd love to care, honestly.. (Score:1, Offtopic)
So, we meet again! (Score:4, Funny)
Re:So, we meet again! (Score:2)
The beauty ofthe game... (Score:4, Informative)
All of the humans and such looked like Playmobil figures. It looks as if the developers tried using as few polygons as possible to make them. The result are eye-catching characters with weird tweaks(like diving board hairstyles). The cop reminds me of the cop from South Park.
I also like some of the sounds the people make when you pick them up. One of them is a woman making a weird cackling laugh "ahihahiahhaihaih".
Probably an unlocalized sound, unlike the ones that are in plain English.
The other favorite sound is one of the big office where there's a phone ringing and some woman screaming.
As for a sequel there's some room. You could introduce a puzzle segment where you have to get your katamari a certain size to pass a tunnel, otherwise it goes down a pit(like billiard balls).
Re:In case anyone cares... (Score:2, Informative)
Early movies have suggested that actual gameplay is very very similar to the original.
Re:In case anyone cares... (Score:3, Insightful)
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 mo
Re:In case anyone cares... (Score:2)
And Babelfish is only good for entertainment value in translating Asian text.
Katamari Damacy MIA? (Score:2)
Re:Katamari Damacy MIA? (Score:1)
Re:Katamari Damacy MIA? (Score:2)
See, NAMCO only did a limited run when they made the English version of Katamari Damacy. They didn't expect it to be a hit.
Well, now the word is out, and everyone wants one. But NAMCO won't up the production rates. So it is VERY VERY hard to get ahold of it to buy - forget about renting. For example, I've asked several EBX's if they have any copies - they always say "no, but we keep trying to order some in...". Amazon is sold out, used copies sell on Ebay for 30$, when
Re:Katamari Damacy MIA? (Score:2)
You should do a search on eBay for Katamari Damacy. The U.S. version sells for $16 brand new on eBay, if it sells at all.
soundtrack (Score:2)
I downloaded the mp3's a while ago, but still wish to find the cd-version, has anyone seen it online somewhere?
Re:soundtrack (Score:2, Informative)
After a quick search, here is the first relevant link : Katamari Damacy Soundtrack [gamemusic.com]. And no, I won't gain anything from you clicking on this link.
And yes, it completely deserves to be bought, especially the Japanese version, which is IMHO slightly better thant the US version.
Meow...! (Score:1)