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Reader Comments (27)

Posted: Dec 18th 2005 9:36PM (Unverified) said

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Me?

ANGRY?


No... not this guy....
*continues vomitting*

Posted: Dec 18th 2005 9:36PM (Unverified) said

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Wow... that's disturbing boxart. It looks like some crap I can throw together in 5 minutes on MS Paint.

Posted: Dec 18th 2005 9:36PM (Unverified) said

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As far as I am concerned, 95% of the people that buy this game already know exactly what it is. Box art won't help sell this game. The fact that the art is so strange and bizarre will make it that much easier for me to find on store shelves. If the cover were any less strange or disturbing I would be dissapointed. I don't see how making simple cover graphics for a simple game is such a bad thing.

Posted: Dec 18th 2005 9:36PM (Unverified) said

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It's not great, and definitely not up to the standard set by the original game. However, it's also a whole lot better looking than the earlier versions depicted in the link, which look like, respectively: the cover of a game exclusively for toddlers, a class picture taken by a really sh!tty photographer, and one of the crappy wallpapers that are installed by default with Windows.

Really, when it comes down to it, this isn't a bad cover. It's calm, it's minimalistic, it's simple... and it's unique. Just. Like. The. Game.

Posted: Dec 18th 2005 9:36PM (Unverified) said

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such vehemence, wierd.


I think it looks great. beautiful even.

but hey, maybe that's just because i'm a professional graphic designer.

Posted: Dec 18th 2005 9:36PM (Unverified) said

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Actually, Andy S., take a look at that "cover of a game exclusively for toddlers" again, because that's the planned cover for the game! Hopefully, you didn't mistake the joke image I found online and included with my post with the genuine article. (The joke image reads: "We Boycott Katamari.") Take a look at the image ripped from GameFly one more time and feel your raw hate rise to new heights:

http://www.1up.com/do/imageDisplay?id=2176237

Posted: Dec 18th 2005 9:36PM (Unverified) said

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Except for the font, both me and my wife actually like the design. The Prince looks kind of timid, coming out to play, and considering the content ("story") of the second game it makes sense.

All the cousins with the Katamaris looks neat.

Posted: Dec 18th 2005 9:36PM (Unverified) said

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Ooh, the cows, it has a nice Dutch touch! I like it :).

~Grauw

Posted: Dec 18th 2005 9:36PM (Unverified) said

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It could be packed in a cover that looks like a paper shopping bag and has the title written on it in a Sharpie. Doesn't matter given I look at the box for a grand total of 8 seconds before opening it to take out the disk.

Posted: Dec 18th 2005 9:36PM (Unverified) said

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Why not look at this box art as another innovative addition by Namco to the world of video games... A world where creativity is usually stifled by publishers in order to rake in the mainstream cash. What is wrong with everyone? Something is different than you expected and it immediately gets trashed? Maybe they should have put a bunch of anime-style adolescents with lightning bolts going through their gravity-defying spikey, shiny blue hair, DDD breasts, and wielding giant swords six times their size? That would have been "normal."

Games like Katamari Damacy and Nintendogs cast the conformist approach aside and are wildly popular. Their innovation broadens the variety of games we have to choose from and will hopefully lead to more interesting games in general. I'm glad there are things put out that "we" never thought of, otherwise everything would be boring and predictable. And speaking of "bizarre"-- the game is bizarre, and I love it. Is this now the WRONG kind of crazy? Will someone please give me the list all the 6th graders are passing around the lunchroom so I can be current on what is "cool" bizarre and what is not?

There's nothing technically wrong with the cover; if you don't like the box art, prove it matters and is worth all this whining by not purchasing it. It's ART by an ARTIST, and I find it irritating people are capping on it hardcore.

Posted: Dec 18th 2005 9:36PM (Unverified) said

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As alluded to in the Gaming-Age forum posts, there is probably a deep and significant meaning behind the We Love Katamari cover art. The problem is that it just doesn't look very good, whether due to the obnoxious color scheme or the lack of any interesting visual interplay for the eye. I love Katamari, and I will buy this game as I did the first. But Nintendogs has a hell of a better looking cover (all three of 'em) than what you see here/there.

Posted: Dec 18th 2005 9:36PM (Unverified) said

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I think that it's funny that not too far down from this post is a painting by Duchamp in an attempt to relish art misunderstood in its time.

Posted: Dec 18th 2005 9:36PM (Unverified) said

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God, can the people over on Gaming-Age bitch any more? There's nothing wrong with that cover, and it CERTAINLY doesn't begin to get close to the US box art tragedies that have plagued many a game in the past.

Seriously, get over it. But this is the internet, where people love getting all worked up over nothing. I think the cover is funny, and is certainly NOT the type of cover art you'd expect to see on a US game, which is exactly the type of cover art I'd expect to see on this game.

Posted: Dec 18th 2005 9:36PM (Unverified) said

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Upon closer inspection, the box art's not as bad as I thought. The thing that bothers me is the giant, solid purple roof - if that was toned down a bit or less glaring, the cover'd be fine.

Believe me, this is far from bad, when you consider what Tecmo did with the US version of Kagero: Deception 2. That cover makes Janet Reno look like a Playboy bunny.

Posted: Dec 18th 2005 9:36PM (Unverified) said

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you guys are IDIOTS

the box art is a FAKE JOKE!!!

Posted: Dec 18th 2005 9:36PM (Unverified) said

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Wow, I guess I'm not being clear enough about the joke art: the real art is linked in the body of the text. For those who don't catch on, I'll add an update to the post that says pretty much what I said in comment #6. Hope that helps, but I must say that the officially planned art is still pretty bad.

Posted: Dec 18th 2005 9:36PM (Unverified) said

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Why do people care so much what the box art looks like? Were any of you planning on buying, then decided not to based on the box art? This game will sell to people who played the first game, and spread by word of mouth.

As far as I'm concerned, they could put a picture of a steaming pile of cow dung on the front, and I'd still buy it.

Didn't your parents ever teach you that it's what's on the inside that counts? :)

Posted: Dec 18th 2005 9:36PM (Unverified) said

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i think the box art is amazing, i too am a designer and animator. the only problem is the font, other wise. AWESOME.

Posted: Dec 18th 2005 9:36PM (Unverified) said

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Original is fine. Screamingly painful color schemes are not. I just hope the spine doesn't look too bad - if it is like the cover, I won't be able to look at my game shelf without sunglasses.

Posted: Dec 18th 2005 9:36PM (Unverified) said

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Dan, dammit. You fooled me. :)

Yeah, if the cover linked to in your update is the planned cover... man, that's atrocious.

I'd *much* rather have the cover image be that which you included atop this post.

Posted: Dec 18th 2005 9:36PM (Unverified) said

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If the roof were a different colour, this would be a cute cover. I was hoping for a tie-in with the first cover. I would have had basically the same cover, but with the katamari at the "front" right, where the cows were, and have the cows visible on the Katamari. It'd be like an in-joke for everybody.

Posted: Dec 18th 2005 9:36PM (Unverified) said

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If the roof were a different colour, this would be a cute cover. I was hoping for a tie-in with the first cover. I would have had basically the same cover, but with the katamari at the "front" right, where the cows were, and have the cows visible on the Katamari. It'd be like an in-joke for everybody.

Posted: Dec 18th 2005 9:36PM (Unverified) said

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For your brief information, i distinctly remember Microsoft proclaiming they had developed the original Xbox controller with input from 5000 'hardcore' gamers in focus groups ... which is funny.

Posted: Dec 18th 2005 9:36PM (Unverified) said

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Well, when I get the game, I'm just going to find a high quality scan on the Japanese or even the Korean cover, and replace it. I hate the US cover.

Posted: Dec 18th 2005 9:36PM (Unverified) said

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Yeah, I remember those reports of Xbox focus groups, too, elmer. Hope you liked my great solution to bad design! =) But seriously, I have to wonder if they had a decent cross-sampling of gamers in their testing groups. A few too many men with big, beefy hands, perhaps?

Posted: Dec 18th 2005 9:36PM (Unverified) said

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I like it. Is it as good as the original? No. But is it bad? No damn way. Please, people. It's not that bad! It doesn't make the game any less enjoyable.

Posted: Dec 18th 2005 9:36PM (Unverified) said

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Wow.

I mean wow. I'd actually prefer the fake one at the top of this page. Or the Japanese one. Or even the Korean one.

Amazing. What are they thinking? Oh well, will it make me enjoy the game less? No.

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