Goodbye, Katamari?
by Dan Choi 
{ Mar 18th 2006 at 11:17PM }
If Namco's Japanese web site is to be believed,
yesterday marked the end of the road for the King of All Cosmos and Katamari Damacy.As noted earlier this week, the official Katamari web site was counting down until its online closing on the 17th. Unfortunately, the site now tells us that "the team behind both the original game and its sequel, We Love Katamari, has dissolved, and that no sequels have been planned" (according to Gamasutra).
Not all is lost, however, as Professor Katamari (a likely reference to series creator Keita Takahashi) "is currently working on a new game design" with a new team where you unfortunately do not roll things up nor "get bigger." Me and My Katamari for the PSP would appear to be the final version of the game to appear at this point, though we hold out a faint hope that a fantastically rendered "clump of souls" will eventually find its way to next-generation consoles. Until then, catch you later, Prince.
[Via Slashdot]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Puxel @ Mar 18th 2006 11:31PM
Now HTF Would you Play Katamari Damacy without 2 analog Sticks?
Momus @ Mar 18th 2006 11:35PM
Well, good. As long as their working on something new.
Zero_ @ Mar 18th 2006 11:40PM
That something 'new' would be a childrens' playground.
Rare Hare @ Mar 18th 2006 11:43PM
thank god. please, no more meaningless sequels soiling something in the industry that was actually unique and original..
i hope they just leave it where it's at. kill it. it was fun while it lasted, just let it go now.
Derek @ Mar 19th 2006 12:20AM
Like they say "All good things must come to an end"
Mr. Umeadi @ Mar 19th 2006 12:51AM
Good Riddance
btribble @ Mar 19th 2006 12:55AM
Darn, I was hoping for a port of the PSP version to the PS2. Well, could still happen I guess...
Jago @ Mar 19th 2006 1:06AM
Forgot a port of the PSP to the PS2...I wanted a version for the DS.
:-(
Crummy @ Mar 19th 2006 1:07AM
To tell the truth, as much as I love the Katamari Damacy games, I'm glad to see this one go. Keita Takahashi has stated numerous times that he did not want to see Katamari Damacy stretched out into a million sequels (as the videogame industry does with so many titles) and was forced into doing "We
Conn @ Mar 19th 2006 1:16AM
I agree completely with Crummy. If you liked Katamari you would not want tons of sequels. IT'S MEANT TO BE ORIGINAL AND BE A SLAP IN THE FACE TO FRANCHISES.
I do, however, want Namco to make games similar to Katamari in style only. Not graphical, but I mean the overall feel and simplistic play.
Donutta @ Mar 19th 2006 1:30AM
I'm glad he was forced into doing We Love Katamari, since PAL gamers were denied the first one, so the only taste we got was from the sequel. Still, at least we got something rather than nothing.
Babylonian @ Mar 19th 2006 1:43AM
I say, if the creator wants to end the series, he has every right to. There was never a bad installment of the series, and it's best to keep it that way. It's about time the industry learns from Tomb Raider's mistakes.
Jago @ Mar 19th 2006 1:57AM
"It's about time the industry learns from Tomb Raider's mistakes."
If only Eidos would learn from those mistakes and stop making TR games.
Stephen Eddy @ Mar 19th 2006 4:34AM
For anyone interested, an archive of the site is available from:
http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://katamaridamacy.jp/
Steddyman
Jeff @ Mar 19th 2006 5:49AM
"clump of souls"
I think "soul of the clump" would be a better translation... (or literally "clump soul").
in Japanese, the modifier always comes before the modified. So "katamari" is modifying "damacy", not the other way around. Not that it's really real Japanese anyway, but that's more the idea I get from it.
Just a little digression there. To stay on-topic, I'm actually happy they'd kill this series - I'd hate to see it go stale, and it has the air about it of one of those classic games from days of yore that we remember so fondly *because* they were one-off titles.
Lavos222 @ Mar 19th 2006 6:12AM
Yeah, I was really hoping for a DS version, but I guess it just wasn't in the cards...
*sigh*
Milton Bradley @ Mar 19th 2006 6:25AM
@ Jago:
Same here. The Katamari Team could've at least done a Nintendo DS version before closing up. How can they miss this? Players could be rolling katamari by using their fingers instead of analog sticks or nub.
Exo @ Mar 19th 2006 8:56AM
to late there is already a bad game in the series, Im guessing you havnt tried the psp version?
The controls can be forgivin, but only having 5 maps cannot be overlooked
saboola @ Mar 19th 2006 9:15AM
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.
Derek @ Mar 19th 2006 10:34AM
I always said that the only reason I would buy a PS3 is for Katamari, and now I don't have to! Nice. It's officially going to be a Revolution-only next-generation for me...
Joe @ Mar 19th 2006 11:34AM
/cry. Goodbye, King of All Cosmos. Your large, unsettling bulge won't be missed... but your awesome gameplay will.
Let Katamari R.I.P. No one is scooping this sh** up, please.
Doug the Aquacell Guy @ Mar 19th 2006 1:21PM
I will never give up hope for an Xbox 360 version of WLK, Arcade or disc. I'd pay the full $60, believe it or not.
Sean DL @ Mar 19th 2006 1:29PM
I guess the team felt that they were getting nailed into being a one trick pony, and I'm glad they have a freedom to leave(Think if they worked for EA, there be a lawsuit right now) but it's sad to know that they have no more ideas or at lease any that we know of. Hopefully someone on that team will make a new unique game in the future and it won't be Katarmi related(Unlike those other people who spin off and hen make a game similar to the one that they made before..yeah we're looking at you Free Radical).
Yeah a DS version and a Revolution version would be nice, but they didn't want a "Mario Franchise". Be it out of fear of all the other "Tomb Raider Franchise" or they just didn't want to keep making the same game that was only suppose to be ONE GAME.
So we have to respect that, after all, not everyone in the gaming indrustry have the freedom of Mr. Miyamoto to do whatever they want.
elmer @ Mar 19th 2006 1:49PM
So what's the message here?
Derivative corperate franchises are bad, but (non-sensical) console corperation favouritism is good?
It's not quite the same, but this reminds me so much of SCIII, also made by Namco.
I hate everything.
Jacob @ Mar 19th 2006 3:23PM
"Derivative corperate franchises are bad, but (non-sensical) console corperation favouritism is good?"
If every consoles had all the same games, then what sane reason would there be for multiple console architectures? Who wants to program the same game over and over?
Jonn @ Mar 19th 2006 5:41PM
>13. "It's about time the industry learns from Tomb Raider's mistakes."
If only Eidos would learn from those mistakes and stop making TR games.<
Or, y'know, listen to the gamers and completely reinvent the series.
Too bad they're not doing that already, and it's not scheduled for release before the end of Spring, or anything. Too bad said game hasn't recieved good preview scores, and such. If only it existed, it would be called "Tomb Raider Legend", but is doesn't, so it's not. Sigh.
Dale Massey @ Mar 19th 2006 5:53PM
Farewell Katamari!
We hardly knew yee' !
Phil @ Mar 19th 2006 7:21PM
I suggest the following! You start off huge and have to shrink continuously!
Hopefully it will be as fun as Katamari.
Aresef @ Mar 19th 2006 8:01PM
I believe Me and My Katamari was done without Takahashi.
Seroth @ Mar 19th 2006 9:15PM
I'm against Katamari becoming a huge franchise, but a DS version as the last hurrah would've been ideal. :{
Gonzo @ Mar 19th 2006 11:32PM
Yea it's not that elaborate a game that they need to re-do it a bunch of times but I would've still loved to play it on the ds as a rollerball style game.
jadenguy @ Mar 21st 2006 12:28AM
i think katamari should definately sit on the back burners of our minds for like a decade, then blow it again when they do something good. like, when 3-d space controllers are passe, thanks to everybody copying every brilliant new control theory nintendo comes up with, and you get to roll the ball around with both hands. and everything in the game world will be stickable, and it'll all run in realtime in one persistant world. and it'll use the most advanced physics ever regarding momentum and elasticity etc. and it'll still be in tool shading. what a wonderful world that would be.
Keiichi @ Mar 23rd 2006 7:22PM
@18: "The controls can be forgivin (sic), but only having 5 maps cannot be overlooked"
Yeah... you didn't seem to mind the original KD only having three, did you...?
@24: "I hate everything."
E-mo... E-mo... E-mo...