Beautiful Katamari website opens, screenshots inside

23 Comments by John Bardinelli Apr 24th 2007 8:45AM
Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360, Action

Namco of Japan has just opened the official Beautiful Katamari Damacy website. Unfortunately for English-speaking monoglots, it's filled with incomprehensible squiggly characters. There are still pictures to look at, though, and even a few screenshots of the game tucked behind the links (more in the gallery below).

Beautiful Katamari looks just like previous Katamari games with improved graphics and a few extras here and there. Both Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of the game have been announced (without a release date) and a Wii incarnation is rumored to be in the works -- Jun Moriwaki, director of Beautiful Katamari told 1UP that "the Wii is also one of our platform choices .... However, the controller for Wii is quite unique so being able to overcome the different issues will be the key."

Gallery: Beautiful Katamari screenshots

[Update: added additional commentary on rumored Wii release.]

Tags: katamari, katamaridamacy, namco

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(Page 1) Reader Comments

Evan: Apr 24th 2007; 9:45AM

I'm disappointed: it looks like small items disappear once you grow big (there are no small objects in the photo of rolling down the street), and items in the katamari can be seen going through the floor. Way to use the PS3's power! This looks just like katamari on the PS2. And fanboys were saying this game would have such great detail and physics that it couldn't be done on the Wii.

JodyAnthony: Apr 24th 2007; 9:56AM

more Katamari is always a good thing (unless we're talking about the PSP game...)

x876543: Apr 24th 2007; 10:09AM

It's a disappointment that this isn't coming to the Wii, I would have totally bought it. I don't need fancy graphics, the game was fun with boxy objects and wiggling people.

Einhanderkiller: Apr 24th 2007; 10:10AM

I'm in ur house, rollin' up ur shit.

Samuel McConnell: Apr 24th 2007; 10:16AM

What happens when a Katamari is big enough to have its own gravitational field?

Almack64: Apr 24th 2007; 10:21AM

@ x876543

Actually the game is supposedly coming to the wii. The developer said that the wii was one of the platforms he's aiming at. They're just finetuning how the controls will work. So it probably will not be release at the same time as the other versions.

Jonah Falcon: Apr 24th 2007; 10:24AM

10,000 km? So, you're rolling Earth's continents, too?

Zertoss: Apr 24th 2007; 11:52AM

Katamari for the Wii sounds like it would be a real workout, like the sprint minigames in Raving Rabbids. I imagine the controls would be similar to that, shake the remote to turn left, shake the nunchuck to turn right, shake both to move forward, shake one faster than the other to turn. That's really simplistic, so things like backing up and hard braking are left up to the imagination. It could work, but it would need a lot more finetuning than a 360 or PS3 version.

ShortFuse: Apr 24th 2007; 11:55AM

Or they can use the tilt function in the ps3 and wii

required: Apr 24th 2007; 12:05PM

This looks a lot like Me and My Katamari does on the PSP (which by the way is a great game).

MosquitoControl: Apr 24th 2007; 12:27PM

I don't think "more katamari is a good thing."

The first game was great. But after you got to "roll the moon" did you ever go back and do the smaller missions?

And after you did the moon a few times did you ever go back and play it again?

It was a lot of fun, but it was $20 and I really got no more than $20 out of it. After making the moon a few times it was all the same.

And, looking at this game, which appears to have kept very true to the original, that'll stay the same. Same graphics, same concepts. I really hope there's something new that I'm just not seeing in these shots, because otherwise I'd rather just dig out my PS2 and play build the moon once or twice if I ever get the itch to play Katamari again.

Hex: Apr 24th 2007; 12:37PM

Thank god for more Katamari.

Evan: Apr 24th 2007; 1:20PM

@MosquitoControl

As much as I loved the first game, I have to agree with you. We don't need more of the same. I was hoping that the new generation of consoles would add something new to katamari... like millions of objects, but it doesn't look that way. So, unless the Wii version's controls are worth it, I think I'll skip this game, but I'll continue to cherish the original.

Jonathan Tran: Apr 24th 2007; 1:54PM

@7 Yes, in fact those objects are probably countries and states.

jfls: Apr 24th 2007; 2:37PM

@11:

I totally agree with you. I'll even go a step further and say that the first game started getting pretty repetitive after a while. Let's face it, the gameplay is pretty shallow. Fortunately the music, graphics, and humor were enough to keep the game going, but I don't think that's enough to support the sequels.

They should have just left it as a one-shot game that we could all fondly look back at instead of turning it into a franchise and running it into the ground, which they are well on their way to doing.

Wes Frazier: Apr 24th 2007; 3:48PM

Does anyone notice that ALL of these screenshots look ALOT like levels we have played before ? Is this a sequel or a compilation ?

jchensor: Apr 24th 2007; 4:39PM

Considering the first Katamari game was made for the sole reason that Takahashi wanted to try making something different than the same ol' gameplay over and over again, it's really sad, now, that Namco keeps milking this franchise. I loved the first and 2nd Katamari games as much as anyone, but leave the series alone now. It was meant to be a fresh jolt to stale gameplay. And now, it has the danger of BECOMING stale gameplay. The PSP game should have never been made, and this new one should not have been made iether.

Rubang B: Apr 24th 2007; 5:17PM

Dammit. The small items disappear when you grow again. I want millions of items at thousands of sizes, I don't want them to disappear when you grow, and I want a level editor. That's all this game needs. These screenshots are nothing new. You already got to roll up the continents in We

AP: Apr 24th 2007; 6:54PM

I think with this, Orange Lounge Radio, the group that originally reported this game as a rumor deserves some props and recognition for finding out about this first... Because it already looks like the leeches at 1up and other game sites have made their own claims...

Rocketboy: Apr 24th 2007; 9:40PM

I'm with Seanbaby... they could release the game every week with new stuff to roll up, and I'd buy it every week...

Sidepocket: Apr 25th 2007; 12:58AM

Actualy, I think only the Wii could enhance the Katamari series.

For instance, using the Nunchuck to move and the Wiimote to roll the ball remote style, you could then use the pointer to do other things. Maby blast or activate the enviroment? Ooooh! How about use the objects you roll up in your Katamari as ammo!

Stuff like that plus Mii's and Nintendo Wi-Fi would make this series worth it.

DexX: Apr 25th 2007; 7:58PM

Considering how much these screens look like the previous games in the series, I am amazed that the game is only coming to x360 and PS3. I'm not seeing anything on here that the PS2 couldn't render...

Teh_Damien: Apr 26th 2007; 3:17PM

Maaaaan... More of the same... This actually looks like it's in Rental-Priority...

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