Newsweek: Beautiful Katamari rolling exclusively with Xbox 360

by Ludwig Kietzmann { Jun 15th 2007 at 12:47PM }

Striking a blow to symmetrical ball-rolling controls everywhere, Newsweek's N'Gai Croal reports that Beautiful Katamari's royal rainbow will extend only to the Xbox 360. He explains that an exclusivity deal is already "very close to fruition" and is likely to be announced formally at July's Min-E3 event in Santa Monica. The trail of digital crumbs leading to the deal seems especially obvious in retrospect, with Ridge Racer 6, Ace Combat 6, Eternal Sonata and Pac-Man: Championship Edition all indicating quite the chummy relationship between Namco Bandai and Microsoft.

With the Katamari franchise not being nearly as unstoppable as its clutter-collecting cosmic prince, PlayStation 3 alarmists shouldn't view this as the end of their fragile and constantly beeping world. That being said, seeing a distinctly, almost obviously "Japanese" game picking up Microsoft's system alone certainly points to interesting times ahead. It also makes completing the level that much harder.

[Thanks, Matthew]

Tags: Beautiful Katamari, BeautifulKatamari, Katamari, Katamari Damacy, KatamariDamacy, Namco, Namco Bandai, NamcoBandai

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Fuzz @ Jun 15th 2007 12:51PM

That must have cost MS a bundle.

JonnyBoy2U @ Jun 15th 2007 12:54PM

Of course all the sony fanboys are going to bitch and cry about how Microsoft "threw some money at Namco". The same tired and boring excuses.

Let the flaming begin...

I'll just say this. Can't wait for MGS4 and/or FFXIII to come to the 360....:)

tituspullo @ Jun 15th 2007 12:52PM

boycott now!!!! lol

konajinx @ Jun 15th 2007 12:56PM

I'm just waiting for the "Katamari games suck, you can have 'em" line from the fanbots. It would be a lie, of course, just like every other time they lose exclusivity. Enjoy taking the pipe once again, Sony fans.

mccomber @ Jun 15th 2007 12:57PM

Wow, that's nuts, especially given the 360's position in Japan... I thought this was on the Wii as well. I could have seen a Wii only title, but not a 360 only. Whacky. Is he sure this isn't a timed exclusive? Because Ace Combat 6 is timed, and I've also heard rumblings about Eternal Sonata coming to the ps3; have those been officially denied?

deaftly @ Jun 15th 2007 12:58PM

$600 US Dollars........for what again?

Grindstone @ Jun 15th 2007 12:58PM

Well this is interesting. I don't know if BK even really appeals to Western gamers (as a whole). Odd that exclusivity would be an option, although, this is a good way to push 360 sales in Japan, at least on paper...

deaftly @ Jun 15th 2007 1:01PM

this is just to get japan rolling on the 360 ball, good work microsoft

Phranctoast @ Jun 15th 2007 1:03PM

i thought this has been debunked.

Capt. Castellanos @ Jun 15th 2007 1:03PM

i thought they said beautiful katamari was for for 360 ps3 and the wii.

or did i miss something?

mccomber @ Jun 15th 2007 1:10PM

Just contacted NamcoBandai about this, out of curiousity. Their (current) stance; this game is coming out for the PS3 and 360. Hell, amazon is taking pre-orders on it for all three systems; guess they'll be sending out some cancellation notices?

Chris @ Jun 15th 2007 1:16PM

Be cool if they released the soundtrack on Live Marketplace

JodyAnthony @ Jun 15th 2007 1:18PM

alright then now I want a 360 for blue dragon, eternal sonata, and beautiful katamari.

two more must-haves and I will have no choice but spend the $400.

Dustin @ Jun 15th 2007 1:23PM

I have never understood why Japan matters, it's not even that large of a market...

Adam Owen @ Jun 15th 2007 1:35PM

That's it. 360 for me.

copa @ Jun 15th 2007 1:21PM

I don't like to see exclusivity deals on any system, but you have to admit that 360 is boasting a much more diverse lineup than the PS3 right now:

Viva Pinata
Beautiful Katamari
Mass Effect
Rock Band (multiplatform)

It's not clear to me why Sony advocates keep slamming 360 as a shooter-only platform. PS3 is the one trying to sell systems purely on Resistance: Fall of Man and Motorstorm.

Crono @ Jun 15th 2007 1:25PM

Because all the major developers are japanese (with a few exceptions) and develop for their native market primarily, and western markets second.

sirpwn @ Jun 15th 2007 1:26PM

Uh, you guys, the original katamari games didn't even do well in Japan, so I highly doubt this will help the 360's sales over there.

Dustin @ Jun 15th 2007 1:26PM

Sony should throw a $100 mil at the MGS4 peoples, the loss of that game would be the death of the PS3 and possibly Sony's game hardware division. Hard to believe that one game can do that but it's lining up that way.

0ldb0y @ Jun 15th 2007 1:31PM

Whatever happened to my Moble Ops: The One Year War?

I'm happy that Katamari is coming to 360. I foresee no personal benefit from it being exclusive.

AKM @ Jun 15th 2007 1:28PM

"I'll just say this. Can't wait for MGS4 and/or FFXIII to come to the 360....:)"

It gone be long wait, man. You Xbox most likely not made it at that time anyway :-)

Triforceowner @ Jun 15th 2007 1:30PM

Sometimes people shout, "Microsoft handing out money again," and they are usually wrong. Well, this definitely sounds like Microsoft was handing out the dough. I'm going to guess... 100 million? This plays well with the new theme of more moms and kids in the Xbox community. Does anyone know if there will be better Xbox sales in Japan now, and Sony fans, I feel your pain... well I don't, but I understand this hurts.

Snukadaman @ Jun 15th 2007 1:35PM

i thought eternal sonata and even beautiful katamari were both coming too ps3....got too feel sorry for those 600 dollar early adopters of no games..

KiraXD @ Jun 15th 2007 1:37PM

too bad this game wont sell systems (even in japan) it will not do well on one console that is almost non existent in Japan.

Not to mention the Home Trophy Sony already showed off.

of course ill buy it even if it is only on the 360... but i dont think it will be... ill bet it stay multiplat.

Vidikron @ Jun 15th 2007 1:38PM

@22

I have a PS3 and neither or those games were ever on my list.

Sam @ Jun 15th 2007 1:40PM

That kind of sucks. I have both a PS3 and a 360, but how will I be able to play this on the 360 when it keeps breaking?
(I should be getting my 4th in a couple of weeks. I'm sure it'll have a life of about 6 months as well)

Jeff @ Jun 15th 2007 1:44PM

This is a rumor, people. At best, some pretty disingenuous headline-generating from Newsweek (parroted by Joystiq), at worst an outright falsehood. Read the actual article. Going through your life reading nothing but headlines is not going to get you very far.

Whenever you see the words "our sources confirm" and "will be announced" in the same paragraph, you know you're dealing with rumor. Not fact.

Some rumors *do* come true, and this one is no different than any other. But some rumors *don't* come true, so until there's an actual announcement either way, this is no more or less reliable than any other rumor.

Rob Accomando @ Jun 15th 2007 1:46PM

I wonder if it's going to be a budget title like the PS2 version was. Probably not but they'd be smart to price it at $30 to $40.

tituspullo @ Jun 15th 2007 1:58PM

360 ftw! ps3 losing more games! ps3 is looking like a giant money pit right now.

Ludwig Kietzmann @ Jun 15th 2007 2:01PM

Jeff,

I'd normally agree with you entirely, but coming from N'Gai Croal definitely puts this above "any other rumor." However, since you make a good point about it not being the official word, I've amended the headline to avoid any possible confusion. It's wise to be skeptical, but N'Gai doesn't just throw any 'ole thing on his blog.

iNime @ Jun 15th 2007 2:05PM

Why do you guys post about rumors? maybe check the official katamari site.

http://namco-ch.net/beautiful_katamari/index.php

Oh look at that in the bottom right PS3!

Does this site check investigate the news they are about to post?

sheppy @ Jun 15th 2007 2:18PM

I clicked the comments section expecting the typical "haha, PS3 is useless" and "PS3 has plenty of games" tripe.

My goodness, you people do not disappoint.

BulletToothTony @ Jun 15th 2007 2:40PM

@ 6 well and most stupid comments.. $ 600 for what again? well i'm glad you asked

Unreleased Games - 101 Titles
Afrika - LINK
Airtight PS3 Project [Untitled] - LINK
Angel Rings [Working Title] - LINK
Aqua Vita - LINK
Bacterius - LINK * * NEW * *
Big Time Revenge - LINK
BioWare Project - LINK
Brave Arms - LINK
Castlevania PS3 - LINK
Chain Limit - LINK
Coded Arms Assault - LINK
Crytek Project - Crysis [Rumored] - LINK LINK
Danger Planet - LINK
DC Universe MMO - LINK
Dragon Age - EGM 5/2007 - Page 42
Dragon Ball Z [Untitled]
Dreamers - LINK
Driver PS3 - Driver 5 [Unofficial Title] - LINK
Eight Days - LINK
Ember - LINK
Eye Create - LINK
EyeDentify - LINK
Factor 5 Project #2 [Untitled] - LINK
Fantasy Lab Project [Untitled] - LINK
FIA World Touring Car Championship - LINK
Fifth Phantom Saga - LINK
Final Fantasy Versus XIII - LINK
Final Fantasy XIII - LINK
Folks Soul: The Lost Folklore (Monster Kingdom) - LINK * * NEW * *
Fumito Ueda [Rumored Project 1] - LINK LINK
Fumito Ueda SOTC / ICO [Rumored Project 2] - LINK LINK * * NEW * *
Fury - LINK
Game Arts Project - LINK
God of War III - LINK
Go! Puzzle - LINK
Grand Turismo 5 - LINK
Gretzky NHL [Working Title] - LINK
Heavenly Sword - LINK
Hero - LINK
High Velocity Bowling - LINK * * NEW * *
Hot Shots Golf [Working TItle] - LINK
Housemarque Project - LINK
Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier [Rumored] - LINK
Killzone [Working Title] - LINK
Kingdom Hearts 3 [Rumored] - LINK
Koei Guan Yu PS3 Project - Dynasty Warriors [Rumored Title] - LINK
Kurayami AKA Darkness - LINK
Lair - LINK
L.A. Noire - LINK
LittleBigPlanet - LINK
Loco Roco PS3 - LINK
Metal Gear Solid 4 Guns of the Patriots - LINK
Metro 2033: The Last Refuge - LINK
Monster Hunter 3 - LINK
MotorStorm 2 - LINK
Namco PS3 RPG - LINK
Namco PS3 Shooter - LINK
Namco PS3 Sports Project - LINK
Ninja Gaiden Sigma - LINK
NiOh - LINK
Nucleus - LINK
Pain - LINK * * NEW * *
Pixel Junk - LINK LINK
Project Psychic [Working Title] - LINK
Pterodon FPS Project [Untitled] - LINK
Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction [Working Title] - LINK
Redwood Falls - LINK
Rengoku The End of the Century - LINK
Resistance 2 [Rumored, But Likely] - EGM 2/2007 - Page 77
Returning Alive [Working Title] - LINK
Rockstar Old West PS3 Project [Untitled] - LINK
Romance of the Three Kingdoms PS3 - LINK
Sam Suede: Undercover Exposure - LINK
Second - LINK
Secret Service - LINK
Shin Megami Tensei - LINK
Silent Hill 5 [Working Title, Rumored] - LINK
Singstar [Working Title] - LINK
Skyblue - LINK
Snakeball - LINK
SOCOM: Confrontation - LINK * * NEW * *
Sony Online Mercenary / Spy MMO [Untitled] - LINK
Sony Online Whimsical MMO [Untitled] - LINK
Starbreeze Next-Gen Project [Untitled] - LINK
Sucker Punch Project [Untitled] - LINK
Team Siren Project [Untitled] - LINK
Tecmo Action-Adventure [Untitled] - LINK LINK
Tekken 6 - LINK
Time Crisis 4 - LINK
thatgamecompany Project #2 [Untitled] - LINK
thatgamecompany Project #3 [Untitled] - LINK
The Eye of Judgment [Working Title] - LINK
The Getaway [Working Title] - LINK
Twelve Interactive Sci-Fi action game [Untitled]
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune - LINK
Unknown Realms - LINK
WarDevil Enigma - LINK
Warhawk - LINK
Way of the Samurai 3 - LINK
White Knight Story - LINK
Wipeout Pulse [Working TItle] - LINK
Zipper Interactive PS3 Project [untitled] - LINK LINK
Zone of the Enders 3 - LINK

Released Games - 23 Titles
Blast Factor
Calling All Cars!
Cash Guns Chaos DLX
Flow
Formula One Championship Edition
Full Auto 2: Battlelines
Genji: Days of the Blade
Go! Sudoku
Gran Turismo HD
GripShift
Lemmings
MLB 07: The Show
Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire
MotorStorm
NBA 07
Resistance Fall Of Man
Ridge Racer 7
Spider-Man 3: Collector's Edition
Super Rub-A-Dub
Tekken: Dark Resurrection
The Godfather: The Don's Edition
Untold Legends Dark Kingdom
Virtua Fighter 5 (For Now)

Franchises Worth Noting - 33 Titles *
Arc the Lad
ATV Offroad Fury
Battle Arena Toshinden
Champions of Norrath
Cool Boarders
Cosmic Rift
Dark Cloud
Everquest
Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising
Infantry
Intelligent Qube
JetMoto
Kingdom of Paradise
MediEvil
OKAGE
PaRappa the Rapper
PlanetSide
PoPoLoCrois
Pursuit Force
Starwars Galaxies
Suikoden
Syphon Filter
Tanarus
The Legend of Dragoon
The Mark of Kri / Rise of the Kasai
The Matrix Online
Time Crisis
Twisted Metal
Vanguard: Saga of Heroes
War of the Monsters
Wild ARMs
World Rally Championship
Zero Pilot

Measure @ Jun 15th 2007 2:40PM

Comment 4
"I'm just waiting for the "Katamari games suck, you can have 'em" line from the fanbots."

Comment 17
"Uh, you guys, the original katamari games didn't even do well in Japan, so I highly doubt this will help the 360's sales over there."

Nice call, #4.

sheppy @ Jun 15th 2007 2:45PM

For the sake of future posts, please just throw your lists on your Livejounral and link the entry...

Lists suck.

Jonathan Tran @ Jun 15th 2007 2:51PM

Achievement unlocked: Created a Katamari so beautiful it made you weep

Achievement unlocked: Absorbed 500 n00bs into a Katamari

Snukadaman @ Jun 15th 2007 2:51PM

you got too love it when someone shows ps3 games and theres titles like "Zipper Interactive PS3 Project [untitled] - LINK LINK" or "Tecmo Action-Adventure [Untitled] - LINK LINK..talk about reaching for something thats not there...yet at least..looks like the Sony defence is at arms

stewis @ Jun 15th 2007 2:55PM

#34: "Released Games - 23 Titles"

quote again:

"6. $600 US Dollars........for what again?"

tituspullo @ Jun 15th 2007 2:58PM

38. #34: "Released Games - 23 Titles"

quote again:

"6. $600 US Dollars........for what again?"

lol, just lol priceless!

Uncle Muscles @ Jun 15th 2007 3:00PM

$600 for "thatgamecompany Project #3 [Untitled] - LINK

samfish @ Jun 15th 2007 3:14PM

I might not be a big fan of Sony, but this is a fucking STUPID move.

The average 360 owner isn't going to pick this game up if his life counted on it. "GAAAAAAY", he'll say, and go back to playing what ever FPS happens to be in his 360 at the time.

The game might not sell great on the PS3, courtesy of the limited install base...but to put it on the 360 is to just doom Katamari.

AoE @ Jun 15th 2007 3:18PM

@samfish,

You underestimate the variety of 360 owners. That may have been true in Xbox days... but there are plenty like myself who will happily pick it up. I don't own more than 3 FPS games for the 360... but have about 30 games (and no, none of those are sports titles) so... stick that in your pipe and smoke it.

Crono @ Jun 15th 2007 3:21PM

Yeah, shep. It would probably do best on the wii, with gamers going "wow, that looks strange. And fun. I'll pick it up for 30 dollars."

Just like I did for the first Katamari on PS2.

Crono @ Jun 15th 2007 3:22PM

Sorry, I meant Sam. Not Shep.

Inkboy @ Jun 15th 2007 3:43PM

I don't own a 360 but I will most likely buy one if Katamari is a 360 exclusive. Currently I own a Wii (I love it) but there are several games on 360 I am interested in. I can honestly say the only game I am interested for the PS3 is Ninja Gaiden Sigma.

dustandechoes91 @ Jun 15th 2007 3:47PM

There must be another one in the works for ps3/wii.I know theres gonna be another ace combat for ps3 caus for the last 3 of them theyv sent me surveys about the upcoming game, and they sent me one a while back claiming it was for playstation, and it was centered around the f35 and vtol/stol capabilities, which i havent seen any idication of in 6

bl13 @ Jun 15th 2007 4:07PM

Anyone knows for sure whether Eternal Sonata is coming to ps3 after that ESRB listing? Also Ace Combat 6 is a timed exclusive now?

ferrarimanf355 @ Jun 15th 2007 4:16PM

I wish MS used their exclusivity dollars on Time Crisis 4. Really. >_

x silence x @ Jun 15th 2007 4:20PM

@BulletToothTony

Dude, your a nerd... in the bad way.

Your mentioning games that sucked and are not even PS3 games.

The Matrix Online? Franchise title you say? Your grasping for straws here... much like Sony.

Also, half those games are "work in progress". That could mean, never to be made.

Just buy a god damn 360 and pull out the PS3 in 3 years when an exculsive game worth playing comes out.

Fuckin Fanboys man!

GoonieGooGoo @ Jun 15th 2007 4:58PM

MGS4 is comign to the 360.....why else would Konami SPECIFICALLY Remove the all the prominent PLAYSTATION 3 Logos and mentions in the redone trailer???

With FFXIII being their only feather left (didn't the project lead just up and quit a while ago) vs. MASS EFFECT, BLUE DRAGON, LOST ODYSSEY, and ETERNAL SONATA......Sony could have problems as GOD OF WAR 3 is quite a ways off.

| 1 | 2 | Most Recent | Next 50 Comments