Keita Takahashi's Katamari games are a true phenomenon. Games journos – including all at SPOnG – cannot get enough of ‘em. So it’s strange that neither the original Katamari Damacy nor its stunning sequel We Love Katamari have had a European release.
Strange that is, until this Friday. Because that is the day when we can all rejoice and pretend to be a big rolly-balled-sticky thing picking up everything in our way. Friday, February 3 should now be made an official Bank Holiday in the UK and be called Katamari Friday.
All school children should be encouraged to make big sticky sellotape balls and collect rubbish off our streets with them, whilst singing along to the lovely tune of ‘Kata-mari-dam-a-cy’.
All workers should be allowed to take the whole day off work and go out get drunk and wrap themselves in double-sided sticky tape and roll around on the floor trying to see who can pick up the most beer mats in a minute. Stefan, by the way, has patented this game.
For those who haven’t played the games yet, or perhaps even heard about them, the premise is as simple as it is genius. You roll a sticky ball around to collect objects, which increase the size of the ball, and as the ball gets bigger you collect bigger and bigger objects. Such as Tower Bridge! Check out these trailers and you’ll get the idea.
Monuments Quicktime (4.4Mb)
Sumo Quicktime (4.6Mb)
Main Trailer Quicktime (14.2Mb)
Keita Takahashi is feted amongst those developers who hold on to a fervent belief that games should primarily be about Fun with a capital F. Not about sequels or marketing or online league tables or good merchandising or maximum sell-through. Merely about Fun. All the rest will follow. You can read a great feature/interview with Takahashi on [URL=http://www.edge-online.co.uk/archives/2006/01/everybody_loves_1.php]Edge Online[/URL].
The last SPOnG heard he was giving up designing games and instead focusing his creative talent upon designing undulating and Fun school playgrounds for young children. The man it would seem is a small god. SPOnG salutes him and cannot wait to see and play on one of Takahashi playgrounds in our kid’s primary schools in 2012.
Strange that is, until this Friday. Because that is the day when we can all rejoice and pretend to be a big rolly-balled-sticky thing picking up everything in our way. Friday, February 3 should now be made an official Bank Holiday in the UK and be called Katamari Friday.
All school children should be encouraged to make big sticky sellotape balls and collect rubbish off our streets with them, whilst singing along to the lovely tune of ‘Kata-mari-dam-a-cy’.
All workers should be allowed to take the whole day off work and go out get drunk and wrap themselves in double-sided sticky tape and roll around on the floor trying to see who can pick up the most beer mats in a minute. Stefan, by the way, has patented this game.
For those who haven’t played the games yet, or perhaps even heard about them, the premise is as simple as it is genius. You roll a sticky ball around to collect objects, which increase the size of the ball, and as the ball gets bigger you collect bigger and bigger objects. Such as Tower Bridge! Check out these trailers and you’ll get the idea.
Monuments Quicktime (4.4Mb)
Sumo Quicktime (4.6Mb)
Main Trailer Quicktime (14.2Mb)
Keita Takahashi is feted amongst those developers who hold on to a fervent belief that games should primarily be about Fun with a capital F. Not about sequels or marketing or online league tables or good merchandising or maximum sell-through. Merely about Fun. All the rest will follow. You can read a great feature/interview with Takahashi on [URL=http://www.edge-online.co.uk/archives/2006/01/everybody_loves_1.php]Edge Online[/URL].
The last SPOnG heard he was giving up designing games and instead focusing his creative talent upon designing undulating and Fun school playgrounds for young children. The man it would seem is a small god. SPOnG salutes him and cannot wait to see and play on one of Takahashi playgrounds in our kid’s primary schools in 2012.
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Comments
ann0uk 1 Feb 2006 15:15
1/3
It would be very interesting to see what this guy could do with the Revolutions controller.
realvictory 2 Feb 2006 00:45
2/3
ann0uk wrote:
It would be very interesting to see what this guy could do with the Revolutions controller.
It would be very interesting to see what he could do with any given object.
Anyway, if EA are releasing this, I think they deserve a little bit more of my respect now.
ann0uk 2 Feb 2006 14:10
3/3
EA are only publishing it, doesnt mean they deserve respect, just means that they are trying to put their name on everything.