• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

HOLY SHIT: Katamari Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE




NAMCO PROVES SIZE DOES MATTER

WITH KATAMARI DAMACY?


Innovative Action Game Set To Ship This September
Exclusively For PlayStation®2

San Jose, Ca., (July 20, 2004) – Leading video games publisher and developer Namco Hometek Inc. announced today that the highly addictive and innovative action game, Katamari Damacy, will be coming to the U.S. market in September. The ever expanding, article accumulating, swiftly swelling sphere game that is fun for the whole family is set to ship exclusively on the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system.

“Eccentric, quirky, weird, goofy, wild, outrageous, addictive, intriguing, charismatic and captivating -- they all apply,” said Rod Nakamoto, Executive Vice President of Research and Development for Namco Hometek Inc. “There are many words to describe Katamari Damacy -- and the most important one is FUN.”

In Katamari Damacy, players take on the role of Prince of the Cosmos, whose father – the great King – managed to inadvertently knock the stars out of the sky. As the prince, a player’s duty is to clean up the King’s mess and re-create the starry skies by rolling around the cleverly designed locations to collect objects and build up their “katamari” -- a Japanese word for clump or large mass. The catch is that it’s not the quality or the actual number of objects gathered that is most critical to the player’s success, but instead the sheer size of the player’s “katamari” that is most important.

Along the way, players can roll over hundreds of unusual objects of all sizes and shapes including cookies, cars, mermaids, planes, clouds and even people. The larger the player’s “katamari” grows, the more objects the player can amass along the way -- thus proving if you want to succeed in Katamari Damacy -- size does matter.

Katamari Damacy features a single-player story mode and a two-player battle mode. The simple game play mechanics allow for optimal ball rolling and object collecting fun.

Namco’s “rolling, sticking, never-stopping, ever-swelling clump of stuff that makes a star out of everyone and everything” game will be available this fall.

About Namco Hometek Inc.
Namco Hometek Inc. is the U.S. consumer division of Namco Limited, a Tokyo-based world leader in the high-tech entertainment industry. Based in San Jose, CA, Namco Hometek Inc.

is an award-winning video games publisher for next generation game consoles. Namco has created some of the industry's greatest video game franchises: Tekken®, SOULCALIBUR®, Dead to Rights®, Pac-Man World?, Ridge Racer®, Time Crisis® and ACECOMBAT?. For more information about Namco and its products log onto www.namco.com <http://www.namco.com/> .



###
 

atomsk

Party Pooper
normally i dont doubledip on games, (the last time being Zelda:TWW), but i'm all about buying this game again!
 
rolling shit make happy

rollie_1.jpg
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
As long as the soundtrack remains in tact, I'm buying this baby on release date...

However, based on the fact that they actually retained the original name...I have a feeling that the soundtrack will make the cut. :)
 

Dujour

Banned
I want more details on the game. How can you get a game over? Where's the challenge in the game? I've heard nothing but praise, but I want to know why (aside from the soundtrack, which I agree kicks ass)!
 

BuddyC

Member
YES YES YES YES YES
Namco representatives today confirmed that the American version of the game will also feature an unchanged soundtrack, meaning the original version's quirky blend of jazz, rock, synth-pop, and less easily-defined tunes will remain intact. It will also have a battle mode where two players can compete to roll up the largest lump of stuff.
1Up.com
 

Suikoguy

I whinny my fervor lowly, for his length is not as great as those of the Hylian war stallions
Laurent said:

Holy crap thats hillarious!
They need to do a VERY similar commerical over here, it just gets attention.

That commerical is damn near perfect

1- Get peoples attention by showing something completly absurd, yet related to the game
2- Show Gameplay
3- Explain the name of the game, and where you can get it
 

Senretsu

Member
HAHAHHAHHA! that commercial was awesome. I showed it to my sister (I don't usually show her game commercials I download) and she couldn't stop laughing.

Nice music, is that from the game?
 

MetatronM

Unconfirmed Member
Senretsu said:
HAHAHHAHHA! that commercial was awesome. I showed it to my sister (I don't usually show her game commercials I download) and she couldn't stop laughing.

Nice music, is that from the game?
Yes, it is from the game. The game's soundtrack is really one of the best I've heard in ages.
 

DECK'ARD

The Amiga Brotherhood
This game getting a release in the West has restored my faith in mankind! ;)

Hope the sequel is shown at TGS in September. Does the second one have a rough release date yet?
 

drohne

hyperbolically metafictive
Serafitia said:
I want more details on the game. How can you get a game over? Where's the challenge in the game? I've heard nothing but praise, but I want to know why (aside from the soundtrack, which I agree kicks ass)!

time limits, basically - you generally have a certain amount of time to build your katamari to a certain size. it's nothing too harsh, but you probably won't clear the later stages on your first attempts. you can play for score -- or more accurately size -- which is reasonably engaging. reaching a certain size in certain levels will earn you the right to play those levels untimed; these goals are pretty hard to hit, and rolling around at leisure and wadding up absolutely everything is good fun.

i think the real draw of the game is just the tactile pleasure of rolling things up, along with a lot of visual imagination and a brilliant, exuberant soundtrack. katamari is joy.
 
Top Bottom