Katamari Team Disbanded
From Gamasutra:
I can't say I'm overly disappointed. Better that the game go out on a high note than be dragged through the mud in endless sequels and remakes. Or rolled through the mud, in this case. I just hope the talented folks behind Katamari Damacy move on and put their creative abilities into future projects.
Namco Japan's official website for popular franchise Katamari Damacy has announced that the team behind both the original game and its sequel, We Love Katamari, has dissolved, and that no sequels have been planned.
This may not be a surprise for most, as series director and creator Keita Takahashi has publicly stated that the idea of building a franchise off of the original game was never his intention, and that his involvement in the game's sequel was forced on him by publisher Namco's willingness to green-light a sequel with or without his involvement.
"I didn't want players to be disappointed so I decided to take part," Takahashi told the BBC last November. "There are fun things in the game, though I am not happy with all of it."
The official announcement does mention that 'Professor Katamari' (presumably Keita Takahashi) is currently working on a new game design, though apparently not with the core Katamari Damacy team. "You don't roll things up, or get bigger, but you might find it interesting anyway," says the site.
Me and My Katamari, the portable iteration being released in North America for the PSP next week, is the last officially announced game in the series. However, the game was done without the direct supervision of Takahashi, which shows publisher Namco's willingness to create games in the series without his input.
I can't say I'm overly disappointed. Better that the game go out on a high note than be dragged through the mud in endless sequels and remakes. Or rolled through the mud, in this case. I just hope the talented folks behind Katamari Damacy move on and put their creative abilities into future projects.
Comments
The game itself, to me atleast, had always been a huge metaphor that professed the positive aspects of communism. It boasted both pro-unity phrases (let's roll up to be a single star in the sky) and satire poised against capitalism. The King of the Cosmos being the personification of capitalism and decadence, he was constantly obsessed with the collection of as many material possessions as possible, he often became bored while the proletariat (The Prince) did his work for him, and in the end, when he'd get his Katamari, he'd simply throw it away into the sky where it incinerated into a giant flaming ball of gas (this shows the wastefulness of capitalism).
Therefore, it would have been an unsettling juxtaposition if this particular game had lent itself to becoming a giant franchise - the very thing to which I like to imagine the original game had been opposed.
Newness as seen in Katamari Damacy was refreshing, atleast to me.
The game is not about communism. It is about rolling things up and having fun. The second one is about how much fun the first one was.
But then again, John is crazy. So maybe his theory was in fact, so crazy, that it ceased to be crazy, and became the end all of correct theories about video game communism.
*slams door*
*turns up angsty rock music*
Oh yeah, that whole unfairness of life thing. And the torment of consciousness. And of course, the cruelty of nature.
That's just sad.