We Really Do Love Katamari Damacy

This post was going to be about the new Wipeout Pure Delta Pack 1 that was just released, but since my camera battery is flat and I've just been playing We Love Katamari, it's going to be about the later. More on the Delta Pack in a day or so.

If you played the original Katamari, you know the score. It's an impossibly hard game to explain until you play it, the addiction and fun gained from it are unlike anything else.

Well We Love Katamari, is in all essence just like the original but even more fun, if that's possible. Katamari 2 has many, many more levels this time round, and many or them are themed. The themed levels range from, say rolling a Katamari that is on fire, and keeping it alight by picking up more flammable objects to then light a camp fire. Then there is the one where you have to create the head of a snowman, make a sumo wrestler huge to he smashes his opponent, and even a level where you just collect items and their worth in yen is counted. Some levels don't have a timer on then, while others don't really have a set size for the Katamari. This makes the game a lot more fun and crazy at times, and give is much more diversity than the original. Plus there are so many levels this time, it just seems to have so much variety to it, and they way it's presented and laid out for the player really adds to the experience.

The music is again is light hearted and enjoyable. It's pretty much on par with the music from the original, if not a little more edgy and funky at times. It's suits the game very well and always feels right at home. The graphics also have a very nice clean look to then as well, and the game retains its trademark look. Also all the items are fairly detailed, with most having some strange sound when picked up into the Katamari. I just want to know who decides what a sound a Gnome makes when you pick it up? Crazy.

One nice feature is that if you have a save from the original game, you can import the consolations you created from that save, and then when you use the planet viewer (each Katamari from each level is turned into a planet) you will see your constellations from the original game up in the stars of the background.

When all is said and done, We Love Katamari isn't just "more of the same" it contains a huge amount of content over the original. This is what a sequel should be, it has what made the original so much fun but has added what the fans wanted and expanded the gameplay for a fresh experience.

We Love Katamari with Bonus

My other order from Play-Asia finally turned yesterday. Judging by the rugged condition of the box, it seems that it may have been lodge somewhere for a while, so good going to the postal service on that one.

Though the box was in a fairly worrisome shape, everything was ok and survived unscathed. Minna Daisuki Katamari Damacy came with a free mobile phone hanger in the shape of the price, which I am well chuffed about since it was something you normally only get if you pre-order. It's a small little thing that flashes but it looks mint.

I ordered some other bits and pieces as well, managed to get Ibuki from SFIII Gashapon which is great. I also ordered another one of those Virtual-On Coin figures, but managed to get the same one, just in a different colour (just my luck), though it still looks great, I just wish I could get hold of the Tamjin one.

I've only played a little of Katamari since I'm been involved with Killer 7, but the first few levels I did play of it are as charming as the first game, if not more so. The game looks a lot cleaner and the music is still really cool, it also lets you select which BGM you want for the current level, I can't tell what is what since it's all in Japanese but it's still a nice touch. I'll post more after a play it a little more tomorrow.

As for Killer 7. Hmmm. I really like the game, just a couple of the mechanics to it get me at times. The way the game navigates can get in the way of enemies at times and results in the enemy getting far too close to you. The utter lack of help at times when facing a new enemy sucks, the game could at least tell you the weak spot because some of them you just have no idea. Also the back tracking when a character dies it fucking horrendous at times, especially if you miss a save spot, the game just goes all the way back to the first point, ugh. It's not too bad, but fuckdamn if I want to be traipsing through a level again to retrieve a body. The game also does become a lot more challenging when there are more enemies on the screen, one hit kills become critical otherwise you are in the shit.

Bloody Madness

Killer 7 finally turned up today, so with the limited time I had tonight I played through the first chapter of it, which strangely enough took me longer that I thought it would. Killer 7, if you haven't been following it, is a very hard game to explain, and not just the bloody weird story that's just utterly bizarre. They gameplay is a splice between an action game on rails and a FPS. I say on "rails" because you cant just run any where you want, you follow a path, which in all essence most action game force upon you anyway. You can still go back and forth and choose paths and such, its just the you run along a line basically. Anyway it makes the game better, you do get lost or end up in stupid situations that annoy you.

Apart from the action, the game likes to throw a fair few puzzles at you, which you need to solve with different characters or objects. Once you get the hang on it, it's a piece of cake, though when I started all I could think of was "what the fuck do you want from me here". Though it's easy enough, same with the gameplay, once you get the hang of it it's great fun. From what I've played it's not hard, but then it was only the first chapter.

Having the choice to use different characters is great, as some are just more fun to use, or just feel better for a given situation. I can't really see why anyone would want to bitch about the game. It's got such great visual style, and some wicked audio throw about at random times. It's the kind of game which compels you to play it, and you just want to see what strange shit it has in store for you next.

Though I will say I don't know if picking up the PS2 version was such a hot idea, my two reason for getting the PS2 version were, it was $60 and my PS2 is hooked up to my surround sound system, unlike my Gamecube. The problem is with the PS2 version, the loading times seem to be a bit shit. They seem to take longer than they probably should, and I've heard that the GC version does have shorter loads times. When I say load time, I mean when you go from one area to another. Some times its just a fucking annoyance to walk back and forth because of it. The other is the is some bloody awful slow down. I've only seen it a couple of times, but fuck me that's enough. When there are say four enemies on screen, and you hit one in the sweet spot which triggers the bloody explosion effect, that's where the slow down is. I won't say it doesn't effect the gameplay, but it's still there. Still it's great fun, at least check it out for maybe a rental as it might not be to everyone's taste.

Nostalgic Ads

Nothing from Play-Asia turned up on Friday, leaving me to believe it some kind of worldwide conspiracy to stop me from playing the sequel to Katamari Damashi. Or it may just be that customs is now totally paranoid about packages and such, thus keeping my packaged for undetermined amount of time. Either way, nothing has ever taken over 2 week to get to me from Hong Kong, so it's very strange indeed.

I've had a bout of nostalgia for the past few days, and decided to quench it tonight by watching some old video game commercials. If you have never seen the sites that play host to these kind of things, I suggest that you check out, Video Game Ads for a sources of game ads from many countries and for many consoles. If you more of a Sega fan however, you would be best checking out this site for their excellent selection of all ads Sega.

It's great to go back and see some of those ads, one of my favs being this one for NiGHTS on the Saturn, where they proceed to drop an Playstation of the top of a building. It's such great brand assassination, which today I would really doubt you would get away with, but back in the day when Sega was still on top it was great.

After checking out some of the ads for the SegaCD it's no wonder that it didn't sell well, they are just so uninspiring. I actually on ever remember one SegaCD ad that I saw in a cinema once, I don't think it showed any game play, from memory it was one of those teaser ads which left you wanting more. Was really cool at the time, seeing a console advertised in the cinema. Though I will say that the Sonic CD is very cool, I always get a buzz out of seeing it. Though Sega really did focus way too much on the whole FMV thing with the SegaCD, which is a shame because it was probably the most bland area of the console.

It's kind of strange these days though with ads on TV, I rarely see any. Sony used to put out quite a lot back in the PSX days, especially with things like Final Fantasy and Gran Turismo. Recently though I've only seen a few Nintendo ones, and they were from Gameboy games if I recall correctly. Though Sony did show some Gran Turismo 4 ads, though I only saw those during either the WRC or Formula 1 coverage, which is right for demographic, if a little limited to coverage.

Though when I come to think of it, I did see an ad for Tekken 5 recently, and also some for Ratchet and Clank 3 a while ago. So there are a few everyone and then, just not so many as there have been in the past.

Wipeout Pure Wire05 Content

As I was checking out various PSP news sites today, I stumbled upon an even called Wire05, that as things would have is sponsored by Sony's PSP. From what I can work out Wire05 seems to be a large music even, mainly techno, but I'm not entirely sure. So anyway, if you were at the event you were able to download a special Wire05 Wipeout Pure update pack. The update pack, all themed to Wire05 includes a new skin, ship, track and audio track. There are some pics below, so fill your boots. Sorry for the quality.

The new skin, as you can see if you have been to the Wire05 website it's all in the same theme.


This just shows the new "Exclusive" section the update creates, just below the Gamma section.


Picture of the track selection, simply named Wire05. However when you start the track it sounds like it has another name, but it's hard to make out.


Simply a picture of the new Wire05 ship, it kind of looks like the Aurocom ship.

An image of the track, quite colourful and full of nice effects also full of Wire05 posters and images.


The Wire05 ship isn't too bad it's pretty much like some of the others, and very similar to the Aurocom ship. The new Wire05 track is great, lots of nice long curve sections with plenty of speed boots pads and some nice straight sections, overall a nice fast track. Also it looks really great, there are some wicked effects built into the track itself that look wicked. It's all themed to the Wire05 event so it's all coloured blue and grey. It would be great to seem more content like this for the PSP for any games, but works especially well with Wipeout. As for the new music track, I'll have to figure out which is the new one, I'm not sure if it was playing when I started the new track.

Something, Finally!

It seems the biggest buzz around the net at the moment is about the Xbox360, and some kid who managed to supposedly get hold of one. I really don't know what to make of this, I can't really seem Microsoft letting something like an Xbox360 into the wild, even to one of their employees. I don't care who they are either. If it's a viral marketing scheme, it's been done quite well, and makes sense. Creates hype while providing a minimal amount of new information. Shit I'm talking about it right now, this is what they want. If this wasn't planned by Microsoft, well hey free publicity, it's all good. If it is viral, I just feel sorry for the poor bastard who had to write the kids original "post".

I'm not sure if it's to do with the Xbox360 launching in the coming months or not, but there seems to be a distinct lack of Xbox software being released soon. Sure there are titles coming out, but most of them you just know are going to be the usual shite. It would make sense that Xbox software will dwindle as the Xbox360 nears, but I haven't really picked up anything for my Box in ages.

I finally got some good news about Killer 7. I was really pissed at CD-Wow in the last few days because it hadn't shipped, though when I checked my order list about 20mins ago it had the wonderful "sent" status next to it. 3 days late so I'm still kind of dark on it, but I guess it was worth saving a little on it. Though I'll have to wait until next week to check it out now. *sigh*

Also I'm still waiting on my order from Play-Asia that shipped on the 9th. I've never had an order take more than say 4-5 days before, so taking this long is a little strange. I just want We Love Katamari. I need a fix, I HAVE to roll up something strange, I just need to!

Disappointed Groan

I'm going to stand by said groan for a couple of reasons. The first being that nothing form Play-Asia turned up on Friday, and I was gutted. After a really busy week I was hoping for a chance to chill out and play a bit of We Love Katamari. But alas it was not to be, so knowing my luck it will turn up on Monday. The other instance that prompted my moaning, was an email that I received from CD-Wow this morning. I was wondering why my copy of Killer 7 hadn't shipped Friday as that was the release date. Well the email soon confirmed my inclining, that it has been delayed till Monday. It's only one day, but I always worry when things start to get "delayed"

Oh and trust Play-Asia to have three new flavours of those Shigekikkusu sour candy things. So now I've got to find something else I want from Play-Asia, as it's kinda pointless just ordering 3 packets of sour candy.

Articles Of Gaming

You might have noticed the new online magazine called "The Escapist" that launched a few days ago, since it was mentioned on Slashdot and all. I found it to be quite an interesting read, though what caught my attention the most was that Tycho from Penny-Arcade had contributed an article to the line up. The magazine is more focused towards articles that cover attitudes towards gaming, and discussion of gaming in general, as opposed to news or reviews. I found it to be a nice change of pace, though I do have a "craving" for decent articles about gaming, and this hit the spot.

Tycho's article is one that discusses the transition of gaming, from basically a geeky pastime to a full fledge mainstream multi-million dollar business. I completely agree with the points that are made though out the article. It's a very hard topic to try and discuss because there are a fair few positive and negative marks against "mainstream gaming". You only have to read a few dedicated gaming forums, to see that many people these days think that a majority of game companies have given up their creative soul in search of the dollar. Constant IP resurfacing, and brand/franchise raping really is enough after awhile, especially when it the same old game just redressed at the end of the day. In reality, what it is, is fucking boring. Sometimes you just think that creativity is dead, and no one wants to take a gamble with a new product. This is one of the worst points of mainstream gaming.

Though on the opposite side of the fence, you have to also allow for mainstream gaming bringing in revenue and help fund some of the better games that are around. There are many great, creative titles that have been made, and possibly with thanks to game studios and publishes having the money to do so. Though these days there does seem to be a lot less "Original" titles, and so many more sequels and re-hashes.

The other article that I found intriguing was "Gamer Like Me" by Jennifer Buckendorff. The article basically discusses and asks, what constitutes someone being a "gamer". Now in my mind it's pretty easy to decide if someone is a gamer or not, it's just hard to explain it.

If you own a console, maybe a few games and occasionally play them, I wouldn't consider that person a gamer, as you wouldn't consider someone who owns a few DVD's a movie buff. Also someone who just plays a single game for hours on end, for instance The Sims, I also wouldn't call a gamer. Now this is where it gets more difficult, where do you draw the line between someone who is a gamer, someone who isn't and someone who is hardcore. Which is also this article tends to go a bit awry. I would say someone is a gamer who is passionate about gaming, spends a fair bit of time playing games, buys games that interest them in a variety of genre's and spends sometime talking about games and checking out the latest news. In the article Jennifer makes a point of someone, who would rather play games and refuse to watch a DVD, that's more of a hardcore trait if anything.

Now someone who is a hardcore gamer, would be very passionate and knowable about gaming. They would also own multiple consoles, and probably import games. Being up to date on everything in the gaming scene is a priority, and experimenting and taking a risk with a new or unknown game is a thrill. I would go as far to say that someone who is a hardcore gamer always want's to know more, is always willing to learn and read about something they may not possibly know about. It's becomes your main interest, and you develop a true passion for gaming.

Though at the end of the day, being a gamer isn't about how much money you have to spend on games, or even what you own. It's about being passionate about it, and enjoying it.

Next Gen Rubbish

You might have noticed a few changes to the right side of the page, mainly the re-addition of Archives. I removed Archives a while ago because of formatting but not it's back and better. So feel free to look though and of the previous gubbins you missed, tis what they are there for.

You might have noticed that I mentioned that I'd started watching a web TV show called "The.Scene" in my last post. We'll I watched all ten episodes of it, and got right into it. I know people who are really in the scene probably think it's an utter load of wank, but I actually just like the originality of it, they way that it's composed is great, plus the drama is just interesting. Grab episode one if your unsure, there are plenty of torrents and such for it.

There is currently a few next gen articles flying about. One I noticed was regarding the PS3 loosing a built in router, I didn't even know the PS3 was going to have one! This isn't really an issue, routers cost piss all, I mean they gave me one for nothing when I signed up for ADSL, and it's sitting here on my desk unused. So no big deal there.

I also just noticed this regarding the Xbox360 not being on many gamers must have list in Japan. Can't say they it surprises me at all. Microsoft is trying to compete with Sony in their own country, in a market that they have dominated for a fair few years now. It will be near impossible for Microsoft to ever make a significant dent in the Japanese market, especially without support from someone like SquareEnix, who's software makes consoles a must have. I just find it kind of funny that these articles like this make is seem like such a surprise that Japanese gamers would rather a PS3 than Xbox360. I could go on about this for quite a while, but I won't because it would probably be just the same old tat that you already know.

Just Rollin'

I finally gave in over the weekend and ordered Minna Daisuki Katamari Damacy or We Love Katamari as it is also know. I wasn't going to, but after fiddling around on the weekend with my PS2, I popped Katamari Damacy in and just wanted more. Now I know many people from PAL regions haven't played the first one, Namco just refused to release it and stiffed us, even with the petition I started. Now I wasn't going to import this, even though I do love importing, I also like to support the local PAL gaming scene. I mean how is it ever going to get better if we don't support it and just import? Right it wont. So anyway I know that after bugging Namco they did tell me they were planning to release "We Love Katamari" in PAL territories, though what do I have to go on? The US release is in a few months an Namco haven't said "Boo" about it.

So even though I'm all for a PAL/English version I'm not prepared to wait 6 months and it still not be released. I always thought that Namco could do a compilation, and just put both games together for like $60, why not seems great to me. I really don't see the point on releasing a sequel when the they didn't release the original, the story will make fuck all sense. Though if Namco do release the Katamari games in the PAL region, I would re buy them. Yes, something I don't normally do, but I would love to have an English translation of them. So any I'll put up some impressions when I get hold of it.

Other things. You remember those Japanese candies I bought, which at first kind of offended my tongue, well I now can't get enough of them. Once you get used to how sour they are, they friggin rock. So I bought some more, haha. This time I picked up the lemon ones as well. I also decided to pick up another one of those Virtual On One Coin figures since I was so impressed with the first one.

Oh and I just started watching that show called The Scene. I've only watched the first episode but it intrigued me and I downloaded the rest of them.

Killer Bargain

Shit I forgot to mention that Killer 7 as you might know is out here on the 22nd of this month. I think it supposed to be released earlier in the UK on the 15th. So bearing that in mind you can pick it up from CD-Wow for about $67, and if you use a CD-Wow voucher it's even less, I got it for around $61 for some strange reason. Because it's CD-Wow it should ship on the 15th, and only takes about 4 days. Better than paying the top end RRP at EB.

Goodies From Japan

As I sit here listening to various tracks from the Jet Set Radio soundtrack, I just can't help but think of many a strange thing.

A load of stuff that I ordered from Play-Asia arrived today, just things that I wanted, you know I kept seeing them on the site and just had to purchase them. The picture of the PSP at the top of the page, it looks like a standard PSP.. ohhh wow.. But wait, it's now sitting atop a Compact Charger Stand. I mainly brought it just so that my PSP had somewhere to sit, but it's also great for charging it. Just plonk it down there when it's got to be charged, no probs. This one cost about $9, there is another that's about $40 or so and includes a audio jack, but I didn't really need that and also didn't want to spend that much on it.



This here is one of the new Virtual-On: Cyber Troopers One Coin Figures. The reason I only picked up one of these is because I was unsure of the quality of it, and the other being that they are over $10 each, yes that's right $10. I don't know what that one coin shit is, but last time I checked I didn't have any $10 coins on me.

Even though it did cost $10, I have to say it is excellent quality. You can tell from the that shitty picture but it has a great level of detail on it. Also the figure is possible with each of the limbs and head all moving. I'll probably pick up some more of these, only problem is that they ship randomly in a little cardboard box, so it's kinda hard to get the whole set.



Speaking of gashapon, I also picked up one figure from the Capcom Girls Collection 2. Again I wasn't sure what these would be like so I only picked up one, but they are currently on special and only $2.50 each. Again the one I got was excellent quality and very cute looking, so I'll defiantly pick up a few more of these.



This is more of a word of caution than anything. These things here are a kind of sour/sweet candy hybrid. Now I love this kind of stuff, but these have a weird kind of taste. For one they are very sour, the brown ones are cola and pretty sour, the blue are supposed to be lemonade but are really sour. They do taste kind of like their supposed flavour, but not enough to drive me into a frenzy.

Something You Shouldn't Do

There is a good reason why I didn’t post yesterday, apart from kind of forgetting, I was messing around with my PSP for a while once I got home. You see my poor PSP doesn’t get that much use, since it’s a portable device, the only time it gets any real use is when I’m getting my car serviced. Anyway with all the talk oh, homebrew, piracy and loaders I had to see what all the fuss was about. Now I don’t advocate or support piracy, I don’t even chip my consoles, I think people should support the software creators and such, plus if you read this site you know how much gear I buy. However I had this burning desire to see if I could get something I didn’t really own to run on my PSP. So I grabbed all the files needed and gave Coded Arms a bit of a test, it didn’t want to run at first but only because of some miss named file antics. I don’t really know why, stuff like this just intrigues me, I shouldn’t be able to do it, yet I can.

So anyway Coded Arms from the memory stick, it’s what I would say “far to easy” to do. Though I don’t feel too guilty, Coded Arms is a bit shit anyway. I played the first City level through, and I kid you not, that for about 7 levels, it was the same stage with things just re-arranged. I think a FPS could work on the PSP, just not with the awkward controls that Coded Arms implements. Basically you use the analogue stick to move, and then buttons to look around, yeah I know weird. You then use the D-Pad to zoom, and reload, and the right shoulder button to fire. Even after you do get used to it, it’s still messy. I think you can alter the way the controls work, but I can’t be that bothered. Plus the game is a little dull.

One thing that is good about these loaders, if that if you say own Lumines as I do. You can put that onto you memory stick and have the choice to play either that or say Wipeout on the UMD that is in the PSP. I know ultimately these types of things are mainly piracy, but they do have practical uses as well.

Henshin a-go-go, baby!

As I mentioned in yesterdays post, I picked up Viewtiful Joe 2 for PS2. If you played VJ1 you will know the deal with this one, if you haven't played VJ1, well you really should. Plus I'm not going to explain how VJ works, it's just too hard. Anyway VJ2 is pretty much the same thing, except now you can also play as Silvia, Joe's girlfriend. You have all the same moves as before, but you can actually "tag" with Silvia during gameplay. The main reason for this is certain puzzles require either Joe or Silvia, and I think some later on in the game require both. As you might recall, one of Joe's powers was Machspeed, which allowed him to catch on fire. Well Silvia has one called Replay, which is similar, allowing you to record a move and play it back 3 times, this also charges her with electricity.

So anyway after playing it for a little while it's pretty much the same as the original VJ just with the new Silvia element. The cutscenes are kind of slow at times, and not really as funny as the original VJ, they seem to have these weird pauses in them which just makes them drag. Also this time the game is based through different periods in time, which gives it a bit of variety. The game is still fun, and it's a seems a little easier than the Original game, well so far anyway. The original I ended up playing on Easy just to finish it because it got really brutal.

Another new addition is a section called "The 36 Chambers", which area series of rooms unlocked via the main story game. These rooms are, from what I can tell so far battles against groups of enemies with certain conditions, things like having an time limit or just one life. An interesting addition to the main game, though they seem fairly hard, I'll have to put some more time into them.

If you were a fan of VJ1 and wanted some more after it, VJ2 is really an essential purchase, if you just got frustrated by the original probably best leave this one alone because it's just more of the same.

Other things. I forgot to mention with King of Fighters Maximum Impact, apart from coming in a really nice cardboard outer cover, and with the bonus glossy moves book, it also comes with a bonus DVD. It's pretty much just about the game, some interviews and features of the game. It's a well put together pack, which is quite funny considering the game.

I also played a little more Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles the other day, and this game is really aimed at multiplayer. It's just that the single player doesn't really offer much at all, it's not very deep and is over simplisic. Also the combat doesn't consist of much at all, were I thought there might be more there, but there just isn't. Nice looking game, and well presented, just not really suited for single players.

2D Going 3D

I finally game in today and picked up Viewtiful Joe 2, and King of Fighters: Maximum Impact. Viewtiful Joe 2 cost me $40, and KoF: MI was $35, pretty much why I picked them both up from EB. I wasn't sure on KoF:MI, because normally 2D to 3D conversions suck ass big time, and I had read both good and bad things about the game. However I was pleasantly surprised with it.

The first thing I noticed with Maximum Impact is the sheer speed of it, it's right up there with it's 2D counterpart, well more of less. I am seriously not kidding, it's the fastest goddamn 3D fighter I have ever played, and I love it for that. I've always wanted a 3D fighter that played at a 2D pace, but until now nothing has really done it right. If this game had a little more work done on it and polish, it would be a wicked fighter. Because it's KoF, all your favourite characters are here, with all their trademark moves and you can pull of some utterly ridiculous combos and juggles in the game, even bouncing opponents off of walls in the process.

Though one thing that is fairly obvious, the game being the way that it is, it's very open to button mashing, though this isn't too bad as it does allow people of any skill to play, and this game would make a great 2 player outing. One other thing to note is that the way the game plays, being very fast, I found it a bit of a strain to use the Dual Shock controller. After playing though story mode just once, my thumb really ached after it, though any arcade sick would make a great difference.

If you have ever played a KoF game you know the deal, this is pretty much the same deal but just in 3D, I know it's hard to believe. The controls are fairly solid in the game, though I did find that getting up after being knocked down is hard at times, there doesn't really seem to be a back roll or anything, you just get up which leaves you open to your opponent smacking you again. It quite a clean looking game as well, just he 3D arenas look a bit plain, they kind of reminded me of Fighting Vipers.

What I would love to see happen, is that Capcom, or SNK work with someone has already produced a 3D fighter like Namco or Techmo and produce a seriously fast 3D fighter. Maybe Street Fighter vs Tekken, it could seriously work if it was produced like Maximum Impact is, just with more polish and some reworked gameplay mechanics.

In the end, for $35 if your a KoF fan, or just looking for a fun 3D fighter to have a bash with a friend it defiantly worth a look.

I'll talk about Viewtiful Joe 2 tomorrow.