New Katamari in West this year
With downloadable content too.
Beautiful Katamari will launch on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in the US "later this year", Namco Bandai said late last week, following official confirmation of the game's development.
That means that - on PS3 at least - gamers in Europe will have no trouble playing it, since the PS3 doesn't feature region-locking for disc-based game software, while it's optional in Xbox 360 games with some NTSC titles - like Gears of War and Viva Piñata - working on PAL systems.
Beautiful Katamari will run in fancy 720p graphics, promises a new "unforgettable" soundtrack and online multiplayer on both systems. Players will once again find themselves stepping into the tiny shoes of the Prince, whose father the King of All Cosmos has had a "very un-royal and unfortunate accident" that he needs to sort out by rolling up the world into a ball.
As usual you'll run into around 50 of the Prince's cousins on your travels, each of whom likes to play with the Prince, and there will be more to expect in the form of downloadable content later on.
All of which has us quite excited, even if we're a bit wary of Katamari games created since Keita Takahashi disappeared from the credits. Beautiful Katamari is reportedly directed by Jun Moriwaki, co-lead game designer on PSP title Me & My Katamari.