Katamari creator coerced

Katamari Damacy creator Keita Takahashi has revealed that he originally had no intention of making a sequel to the game - until publisher Namco threatened to do one without him.

Speaking to MTV news, Takahashi said that he has always preferred to make original games, and had told his bosses more than once that a second Katamari game was not something he was interested in.

"But it came to a point where the company was willing to release a sequel without me," he said.

And to make matters worse, they weren't even talking about a proper new game - just the old one with Christmas graphics bunged in. A festively jazzed up re-release, in other words, which Takahashi said was "Against everything I wanted to do with Katamari."

So that was it - he had the choice of creating another Katamari game, or watching his baby have its limbs cut off and replaced with candy canes while mince pies were forced into its eye sockets. Wisely, he took the first option.

Nasty old Namco eh - but truth be told, we're rather glad they made Takahashi do a sequel to one of the bestest games EVER. And things could be worse - he could be working for Electronic Arts, which isn't his idea of a good time by the sounds of things...

"I realise that a lot of these sports games that big companies like EA make are very enjoyable," he told MTV.

But, "If you want to play a sports game, why not go outside and play sports?"

Discuss.