Art Perspective: KATAMARI!
At this time of year gamers are being treated to a heavy shower of high budget, triple-A titles; Modern Warfare 3, Battlefield 3 and Skyrim are among the colossal titles that have already hit shelves, with the likes of Zelda and Mass Effect just over the horizon. In these chaotic, modern times it is important to try not to buy every single game, although it may seem to be the logical thing to do but budgets must be kept in order to feed through Christmas. Art Perspective suggests saving some money, waiting until those big games come down in price, taking a deep breath and exploring the world of colourful Katamari!
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There are two ways to go about making any form of art, one is to create what people want and the other is to give the people what you want to create. The big titles of gaming certainly fall into the first category, with most staying within their usual confines, making small changes each year in an attempt to convince gamers to part with their cash. The second method is by far more interesting, although the level of quality can vary, as games made with this ethos never fail to inspire. Without the worries of financial constraints or rewards, or the problems that come with big companies, art works can simply strive to create something new, and that brings us to Katamari Damacy. We are going to take a look back at a brilliantly arty game, the ideas, and design philosophy behind it. Katamari, for those who are not familiar, is a bizarre and beautiful cult classic gaming series from Japan. The player takes control of a tiny prince who is giving the curious task of rebuilding the stars and the moon as his father accidentally destroyed them. This prince has one tool to help him complete his missions; Katamari, a magical ball that the prince must roll around and anything smaller than the ball sticks to it. The player must roll this ball over objects, in a snowball effect to make the Katamari grow in size. The Katamari can pick up larger objects as the ball itself grows in size, eventually able to allowing the prince to pick up planets, and restore the night sky back to normal. Katamari is the wonderful creation of Keita Takahashi, who directed and designed the first two Katamaris; Katamari Damacy and We Love Katamari, for the Playstation 2. Takahashi's most recent work was on the browser based MMO Glitch, in which players inhabit the thoughts of giants and attempt to make them bigger. Noby Noby Boy was Takahashi's follow up to Katamari. Located in a simularly colourful world, the player takes control of a rainbow worm boy. This is a game that is easier to watch a video of than to try and explain: