It tempts me with my ADD.

My eyes are tired but I need to do work. Sob.

I did find this in my external hard drive though:

I made this my senior year in high school, as a Deviant Art ID when I used to use it.

Ichigo is still one of my favorite cousins.

I’m hungry now.

Well, first off I think you’ll notice the layout change.  It’s still simple and minimal (which I like) but now has a custom header!

I would spend time to make a new header (maybe during break), but for now it’s a crop of my badly done silk screen… which if you haven’t seen by now looks like this:

Though I did mess up on it because a)I’m really weak and suck at feeding the ink through b)I was dumb and in a hurry so forgot to wash excess photo emulsion off with soap/simple green, I still like it.

I even put my prints on my wall encircling a Julia Pott printout:

I think I need to post pass work, just to have a place for them to live. It’d be good for boring days maybe.

I also am trying to think of a name to rename this blog.

So today, I went on an odd trail of sites. It pretty much went like this:

Online shop browsing—>Lookbook browsing (just browsing because I don’t have an account or know any members)—>Browsing member blogs-—>Finding the holy grail of blogging.

I have found an amazing blog site.

It’s called Bloglovin.

Basically, it’s a one stop place to read all the blogs you follow.

I personally have a folder with a bunch of blogs in them.  I usually don’t check each one daily, and therefore sometimes miss updates. But! with Bloglovin, I can read all of them in one place, and it also gives a preview of the entry + images.

I reallllly love this site because the blogs I read range from livejournal (usually for my friends’ blogs), to blogger, even to Japanese blog providers like ameba.  So now instead of jumping everywhere, I have a place for all of them!

Oh, and get this!

(Was looking at Chole’s – a poupee girl member – blog at the time)

When you check the updates of blogs, you don’t have to click each link individually. Instead there is a bar that appears at the bottom of your browser which allows you to save an entry, or go to the next blog update! The entry doesn’t even have to be from the same blog! It’ll go right to the next blog that updated before it.

That is pretty awesome!

I know it’s been around for awhile, but I’m just really late in the bandwagon.  If you’re like me and late too, you should check it out if you have a bunch of blogs you follow!

I def think Kev likes it, because I blog hop and have a few. So now he can check one place for all my updates instead of me telling him that I updated.

You can follow my blog!

In other news, I started using my tumblr again: http://thymine.tumblr.com/

It’s pretty much just for pictures.. if you have ADD and don’t want to read my sea of text. Oh, and you can follow the tumblr with bloglovin too

Malditos metaleiros de mente aberta.

Não entendeu? Veja esse vídeo clipe do Behemoth e ouça essa música do jogo Katamari Damacy.

One of the best features about Noby Noby Boy is the huge community aspect to the overall objective. Our Noby Noby Boys must stretch, eat, then stretch some more in order to make Noby Noby Girl grow and reach new planets. It looks as if we’ve all been busy stretching ourselves because Girl has now lengthened herself to Jupiter (reports Destructoid) – that’s a colossal 576,682,810 miles away people! The game’s been out since February, so that’s 9 months of tugging – with a newly added random multiplier – to accomplish such an achievement. Sadly, I lost interest in Noby Noby Boy around March but find it pretty cool (and a little baffling) that so many others have kept creator Keita Takahashi’s dream alive. Bravo one and all.

Thanks Eye! Katamari Damacy por vida, holmes.

Nancy had some sort of chocolate plus fruit plus nut cookie combo once at a holiday party, but they were missing a delicious zing. And that zing, that little pep, was the combination of chocolate chunks, chopped pistachios, and dried cherries.  That’s pretty much it.  It just seems like a natural conclusion to come to.  A globular mass of deliciousness.  Don’t be surprised if this recipe eventually rolls up the world, we’re just sayin’.

Ingredients:

• bag of chocolate chunks
• 1-2 rolls of sugar cookie dough
• 2 bags of dried cherries
• 16 oz. bag of pistachios

Directions:

1. Shell the pistachios then chop them into bits.
2. Fold in the dried cherries and chocolate into the cookie dough.
3. Gradually add and fold in the nuts.
4. Pinch off approximately a tablespoon of dough from the globular mass and place it on a greased baking sheet.
5. Bake the cookies according to the package directions, but make sure to watch them.
6. When finished baking for about 10 minutes, let them cool on a cooling rack.
7. Eat to your hearts content.

Cows have been the subject for the past two days, and now the song from the Wizards Baker episode of Home Movies is stuck in my head. “moo moo moo i am a cow…“

Love the song, but that episode depresses/bugs me sometimes haha.

Thank you to James, Janet, and most of all Kevin, for leaving feedback/ helping with the final product.  Thanks to Saru and Jeff for also helping me decide which version to do, and the cows won by a landslide.

moo moo moo, i am a cow.

My hands still hurt from the detailed work (windows, thin/small lines, etc).  I swear I will get carple tunnel someday, and thinking about that makes me sad.

All of this is paper cut out, and I have to say again, my hands hurt. I am very happy with the results of my symmetry assignment though. My homage to Katamari hehe.

these are details:

I also moved my fabric and some not so expensive wigs to this container.  I have a lot of cloth I didn’t remember having… I’m sure there is more too..somewhere in this room.

Also, I got this random text message?… I am not Tammy… nor do I know a Jessica or a scooby… but the fact this person typed…horribly, made no sense, and the mentioning of aobituary, I blocked the number haha.

Maybe I should censor their number anyways, but…. I show no mercy for bad texting.

I was kind of sad and annoyed due to me working on this project early, but still having to finish it the night before, and also my ps2 memory card came, but it was sent to my cousins house (next door) and they didn’t even bring it over!

anywho, eventually Kevin and James helped me… moreso Kevin because there was visual help.  ^ above was his idea.  Both he and James said to put buildings.. and they were both ambiguous about adding text or not.

After tinkering with Kevin’s opinion and came out with these, which I’m not sure which to do:

text + city scape above…

or with cows too!

which should it be?

Ha. I started to cut the remainder of my paper early, and low and behold I have a dillema.

Atleast I have time to think… but this is probably going to add onto my working time with it.

I’m unsure what to do with the bottom.

Plus, I accidentally cut off one of the stars… my fault though for wanting things small and detailed.

^Originally I was going to put “nana’s”… along the bottom, but I thought that would be plain.

Then I thought I’d put “Everyone loves Katamari Damacy”. I’m not sure on the size of the text though.  The only difference is the bottom 塊魂 is slightly larger.

I’m just afraid it’ll be too plain. But then again, I want the contrast in white and black to be “even”.. so I don’t want to cut too much out.

I am debating if I want to put buildings (like so^) instead ?

Second opinions would be nice right about now.. but everyone is either sick or too busy. sigh.

[Reykjavík. April 2005.]

Links! To things that are awesome!

• Katamari Baby Costume: ZOMG.Babies. Katamari. Two great tastes that taste great together.
• Dollhouse mania! Newport dollhouse by the wonderful & talented Lis Bokt. AND! Modern mini dollhouse. Dollhouses are one of the many reasons I’m dying for kids of my own – because it looks odd when “grown ups” have dollhouses and I’ve got an awesome one in my parents’ attic. I’m just waiting for a kid to foist it on. Even if it’s a boy – he can drive his Hot Wheels through it and it’ll still be a kick ass dollhouse.
• In that vein… Frank Lloyd Wright Lego kit.
• Nothing to do with kids, or nannying, or art… but if you watch Mad Men, you really must see Jon Hamm’s John Ham. Holy cow, do I ever love this. And Jon Hamm. But not John Ham.
• Style Rookie: She’s certainly older than the crowd I hang out with, but Tavi is one hell of an awesome kid.  I wish I had been half that awesome at 13.

Picked up Katamari Forever. Bought it sight unseen. Not a single review read. Not a single screenshot viewed. Naaaaaaaaaaaada.

And, well, I probably should have done some measure of “research.” But not for the reasons you’d expect.

I was able to play the game for roughly 10 minutes. In that time, I was able to gawk at the retooled graphics. The regular levels look almost like an impressionistic painting. Or a crayon drawing. Either way, they’re pretty impressive. Yeah, the levels were rehashes of old levels, but the game works these “greatest hits” levels into the plot with much awesomeness.

Turns out that The King of All Cosmos gets an asteroid-induced case of amnesia while trying to train Prince in the magnanimous, magnificent art of jumping. King, in his glorious kindness, shows Prince the proper way to jump. In the process, King runs smack dab into a passing asteroid, and the resulting collision leaves King a shell of his former, royally regal self.

With the universe without its God-like fatherly figure, God’s son Prince and his Cousin disciples construct a replacement king:

ROBOKING!

But this mechanical messiah is a false god. An Anti-King. Immediately upon his creation, he goes berserk and wrecks havoc across the cosmos. In moments, all of the stars in the sky are destroyed. Again. And Prince must recreate the sky. Again.

You could say that Katamari Forever is the series’ equivalent to Revelations.

How this ties into the rehashed levels? Not only do you have to rebuild the cosmos, meaning you have to replay old levels to rebuild the old stars, you have to venture into King’s subconscious and roll up memories in order to restore his mind to its former glory. These flashback scenes play out in black and white, and as you roll up stuff the black and white slowly fades away to reveal color. It’s a pretty clever way of visually representing this stuff.

All of this sounds quite awesome, does it not? Yeah, it is. The game was great for those 10 minutes. Like I said, the graphics were wonderful. The music consisted of remixes of songs from previous games. What few remixes I heard worked fairly well, although I’m sure I prefer the originals. Still, absolutely nothing wrong with hearing some alternative takes on groovy tunes.

Then the game crashed.

At first the game just froze. So I rebooted and restarted. It happened again. Reboot. This time the game didn’t get past the intro sequence (a snazzy remix of the original theme). Reboot. Now the game won’t even start. That little disc thingie in the top corner just spins round and round like a deranged merry-go-round. Nothing.

To make matters worse, my PS3 won’t play any other games. Nor bluray discs. DVDs work, for whatever reasons, but nothing bluray-based works.

The only “logical” conclusion: When rolling up stuff, I rolled up my PS3 and CRUSHED its soul, killing all of its capacity to run bluray discs. Either that or there’s some mundane internal problem with my PS3. But I’m leaning towards the first theory.

A shame, because the game was shaping up to be pretty fun.

While some developers cater to fans, ignore fans, or port shovelware Keita Takahashi aims for the edge of the solar system. Though not quite a household name like Shigeru Miyamoto or Will Wright, Takahashi should be known for Katamari Damacy and its sequel, two trippy games so fresh and fun the world waited with bated breath to see what his next endeavor might be. Eventually word came that Takahashi would rather quit making games and design playgrounds.

Hm.

Then word came that Noby Noby Boy would be his next venture. And nobody knew what it was – even Takahashi had trouble describing it. Now, all mystery surrounding the game has been lifted since it’s been available for some time on the PS3’s Playstation Network. Even then, it’s not an easy game to describe or play…

You control Noby Noby Boy, a sausage-like entity who has to stretch his body to obscene lengths. To do this Boy must eat the flora and fauna littering the world. After Boy is satisfied devouring and stretching he must report the lengths he stretched to the Sun – a guy with a sunflower-shaped head peering down at you from on high – who then transfers the distance stretched to Noby Noby Girl, who stretches her heart-covered sausage-body all the way across the solar system.

Here’s the interesting part: the game is online, so everyone playing Noby Noby Boy has their distances added cumulatively in order for Girl to stretch to new worlds. In a roundabout way, Noby Noby Boy is a massively multiplayer online game. So far, only the Moon and Mars have been unlocked. It will probably be a long time before we reach Jupiter.

Like Monty Python meets Takashi Murakami, the game resembles a mixed-up cartoon – child-like yet threatening in an absurd sort of way. As the game loads, photo-realistic woodland critters hide in corners of the screen, chittering away as the data spools up. A fairy that looks like a bee offers you advice on how to play the game. The way to quit the game is to enter a house with a face and a straw-like nose that shoots out green fluorescent blobs. Everything is cute and the trees and clouds have eyes. Eating the things with eyes poses some interesting questions, as Boy can effectively wipe out the entire map of all life, resulting in a mini-apocalypse for the bears, squirrels and human-like characters otherwise minding their own business. Of course, you can restore everything to order by, um, evacuating Boy’s bowels, complete with cute “poot” sounds. Boy himself is a marvel of “cute” design, a pink bulbous mass of Kirby-like rubber in his default unstretched form, and taffy made of rainbows when he’s stretched hundreds of meters. Adorable little multi-colored hearts spring out from underneath him as he pitter-patters around the world, and he blinks his eyes one at a time like some soft-minded dope. All this happens while a simple guitar track plays quietly in the background, although updates to the game added some new tracks including a bizarre song with taunting lyrics that consist mainly of “Noby noby noby noby noby.”

The worst thing about Noby Noby Boy is controlling Boy. An in-game manual explains things but it doesn’t make matters any easier. Using both analog sticks to move his head and butt independently is easy enough but even simple moves like flying (yes, Boy flies to get around sometimes) and eating can be challenging – because they’re mapped to the same damn button. I don’t know how that makes sense, but then maybe that’s the point. The rest of the game makes little to no sense, so why should the controls?

Similarly, controlling the camera is a nightmare. There are at least six different button presses and combinations to move the field of view around, including the Playstation 3’s Sixaxis motion control, which is just insane because it never works. But again, that may be the point. The whole game is insane. Other than that I can’t think of any other  excuse for such an unfriendly interface. It makes the game a chore to play.

The best thing to do is to play with friends in the same room. It’s a blast as everyone tries to figure out the (lousy) controls, and it made me pay attention to the ridiculous things people say when playing video games:

“Stretch around the tree to eat the boar.”

“I’m gonna eat all these mummies.”

“I guess I need to stretch more so I don’t accidentally poop.”

“Can I eat my own butt?”

“Yeah, we went through the donuts before.”

“Look at that chicken! I’m gonna eat all these chickens.”

“All right, I ate a sumo. That’s all I wanted to do.”

“You only ate one sumo?”

“This is a sumo-eating worm’s dream.”

Comparisons to William S. Burroughs and Akira were also thrown about, so good times are guaranteed in the right company.

Despite hang-ups with the controls, Noby Noby Boy is a terrific experience. It is nowhere near as good as Katamari and there are no immediate goals, levels or points to achieve besides the ones you set for yourself – eat the sumo, or fly through the donut-shaped cloud. There are Trophies for stretching certain lengths and eating certain things, otherwise, that’s it. Stretch, go up to the Sun, have Girl eat up your length (er…) and hope everyone else in the world is stretching Boy so Girl can stretch to Jupiter and beyond the bounds.

Ya les habia platicado que era obvio que las compañias rivales harian proyectos similares a Nintendo . . . ahora sabemos que tendremos en el XBOX 360 a “Natal” y el el PS3 al “Motion Controller” . . . y todo para que . . . para parar al exito del Wii, solo que era obvio Nintendo iba a responder . . . hace unos dias se anuncio de manera oficial su reducción de precio, pero tambien se empezo a especular sobre su siguiente movimiento.

Los rumores dicen que Miyamoto San ya prepara secuelas de Super Mario y Zelda . . . pero mejor aun que se esta cocinando un update al Nintendo Wii (lo que algunos llamaron Wii2). A ciencia cierta no se sabe si es como tal un UPDATE o si se trata de justamente un nuevo y mejorado Nintendo Wii.

Si eres fiel seguidor de la evolucion de los videojuegos, deduciras al igual que yo, que una reducción de precio tiene un significado mas elevado. No solo se trata de ofrecer un producto mas barato y que incremente las ventas, sino se trata de liberar el stock de consolas para introducir ALGO MAS (esta pasando con los miles de PS3 80GB que preceden al PS3 Slim . . . y tambien esta pasando con los XBOX Arcade y Elite).

Que tan cierto es, obviamente son rumores y especulaciones, pero justamente en este Tokyo Game Show 2009 se dan los anuncios, cosas que a veces tiene verdades a medias.

Sin embargo mientras lees esto se anuncia que Katamari Damacy tendra opcion para jugarse en ”Natal” en el XBOX 360 y tambien se comenta que la desarrolladora RARE (propiedad de Microsoft) no presento ningun juego nuevo, debido a que esta trabajando a marchas forzadas para tener listos varios titulos para el Natal en su lanzamiento, alguien dijo Killer Instinct 3 . . . en el PS3 Resident Evil 5 usara el Motion Controller (que por cierto se maneja como un juego nuevo, y no se como lo veas pero es como si tu RE Darkside Chronicles hubiera invadido al RE5) y tambien habra un update en Little Big Planet para que use el Motion Controller.

Justo quiero comentar que CAPCOM tambien anuncio que con gusto (AJA quieren $$$) hará ports de sus juegos del Nintendo Wii para el PS3 Controller . . . o sea . . . alguien dijo Resident Evil o Monster Hunter . . . en pocas palabras, que les pareceria ver los juegos del Nintendo Wii en tu PS3 con graficos mejorados.

En fin, la realidad la sabremos dentro de poco . . . solo puedo decir que te prepares porque de que habra calidad, la habra . . . de que habra dinero para comprar todo, eso si lo veo muy dificil.

Saludos

Yasu

Hoy ha venido rodando hasta mi cuarto esta unidad de Katamari Forever recién llegada desde Amazon (27€ envío incluido). Las brevísimas primeras impresiones fueron muy positivas, y como fan de la saga que soy pues ha caído. Si saco tiempo lo mismo me curro un pequeño articulillo, pero no prometo nada.

My looord! I’ve been trying demos or fiddling with web games for probably six weeks straight. Next week, I’ll likely be able to get back to being thoughtful about games. Probably I’ll try to determine whether my demo-playing experiences can be culled for any insight as to what makes a given demo great. Below, you’ll find my thoughts on the final five demos I had yet to play.

Numero uno being Worms. It certainly lays on the charm. Those little guys are pretty darn cute, and their voicework is just HOPElessly adorable. Problem is, I don’t have the patience for them — the game’s relatively slow-moving. But I downloaded this one to get the whole experience more than anything else, so…mission accomplished.

“NaNaaa, na na na na na No-Na na na na NOna naaa.” God but I’ve missed Katamari Damacy. Still, Katamari Forever would have to be hiding a lot of tricks up its sleeve to get me thinking about purchasing something new right now. Then again, this cel-shaded art style looks bangin’. Was there a “Prince Bounce” in the last game? Doesn’t seem to be adding much if no. But wherever it is I’ve been rolling definitely made wayyy more sense as an actual PLACE than practically everything I remember in Damacy, which is a welcome change. Also, the water mechanic (wherein your katamari acts as a sponge) is promising. Maybe there’s more here than met my eye initially…

On to some TMNT. I’d forgotten how Krang lives in Andre the Giant’s weightlifting belt. Anyway. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time Re-Shelled looks great, but the characters feel like balloon animals. Which probably wouldn’t be so bad if it were just the grunts. But my avatar — something about him suggests he could just up and blow away. Maybe it’s a Rafael problem? Nope; same feeling with Donatello. Definitely preferred my memories of this one.

Never considered myself a big boxing fan, but I have seen When We Were Kings probably like five times now. Haven’t played a single Fight Night title, though. The demo for Fight Night Round 4 has one fantastic introduction — there’s a voice-overed feature breakdown that I really appreciate. Also, game demos with required tutorials have a leg up in my book. I’m really diggin’ these controls; they remind me of Skate’s sim-y feel, but require less precision…the perfect combination, in my opinion. Alright. Time to dig in. And win the crap out of my first fight! Has this one dropped in price yet? If so, I’d definitely consider buying.

They probably didn’t need to mess with Ghostbusters, but what the hey, right? The Columbia Pictures trappings during start-up kind of freak me out a little bit. That copyright-infringing music really jazzes me up, anyway — I just can’t help it. My PKE Meter is pretty satisfying to use, but that green the screen gets bathed is isn’t a treat to look at. Hrm. Anyway. Not much to say about this one, folks. Glad there was a demo; I definitely had some fun with it. But this particular license being adapted as a video game just doesn’t appeal to me for some reason. It’s too loyal to the material, maybe? I wish Starbreeze had done it.

Whew. Finally through the stack that had piled up while I was occupied with house stuff. Still have plenty of painting to do, but not so much that it’d prohibit my downloading the new Fallout 3 DLC next week…

(Exclusively for XBox 360)
By – ‘Tiger’ Oliver

Pros
First Katamari game for XBox 360
First game in series to support High-Definition graphics
C’mon, it’s Katamari Damacy, what’s not to love?!
Cheap price

Cons
DLC only adds level support – at 200 Microsoft Points a pop
Controls are a tad confusing for first-time players
Although challenging to master, single player game in entirely too short
A little too hard to find

When Katamari Damacy first came out on the Playstation 2, hardly anyone outside of the gamer-sphere (that I know of) even heard of it. Heck, I never even heard of it for two years after its release. Despite that, critics praised it as one of the best games of 2004 and one of the most unusual cult-classics of all time.

Now on its fourth game, the Katamari series debuted on the XBox 360 with Beautiful Katamari in 2007.

The storyline (in a nutshell, er, katamari ball?) goes something as such: the King of All Cosmos, his son (the Prince) and the Queen are on vacation playing tennis. The King ends up hitting it into the sky, tearing a hole in the fabric of the universe and sucking up all of the solar system, save Earth. So, the Prince is charged with recreating the solar system the only way he can: by rolling up things with his Katamari ball!

But, is this game really all hype, or does it deliver?

NOTE: I did not test the multiplayer modes, so I will not review them as of yet. Check back within the next few months for a detailed update including multiplayer!

Gameplay – 4/5

If you have never played Katamari before, you’re in for a pleasant surprise. In essence, the only thing you do is roll smaller things up with your katamari. The larger your katamari becomes, the bigger things you can roll up. You start off picking up coins and tacks in the earlier levels, and end up at the end of the game rolling up entire continents and even the stars and planets you created! The whole concept is odd and strange, which is what makes this game so addicting; which is surprising, considering most family-friendly games outside of Super Mario, Kirby and Sonic (sans Shadow the Hedgehog) suck more than contestants in a milkshake-drinking contest.

Ultimately, nothing’s changed in terms of the basic gameplay design. Now, in one level, you roll up hot things to get your katamari above 10,000 degrees Celsius, while in another you’re charged with rolling up certain things for the King, but it’s usually more about getting to a certain size in time. Upon completion of a level, you can play a time attack mode and, upon a perfect scored level, you can play it in “eternal” mode, where you roll up as much as you want with no time limit.

During each level, you can roll up presents containing special costume accessories and other characters, or cousins of the Prince. Veterans of Katamari should recognize a great number of these cousins, as I do not think there are any new additions to the family.

Honestly, I wish this game was a whole lot longer, considering I could beat this game in one night. Also, I wish you didn’t have to get a perfect score to achieve the “eternal” mode for each individual level.

That aside, the gameplay still has it years later. The feel of the game is extremely happy-clappy. This is pretty much the game you should play when you’re depressed, you’ll cheer up almost instantly.

Graphics – 5/5

If you’re looking for Halo-quality graphics, play Halo. If you’re looking for an acid trip without the acid, pick up Beautiful Katamari.

The worlds are brightly colored with the rollable items (is rollable even a word?) being rather blocky in nature, kind of like Grand Theft Auto III on a massive scale. However, with the concept of the game, I can forgive the blocky items. In fact, if you put a young child in front of your television while playing this game, it’s pretty much like “Dora the Explorer” on steroids.

Besides that, Katamari was always beautiful in its own right, but when playing in 720p HD, it’s practically a visual orgasm. It does slow down at times (especially when there’s a whole lot going on on the screen), but that can be excused due to the intense colors. Definitely one of the most aesthetically-pleasing games I’ve played in awhile.

Sound – 4/5

If you’re not a fan of J-Pop, you’re pretty much out of luck with this game. That’s all that plays in this game (for the most part, save a techno song and a classical piece, both based on Katamari), so either mute it or get used to it.

That aside, the sounds are crisp, clear, and a trip in themselves, especially at the end of receiving your level scores and completing the level. A perfect partner with the trippy graphics.

Controls – 3/5

The controls are simple, you use both analog sticks to control the katamari. By alternating each stick back and forth, you can cause it to build up speed and release, zipping across the stage. By licking down on both sticks, you do an about-face. That’s it.

Besides the simplicity, the controls are horribly confusing for all but the seasoned vet. It takes a bout three hours to get used to, then they tend to be confusing even into the second half of the game. Save the mind-numbingly simple controls, it works for this game. Maybe not enough for a four, but enough that it doesn’t suck.

Replay Value – 3/5

Despite its short gameplay length (it can be beat in 10-15 hours no problem), the replay value is decently high. You can go back and unlock all the cousins and presents, try to get a better score, or try to do better at your favorite levels. However, it doesn’t save the fact that, after awhile, you have to put this game away for a week or so to keep it fresh. Even with the DLC, there ain’t much more besides rolling. Of course, for the price, you really can’t beat it.

Overall Score – 4/5

It’s a very great game for such a cheap price, even for being over two years old. Maybe not as good as the bigger-name games such as Halo, F.E.A.R., Batman: Arkham Asylum, or Soul Calibur IV, but it’s different than ANY other game you’ve ever played (unless those other games are Katamari Damacy, We Love Katamari or any of the portable Katamari games). The novelty, in and of itself, makes up for the graphical and control issues; however, it doesn’t come close to saving it from the lack of gameplay length.

Buy – Why not?

Seriously, why not? I bought my copy back in January from Wal-Mart for a little more than $25. If you can find it in stores, it should be around that price, if not less. So, if you can find it, get it.

Rent – If you can find it

I’d 100% endorse this for a rent… if you could find it anywhere. I’ve checked Hastings and Blockbuster here in town, and no place has the game available for rent. So, unless you have it at your local video store or you have a Gamefly account, renting it’s out of the question. Besides, for such a cheap price, go ahead and buy it right-out.

Again, if you can find it.

Were you hoping for more Seattle? I hope so! If not, IGNORE ME.

(I can’t time stamp that video and it’s kind of long- the link is better to watch.)

So, we went to PAX and guess what? Got the pax plague. Yay, thanks West Coast, it was nice meeting you too. Well at least I also got to meet the prince.

Before the convention though I had John come up with something to do on Thursday since we didn’t have anything planned. Here he is in our cool room using their awesome wireless that worked on the first go, which was a nice change.

His plan? Drive around the Olympic Peninsula and check out different yarn shops. Which led to this interaction:

John: Forks? That’s a funny name for a town.

3 hours later.

Me: Wait, did you say Forks? I thought that was the made up town in Twilight.

John: Yeah right, that ho has never had an original idea in her life, of course it’s a real place.

Me: No way, there’s no way that exists.

Which led to:

Well now I know and that’s worth… something I guess.

Anyways, back to Pax. John got to check out Global Agenda, which he freaking loved, so I was glad for that. He talked to one of the artists for a good long time and we went back several times during the weekend.

My favorite game was definitely Scribblenauts. Although I was sad when my unicorn got humped to death by my minotaur.

But yeah, besides trying to kill us (which it still might succeed) Seattle was okay. Now here are my WTF moments towards it:

1) The crows. There were crows everywhere. I wasn’t expecting that. It was kind of creepy, like we were in some sort of gothic novel.

2) The traffic was bonkers. Sure you think you’re being nice when we all get to an intersection that’s an ‘all way’ stop and you wave me forward. Everyone wanted to do that “you go” “no you go” “no YOU go” bullshit. You’re not being nice, you’re pissing me off- how about we observe the traffic law and whoever has the right of way goes, fair enough? Heh, I think traffic school instructor Julie is rubbing off on me. Plus there were a lot of five-way stops and I’m used to the typical four way stop. There was a lot of John yelling “turn left- no the other farther left- crap!”

3) The food. It was expensive. Like we always paid at least $10 more and we got a lot less. Which I get it, that’s why the Midwest is fat. Still, if I’m paying more and getting less I’m feeling a little burned.

4) Another traffic WTF: on side streets cars could park whatever direction they felt like. So a lot of times I freaked out thinking I was on a one way street but people just all parked their cars the same direction. Or they’d be all haphazard one way, the other, however they felt.

Now you know how I really feel. (Besides crappy that is. *coughdie*)

(Taken outside the EMP/SFM, which was pretty sweet. We got free comic books and I got to explore Arrakis.)

Up next: Portland!

Evento trouxe um novo conceito sobre tecnologia e games

As relações existentes na sociedade não mais se limitam às interações dialógicas humanas. Com o desenvolvimento da tecnologia, homem e máquina – dois sistemas diferentes – também começaram a se relacionar através das mais diversas maneiras. E com o objetivo de explorar mais esse novo tipo de diálogo, a GamePlay foi organizada entre 2 de julho e 30 de agosto deste ano, no Itaú Cultural. As experiências variavam entre os jogos de videogame e as instalações do que hoje é conhecido como arte digital.

De um lado, por meio de entre outros games como Mario Kart Wii, Katamari Damacy, Electroplankton, Halo 3, cujas plataformas variavam desde o portátil Nintendo DS até o potente XboX360, aquele que se pusesse a jogar, estabeleceria com as máquinas um diálogo fortemente ligado ao lúdico e ao prazeroso. Relação esta que, em primeira leitura, pareceria banal, mas que é capaz de nos prender por horas e horas em busca da simples satisfação de cumprir os objetivos a que somos desafiados.

De outro, através de um novo conceito de arte – tecnológico – os visitantes poderiam interferir em tempo real no funcionamento das obras expostas, como por exemplo em Diorama Table, onde o virtual reagia à ação humana, representada por objetos cotidianos – como cadarços, copos, talheres – posicionados arbitrariamente pela mesa.

O real configura o virtual e o virtual interfere no real. A exposição deste ano acabou, mas, para aqueles que não tiveram a oportunidade de conferir, quem sabe no ano que vem tenha mais.

La gran franquicia inspirada por la creativa mente del japonés Keita Katahashi y distribuida por Namco Bandai, está de regreso, con Katamari Forever o mejor conocida en Japón bajo el nombre de Katamary Damaci Tribute. Katamari Forever estará a la venta en América el 22 de septiembre de este año en curso.

El nudo argumentativo hace referencia al Rey del Cosmos, él ha perdido la memoria por un incidente, lo que ocasionó un desorden entre las estrellas y el universo, la responsabilidad nuevamente queda cargada hacia The Prince, quién con la ayuda de la Katamari tendrá que poner orden a todo el cosmos.

La pregunta es: ¿Qué podemos encontrar de diferente en este nuevo producto a diferencia de sus predecesores?

Hay que recordar que su antecesor, Beautiful Katamari,  que compartió créditos con Xbox, (ya que comúnmente la franquicia se ha inclinado a las plataformas de Sony), entre las mejoras que presentó fue la calidad de gráficos y el modo cooperativo en línea, desafortunadamente el argumento no fue del todo original, ya que se siguió la misma línea argumentativa y gameplay que comúnmente persiguen los títulos anteriores.

El siguiente video muestra el gameplay de Katamari Forever.

Fuente: Shacknews

Track Listing

1. Katamari on the Funk (Senor Coconut’s “Katamambo!” remix)
2. A Crimson Rose and a Gin Tonic (YMCK 8bit Mix)
3. Everlasting Love + You
4. The Royal Academy of Katamari (Kimitaka Matsumae Remix)
5. Everlasting Love (atom™ remix)
6. Sayonara Rolling Star (Yuri’s Mixx)
7. Katamari Spirit
8. Katamari Dancing All Night
9. The Moon and the Prince (and LEOPALDON MIX)
10. Mushroom Parade
11. Do Re Mi Katamari Do (-rh rehabilitation re-arrange-)
12. Katamari on the Swing (SEXY-SYNTHESIZER ALL ABOUT namco Mix)
13. Robotic Vision
14. Cosmic Message
15. Be Gorgeous
16. Nana-nan Damacy (Hardfloor Remix)
17. Nana-nan Damacy (Hardfloor Alternative-Remix)
18. Last Chaotic Ambience

1. Katamari on the Funk (Senor Coconut’s “Katamambo!” remix)

Now onto the energetic side of the OST, we start off with a latin track.  Mixing the horns and funkyness from the original and then give a mambo spin was a nice touch.  I love the brass here as it’s loud and in your face.  I mean there’s even another sax solo of all things and it’s great.  Even though there’s no sight of lyrical sense till the halfway point, it’s rather shortlived but exciting. 

2. A Crimson Rose and a Gin Tonic (YMCK 8bit Mix)

Whenever YMCK is involved in remixing a song, they really get giddy with the music like they did with Ayu’s “Days”.  They took the original lounge style and mixed in their 8bit style and it oddly works in this case especially with Midori singing in place.  Of all the songs though, I didn’t expect YMCK choosing this song and I’m glad they did because it’s just as catchy as their other works for sure.  Sweet rearrangement.

3. Everlasting Love + You

It’s quite cool that this song is a mashup between “You are Smart” & “Everlasting Love”.  It’s an odd combination, but then you get to who’s singing this cover and it’s Leah Dizon…I’m also noticing that the song is also in English which the original didn’t have at all.  Even though she doesn’t have the energy Saki Kabata (the original singer) had, it’s not all that bad.  It’s just lacking the punch the original had. 

4. The Royal Academy of Katamari (Kimitaka Mashimae Remix)

I remember this track being so new and different in the original game.  I love how this instrumental tune was given many synth upgrades, but while it did it lost the orchestral feel which might not be a big loss to listeners.  I have to say though, it would’ve been better if there was lyrics to go with the song.

5. Everlasting Love (atom™ remix)

We get another one?  I can’t complain since Everlasting Love is my favorite Katamari tune out there.  The remix though kind of messes with the original tune just a tad too much for my liking.  Once Saki passes through the verses the bridge sounds ethereal and odd as well, it’s a odd way to do the song, but I’m more used to the original, but I like the effort on the remix.

6. Sayonara Rolling Star (Yuri’s Mixx)

I do remember that Sayonara Rolling Star was an answer track to “Lonely Rolling Star”.  I haven’t heard the original yet to really make an assumption, but this track is quite nice.  The disco sound this track has is quite nice and I love the piano melody that’s going on as well.  Ok, it’s a pretty solid track.

7. Katamari Spirit

Returning to the more 8bit style, Katamari Spirit does have this edgy feel to it even though it’s an instrumental tune.  It’s pretty catchy nonetheless, but I feel like lyrics would’ve been a nicer addition as well.

8. Katamari Dancing All Night

Finally we get to something that interests me right from the start, Katamari Dancing All Night has this 80’s New Wave feel to it and with the heavy use of vocoder and synths all over the song definitely fits this side of the OST completely.  Right now, this song is one of my favorites because it is so different and catchy.

9. The Moon and the Prince (and LEOPALDON MIX)

The Moon and the Prince gets reworked and in the way it’s given a pretty hard dance beat that sounds really good.  The original was pretty boring because of the guy speaking the lyrics rather than singing about it.  Same problem occurs here, but the guy who’s doing this is a lot more interesting and sounds more like rapping which fits moreso than the original’s way. 

10. Mushroom Parade

Our next instrumental track, Mushroom Parade sounds like royalty with it’s harpischord filled melody and the way the synth was working it’s way around the song.  I’m not too fond otherwise of the tune since it is rather short. 

11. Do Re Mi Katamari Do (-rh rehabilitation re-arrange-)

Appearing originall on the 3rd OST, Do Re Mi Katamari Do was originally a slow, ethereal tune, but the rearranged version this time around is a little more interesting since it begins with a cutesy sound that carried throughout.  It isn’t as ethereal as the original, but it’s bouncy and quite cute and changes it’s forms quite a bit.  Nice tune though.

12. Katamari on the Swing (SEXY-SYNTHESIZER ALL ABOUT namco Mix)

Instead of the powerful brass opening of the original, we get a burst of 8bit sounds acting as the loud opening.  Actually, besides the BKGD vocals from the original returning, the song is actually covered by so much 8bit sounds and some coming from “Galaga” and ”Pac-Man” and those older namco games, this song is nostalgia central and I love it and then mixing it with one of the funnest songs of the series, Katamari on the Swing is great!

13. Robotic Vision

Continuing on with the 8bit sounds, Robotic Vision comes in and is pretty short as well…Sadly the problem is that this little tune drags it self along on this slow-tempoed ride.  Could be the worst instrumental of the OST completely.

14. Cosmic Message

Even right from the start, Cosmic Message sounded completely better.  It does have a stronger electro sound and while it does play the “Katamari on the Swing” melody a few times, it got the job done, but c’mon this was a serious tease because as a full song this would’ve been epic.

15. Be Gorgeous

A bit longer than the previous two, Be Gorgeous comes up next and has lyrics somewhat, though they are just stock vocals.  The arrangement is almost like the last one where it has an electro sound to it, but it’s a little lighter.  Though majority of the song is instrumental, there’s nothing too much that can be said.

16. Nana-nan Damacy (Hardfloor Remix)

Of course they would remix the melody that pretty much the series is fond of.  It’s 9 minutes of the ~na-na’s~ which could be damn repetitive for a remix like this and that’s how it doesn’t work for me.  I do like the dance beat, but there’s just not enough depth to the song to make it worthwhile.

17. Nana-nan Damacy (Hardfloor Alternative-Remix)

Being at 8 minute, the alternate remix is more or less like it’s counterpart beforehand.  Give or take a few small differences in the song, but it’s relatively the same track just given minor changers.  It’s still just as repetitive and boring.

18. Last Chaotic Ambience

Ending off the 2nd disc, Chaotic Ambience was originally off the 3rd OST and while that track didn’t have much going on, the new version doesn’t exactly make it stand out more or less.  It does have a freaky dark glow to it and the warbling of the sounds were interesting, but this isn’t exactly musical. 

Tracks Recommended

• Katamari on the Swing (SEXY-SYNTHESIZER ALL ABOUT namco Mix)
• Katamari Dancing All Night
• A Crimson Rose and a Gin Tonic (YMCK 8bit Mix)
• Everlasting Love + You
• Do Re Mi Katamari Do (-rh rehabilitation re-arrange-)

The second disc did start out very strongly with some nice rearrangements of previous tracks, but as the disc moved on the songs kind of became a little boring when compared to the originals…maybe I’m liking the first disc a lot more than this then….It was more energetic, but there’s been ALOT better energetic tracks before this.

The OST itself was a nice “Tribute” to the series as it is for the game that brought back stages and other things from before.  It would’ve been nice if they added new tracks and did a little more from “Katamari Suteki Damacy”.  Still nice OST, could’ve done more but it’s nice.

Track Listing

1. Katamari on the Rhodes
2. Katamari on the Wings
3. Katamaresort Song
4. Bluffing Spirit (Refreshed by GUIRO)
5. Katamari on the Rocks (5cm Prince Remix)
6. MONOCHROME
7. Galactic S-O-U-L
8. Campus DAYDREAMER
9. Scorching Savannah
10. Houston (Re-arranged by KIRINJI)
11. Cherry Blossom Color Season (fanfare mix)
12. Lonely Rolling No More
13. You are Smart (RAAGINIA SOFT MIX)
14. Cosmos
15. SHADOW AND LIGHT
16. Green Village
17. Fuga #9998
18. Fuga #9999

1. Katamari on the Rhodes

I’ll say that beginning the first CD of the OST, Katamari on the Rhodes does introduce us into the soundtrack pretty well.  Though I can’t help but think the song is something I heard on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, especially with how the arrangement is put out here.  It’s a nice opening at least right?

2. Katamari on the Wings

Another Katamari on the ____?  Anyways they brought the lead singer from Sukima Switch to get things going here and the song itself is a cover of “Katamari on the Swing” (nice play Namco).  Anyways the song feels a bit more like 80’s with the use of brass and bass.  It’s funny that the song did lose its excitement along the way, but if this was released as a single from Sukima Switch I’d listen to it since this song is quite nice and c’mon there’s a sax solo here, you can’t go wrong there.

3. Katamaresort Song

I’m pretty sure this is a rearrangement of Katamaresort from the PSP Katamari.  I’m noticing so far that the songs have a rather calm and peaceful sound to it.  Saigenji is the lead vocalist here and his voice oddly reminds me of Yuusama’s, being all deep and stuff.  It’s an interesting mix of lounge, pop, and somewhat house but albeit really really light.  I do though enjoy this song though.

4. Bluffing Spirit (Refreshed by GUIRO)

I do remember this track from the last OST I reviewed and Bluffing Spirit wasn’t at the top because of the odd vocalist.  This time GUIRO did his magic on the song and even though it lost the flute parts, it’s replaced by keyboard and xylophone which is great.  I like this guy’s voice a bit more than the originals and the acoustic sound is quite cool actually.

5. Katamari on the Rocks (8cm Prince Remix)

~Now here’s my plan~ Oh, this song is the oddest track I’ve come across so far on this OST.  Now the original was wild, but this one took a bit longer to get things happening (of course it’s a remix).  The guy is rapping himself along when lyrics finally show up, but it’s odd sounding and then ~Nananan Katamari~ phrase comes in, but it’s not all that well…nahhhh.

6. MONOCHROME

A rather short track, MONOCHROME is oddly cute and plays off the “Katamari on the Rocks” melody a little bit and this clicky sound is happening in the background like a movie is playing.  Like I said, 40 seconds of this track, so it’s nothing too much to gather upon, but it’s a nice interlude.

7. Galactic S-O-U-L

I’m actually not sure which song this is based off of…unless it’s something from “Katamari Suteki Damacy” because I haven’t heard that OST much yet.  Galactic S-O-U-L has a louder overall sound than the previous before it and it’s got it’s fair share of synths and odd vocals (which is the first female vocal track).  Then again seeing Buffalo Daughter again interested me with this track (They collaborated with Ami Suzuki for “O.K. Funky God”).  I can totally hear the similarities between the songs.

8. Campus DAYDREAMER

Campus DAYDREAMER comes up next and has a pretty interesting marching style and continues to show the series use of odd styles and this would be one of those times that makes me go WTF.  I love the overuse of brass and then it’s lead to this synth melody that’s like….Mario Kart?!?  I don’t know but this instrumental is funny.

9. Scorching Savannah

I guess that instrumental does lead itself quite nicely into Scorching Savannah which is based off of the “Sunbaked Savannah” though it sounds more like another “Katamari on the Rocks” cover, the sad thing is that the original was more intuitive because various animal noises are absent here.  Oh, the song is actually played by the Horikoshi High School Band and gives the first disc a more vivid look at how different these songs are.

10. Houston (Re-Arranged by KIRINJI)

Yep, KIRINJI has rearranged the awesome water-logged song from the 2nd game and though it lost that water effect and the use of crazy synth, Houston isn’t the same.  (KIRINJI also worked with Ami on “Soremo Kitto Shiawase”).  It does have that style from them which is relaxed acoustic pop.  No vocoder though did hurt the song though because the lead doesn’t do a great job singing it…

11. Cherry Blossom Color Season (fanfare mix)

Oh no, I remember this track very well and the kids in the song destroyed my liking towards it.  Now since this is a remix, CBCS did get the acoustic touch with some brass (hence the fanfare).  I do love the fact that it isn’t fully flooded with tone-deaf kids, but the singer is like a hop step better.  They should’ve gotten someone else to have done it or something.

12. Lonely Rolling No More

Hey, Yuusama redid Lonely Rolling Star?  Natsukohan is the female singer and Yuusama is the guy and they sang the song together which is good.  The only thing that scared me is that the song’s arrangement is now more chill and laidback and lost it’s uppity-cute poppyness.  I don’t know why but this kind of flew over my head, I mean seriously a song with Yuusama not being well????? oh no.

13. You are Smart (RAAGINIA SOFT MIX)

Dang!  An almost 10 minute mix of You are Smart.  I mean take an already monotonous tune from the original game and stretch that long and you basically get that.  Yeah the music is different, containing sax and all that, there’s nothing really much to say.  OHHH, there’s no vocals here as well…What a meh track.

14. Cosmos

I want to say it’s a reworking of “Big Cosmos Salon” from the last game, but I can’t be totally sure about that.  Anyways, it’s the closest thing on here that sounds like something holiday-like.  Then again, hearing jingle bells and a lot of ~la’s~ doesn’t help much either.  Besides that, it’s short so that’s good.

15. SHADOW AND LIGHT

Another track I don’t know the melody is based off of, but SHADOW AND LIGHT is oddly enough a ballad.  It’s kind of weird to see an actual ballad here and now.  Shigeru Matsuzagi provides vocals here and while he sounds like an older guy, he can actually sing pretty well and holds notes a pretty long time.  It’s rather a simple little track amongst the others and stands out quite nicely.

16. Green Village

Green Village is also a nice surprise since it does sound like BGM music, I mean not the vocal tracks, but I mean like otherwise.  It’s got your fair share of 8-bit sounds and yet it sounds rather refreshing like another “Tron the Grasslands”.  I wonder if this is the game’s Collection tune.  I actually think it’s good music.

17. Fuga #9998

Based on the other fugues of the series, the first one is rather interesting.  Instead of the odd lyrics, this has a more interesting baroque sound and with the pipe organ backing it up and making it sound happier, I kind of enjoyed it and just flows smoothly.

18. Fuga #9999

This fugue though has lyrics, but it’s so computerized that it’s hard to figure what the voice is exactly saying.  I’m also noticing that it sounds rather acappella moreso than the last track.  I’m pretty sure it isn’t though because there’s a little bit of a melody going on, but it’s rather sparse…odd way to end off the first disc.

Tracks Recommended

• Bluffing Spirit (Refreshed by GUIRO)
• SHADOW AND LIGHT
• Katamari on the Wings
• Green Village
• Campus DAYDREAMER

The first disc is the more laidback and regular sounding tracks and I can tell that what they planned for this disc was oddly nice and yet a little tame.  Still, it’s pretty enjoyable since some tracks did get worked on and I liked it while others shouldn’t have been touched.

Y yo decía ser fanático de Katamari Damacy…

La bomba que soltó Microsoft en el E3 va tomando cada vez más fuerza y por lo visto les gusta mucho a las desarrolladoras.

En este caso tenemos un escueto video de 14 segundos donde se muestra el control de Katamari Damacy con Project Natal.

Será capaz Sony con su “Sony Motion controller” plantar cara a Microsoft? Mucha gente piensa que Natal no tendrá éxito por el simple hecho de que no sostienes ningún mando, pero hay que tener en cuenta que Natal permite la interacción con un mando real, por lo tanto las posibilidades se multiplican.
Sony juega en la misma liga que Nintendo con su “Wii Motion Plus” pero Natal está a otro nivel. Al menos de momento.

Todo esto lo acabará decidiendo tanto el público como las desarrolladoras. Y por lo visto va por muy buen camino.

No me enrollo más y os dejo con el video.