Everybody is linking to this right now, so I figured I may as well weigh in too.
Keita Takahashi, he of the world-famous Katamari series, had some off-the-cuff remarks about the new Nintendo remote-olution controller. First, he says he's "not interested in it," and then:
"I see what [Nintendo is] trying to do, but they're putting such emphasis on the controller; 'Woah, this controller lets you do this!' and I'm thinking - are you messing with us?"
Takahashi is already taking a lot of flak about this comment... but I say that's exactly what we all thought when we first saw the magic white wand. In fact, most of us that aren't game designers with dev kits are probably still thinking it right now.
I love that quote because it is bold-faced honest. Every other major game house in the world is declaring support, promising launch titles, and adding their nouns into Nintendo-forged press releases. This guy just doesn't get it. Has he seen it in action? Maybe, maybe not. But he still doesn't dig on it.
We've already seen the asswipes at Microsoft and the molerats at Sony take potshots at Nintendo's Revolution. That is to be expected. But when Mr. Katamari serves up a Meh, that's genuine.
Still, it's not like Takahashi is a gaming god by any means. He has exactly one title under his name, which is nowhere near enough to be considered a major player or a wise sage in the industry. He's mouthy. He gives great soundbites. He bites the hand that feeds him. Who doesn't like that? He has one great game and a willingness to toss live grenades into an interview (like when he said he'd rather design playgrounds than video games), and that's what makes him fun to watch.
And besides, Katamari is such a great game - such a disruptive force in the usual gaming business - that anything even distantly attached to it will get press coverage. You can bake Katamari muffins and they will get mob-blogged somewhere, believe it.
By the way, there was widespread internet panic when Namco of Japan pulled the entire original Katamari Damacy website. Well, much of the wacky content thought lost forever can be found at the US site, including most of the wallpapers and that great 8-bit flash game. I'm surprised more game rags didn't pick up on this.
