Namco Bandai's Keita Takahashi is the creative genius behind Katamari Damacy and enfant adorable of the games world. Outspoken, iconoclastic and endearingly humble he's always ready to take on the industry, and usually with counter-intuitive views.
In his keynote speech at the recent GameCity festival in Nottingham the barefoot developer discussed world pollution, environmental responsibilities and why games are a luxury. "If you're suffering from poverty and disease could you worry about collecting coins? I don't think so," he said.
CVG bagged an exclusive interview with the designer to find out more about his latest title, Noby Noby Boy, what irritates him about the industry and why he may be moving on from Namco-Bandai in 2009.
Katamari Damacy is a real joy of a game that feels a lot more optimistically about us than some of us might realize.
NAnan nanana nanaaaaa Katamari Damachiiiii
Man, I love this game! still have my PS2 version :)
Lets roll up into an all time PS2 classic with our Retro Review of Katamari Damacy!
TheGamer Writes "Bright colours, upbeat music, quirky gods, and collectables. Katamari Damacy is a cutesy fun time, right? Wrong. It’s all about causing a planet-wide avalanche that devours everything in sight, picking up people and buildings and throwing them to the side like a sentient tornado whose one goal is to horde humanity’s belongings until there’s nothing left."
Why not just leave N/B and find a way to start up yourself an independent studio?
anyways.
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Everyone is saying how imaginative the Nintendo Wii is. Do you agree?
Takahashi: No [laughs]. I do understand the concept and the fun aspect but I do feel that there's still more to explore with a traditional control method.
^^
You don't always need a remote/joystick to make creative games. there were creative games using regular old controllers :)