Uh, this game is WEIRD. I knew the premise of the game but this is beyond bizarre, even by Japanese standards.

I don't know what Katamari means in Japanese, but after playing this game, I believe the loose translation to be "what the ****?"

The entire premise is odd but the cutscenes (if you can call them that) with the king push the game over the edge. It's still pretty fun though. I just wish the controls didn't suck quite so much ass. A little leeway with camera control and angle could go a long way helping the player actually pick up stuff instead of staring at a wall for 30 seconds.

Katamari doesn't have a direct translation in English. I think what's-his-face made it up, mish-mashing the kanji for a funny new word. I read that somewhere.

The PS2 ones were the bomb, but I never played the PSP one, and I played the 360 demo and the controls totally suck now. I don't get what went wrong. Either way, the Wii better get a version, 'cuz I need it bad.

Katamari is a great game. Had a blast on the PS2. Wish they would come out on the wii cuz the controls will be interesting. :)

In Japanese, Katamari (塊, Katamari?) means "clump" or "clod" and Damashii is the rendaku form of tamashii (魂, tamashii?) which means "soul" or "spirit". Therefore, the phrase approximates to "clump spirit" (in the same sense as "team spirit" or "school spirit", meaning "enthusiasm"; cf. the use of "damashii" in Yamato-damashii). The two kanji that form the name look nearly identical (sharing the same right-side radical) in a kind of visual alliteration. The name is officially transliterated as Katamari Damacy in most releases. In an interview with Dengeki Online, producer Keita Takahashi said when asked about the title, "It just popped into my head suddenly, and this is what it has been from the beginning."

Didn't know what Katamari meant, so I looked it up.

I did however remember hearing the word KAMATARI somewhere, so I looked it up too.

Kamatari

Kamatari (カマタリ, Kamatari?) is a small, seemingly one eyed, weasel holding a sickle with which it can cause a lot of destruction in a short amount of time. Its sickle is almost as large as itself. This mysterious weasel has only been seen twice for a few seconds after its summoning, once in the Sasuke Retrieval Arc, and once in the final filler arc. After it starts moving, it can't be seen by the unaided human eye. It is summoned using Temari's fan as a medium through Summoning: Quick Beheading Dance (口寄せ・斬り斬り舞, Kuchiyose: Kirikiri Mai?), after which it slices down all in its path with enough force to decimate an entire forest.

This weasel is a Kamaitachi (鎌鼬, "Sickle weasel"). This is the same name as Temari's Cutting Whirlwind Technique. It comes from the phenomenon wherein people claim to have been knocked down by a great gust of wind only to find they have been cut. Some say they have seen weasels wielding sickles that attack in groups knocking a person down and cutting them, even occasionally healing a wound so that they can attack again.

 EDIT----Temari is from Naruto, for anyone who doesn't know.

The only thing interesting about this game is how well the 360 audience will take to it. I loved the first game on the PS2, and the second game was great too, but I think theres only so many times you can roll a sticky ball around a park etc.

I also think this game is useless without the dual shock layout, the PSP one was horrible to play because of the controls, it they did make a wii version, i would hope they made it classic controller compatible, as that would be ideal.

The controls and camera on this game are terrible. Ugh.

It has great potential but the decision to make the game more difficult by giving it a shit camera instead of improving controls and making the levels more difficult is always a bad thing (and reeks of developer laziness).

 I have it.  It's pretty cool as it seems to have a few more "extras" over previous installments but admittedly, I was watching my daughter play it.  Graphically I already knew it wasn't going to be a big step up and it isn't.  I truly wish they had spent the time to crank up the graphics quite a bit over what it was on the PS2, but in reality, there is nothing here not possible on previous gen systems.

Kn, what do you think of the controls, camera, and co-op? Something seems different from the PS2 versions. The game seems harder to control.

And co-op, well, I almost destroyed my controller and my marriage trying to play it last night. :D

Offtopic: They had a reference to Katamari on My Name is Earl last night. Joy is telling a (fictional) story about Randy where he just sits on the couch and never showers, he eventually grows mold on himself, but the mold is sticky and everything he touches sticks to him, so he eventually becomes a Katamari rolling around the world getting bigger. I won't spoil the ending for anyone who hasn't seen it.

On Topic: I'll probably rent this game, I played through the demo a lot and had fun, but I've never played a Katamari game before. I plan on giving it a shot next time I see it in the rental store.

it did very well in japan
10k in the first day !!!