Following announcements of a sequel in the celebrated
Katamari Damacy series for Xbox 360 and PS3, Namco Bandai has announced
Katamari Damacy Mobile, a fully 3D title featuring motion sensitive controls to come pre-bundled with the iMode FOMA P904i phone, currently announced for Japan only.
The game is also to be available through download at the Japanese Namco Games web portal starting June.
The motion sensitive controls are to be provided by Gesturetek's Eyemobile Engine (
as discussed in a previous Games On Deck Q&A) which allows movement to be sensed through use of the in-built camera featured on many phones. It doesn't require that the phone have any dedicated hardware to sense motion.
The player will be able to move the prince and roll the Katamari by holding a button on the phone and tilting it in the direction they want the prince to go.
The game has been revealed to feature a story mode, which includes time attack modes (make the Katamari as big as possible within the time limit) and "perfect-size" challenges (make the Katamari a specific size) though there is also to be an "Eternal" mode in which players can make the Katamari as large as they wish. No details have been revealed to state if the title will feature a new storyline with new missions or if it is a mobile remake of the original title in the series.
Katamari Damacy Mobile follows on from
Katamari Damacy-Kun, a 2D version of
Katamari Damacy released by Namco Bandai for iMode capable phones in Japan in late 2006.
[Further coverage of mobile game news and features is available at new CMP Game Group site GamesOnDeck, from which this story is cross-posted.]
