14 DAY TRIAL // A post at Orange Lounge Radio long ago said that Namco Bandai announced Beautiful Katamari to retailers, and that the game was scheduled for an October 17 release for $39.99. More than that, according to the post, the PS3 version would feature support for the motion-sensing SIXAXIS. The post however, has been removed at the request of Namco, which hasn't commented on the issue since. Care to know why?
Here's NewsWeeks's N'Gai Croal shedding light on the matter: "But when a little birdie with good reason to know--and to gloat--informed us that the We Love Katamari sequel, Beautiful Katamari, would join the ranks of Xbox 360 exclusive titles, the pattern was impossible to deny. We've since confirmed that an exclusivity deal between Namco and Microsoft is very close to fruition, likely to be announced at the E3 Media and Business Summit in July. Namco is enjoying the warm embrace and ever-deepening ties with Microsoft, while Microsoft sees this as an opportunity to change the perception of Xbox 360 as the barracks for bald space marines and little else."
So again, it looks like the PS3 not only loses exclusivity for a great title coming from a big developer, but won't see it at all in the future. Everyone's running away from the PS3, and it's not breaking news anymore.
Beautiful Katamari is the fourth game in the Katamari series (following Katamari Damacy, We Love Katamari and Me & My Katamari). The game was confirmed by Famitsu to be in development for the PS3 and Xbox 360 (Japan), in mid-April, and was officially announced by Namco Bandai Games America on April 20. Both versions of the game were supposed to retain the dual analog control scheme of the PS2 Katamari games, and would also include online play features.
So much for all that dual analog control scheme huh? Oh well, you can't say it wasn't coming.