New Katamari not on Wii, PS3

By Robert Purchese Published 13 September, 2007

Namco Bandai removes listings.

Listings for Eternal Sonata on PS3 and Beautiful Katamari on Wii and PS3 have been removed from the Namco Bandai America website. Once again, both are now Xbox 360 exclusives.

The offending words were posted up earlier this week, listing all new versions of the games with "TBA" dates.

Namco Bandai has been cagey in the past about confirming that all of its Katamari eggs were in Microsoft's basket, having originally announced Beautiful as a multi-platform title.

The game later emerged as a Live Arcade exclusive thanks to lethargic sales of the PS3, although rumours it would appear on Wii remained constant. We expect the relative size and resource requirements of the game would make it relatively straight forward to port.

Eternal Sonata, too, has been mentioned on PS3 before now. Back in April the ESRB website produced a listing for the game on Sony's console, but all parties involved shut-up shop and refused to comment at the time.

Namco Bandai Europe was unable to comment on the US website happenings this morning, unfortunately, so we'll have to wait until that side of the world wakes up for comment.

Both games are awaited with huge anticipation. Pop over to our Eternal Sonata and Beautiful Katamari gamepages to find out more.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (39) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Talha #1 4 years ago

    I must say Katamari now exclusive to 360 is a serious blow to PS3's attempted family-friendly agenda.

  • HiddenAway #2 4 years ago

    Famitsu re-itterated that Eternal Sonata was on the PS3 this week. You're a little late :p

    PS3 Eternal Sonata
    Edited by 1 at 13/09/07 @ 11:08

  • mcwildcard #3 4 years ago

    I am officially vexed.
    That new game with the worm thing better make up for it!

  • Killerbee #4 4 years ago

    Katamari seemed made for the Wii, so it's a great shame they've pulled that.

  • SeesThroughAll #5 4 years ago

    Whatever, but EG should take into consideration that the PS3 Eternal Sonata turned out to be real.

    Katamari seemed made for the Wii, so it's a great shame they've pulled that.

    The One Microsoft Way, my friend.
    Edited by 1 at 13/09/07 @ 11:15

  • Britesparc Verified Creative, ITV #6 4 years ago

    The TBA suggests timed exclusives, to me. Looks like Eternal Sonata at least will head PS3-wards.

    I'm pretty chuffed tho; never played a Katamri game so really looking forward to that.

  • Saladin #7 4 years ago

    That's a shame for PS3 owners. It's a game I expected Sony would fight tooth and nail to maintain on their roster.

  • Zastai #8 4 years ago

    I never played Katamari, so I don't see what all the fuss is about when it comes to that game. But Eternal Sonata had better come to PS3 - I'd hate to be tempted to buy a 360 just because of that game (in all fairness, Mass Effect and Blue Dragon do enter into the equation somewhat).

  • The_Inquisitor #9 4 years ago

    Microsofts pockets are indeed deep.

  • Normski #10 4 years ago

    @killerbee

    "Katamari seemed made for the Wii, so it's a great shame they've pulled that."

    You've clearly never played Katamari - just because it's a fun and charming game, doesn't mean it would be improved by replacing lovely fluid controls with random flailing about.

  • Blerk #11 4 years ago

    Katamari's definitely, absolutely, certainly not on PS3 and Wii. Nope. Not a chance.

    /taps nose
    /nudge nudge
    /wink wink

  • CrumpledPaper #12 4 years ago

    Eternal Sonata was confirmed for PS3 in this week's Famitsu :p

    Namco is just covering their tracks now. I think it's clear they have timed deals with MS for these games along with Ace Combat, but they're not ready to announce the other two for PS3 yet.

  • Darren #13 4 years ago

    This obviously was a mistake but I suspect that Beautiful Katamari is just a timed exclusive on the 360. After all, good as the game is, it isn't the sort of title to sell in massive numbers so it would make sense for Namco to release it on as many platforms as possible.

  • kissthestick #14 4 years ago

    Yeah ES for PS3 was pretty much confirmed by Famitsu, dont get any more official than that

  • Darren #15 4 years ago

    Two new characters for PS3 Eternal Sonata too, although they'll probably wind up as free downloads on Xbox Live.

  • Lacero #16 4 years ago

    MGS4 vs Katamari

    Fight!

  • cathalzx #17 4 years ago

    "This obviously was a mistake but I suspect that Beautiful Katamari is just a timed exclusive on the 360. After all, good as the game is, it isn't the sort of title to sell in massive numbers so it would make sense for Namco to release it on as many platforms as possible. "

    Emmmm.......I don't remember Katamari ever appearing cross-platform before - PS2-only apart from the PSP version. More likely it was PS2-only when PS2 was outselling all other formats, and now 360-only because of the 360's high game-attachment rate. I wasn't aware it was gonna be a Live Arcade game though.....is that right?

  • Beano #18 4 years ago

    As HiddenAway wrote... Famitsu has confirmed the rumors reg. Eternal Sonata on PS3, and Katamari was not mentioned as a 360 exclusive on MS's pre-TGS event... my money is on both games have gone multi-platform, but just not announced yet.

  • Beano #19 4 years ago

    @cathalzx: Don't forget Wii for Katamari also.

  • brooza #20 4 years ago

    BUT WHEN IS KATAMARI OUT IN EUROPE?

  • Xerx3s #21 4 years ago

    The 360 only has shooters lol.

  • AlvySinger #22 4 years ago

    At the risk of sounding stupid, but did I read correctly that this is going to be a Live Arcade title?

    If so, that's enough to make me do a little jig of joy.

    /dances until he remember SwoS is still nowhere to be seen.

  • Philanthropist #23 4 years ago

    There's a cover of Beautiful Katamari for the 360 and it doesn't have that "Only on Xbox 360" logo. Go figure.

    To begin with, Katamari games were never that successful even on PS2, they didn't even sell anywhere nearly a million each. 360's timed exclusivity is hardly a "blow" to Sony like some people want to make it seem.

    And I find quite disappointing to see how this news article is written. Claiming that a PS3 version was canned because of "lethargic sales" doesn't seem to be a rigorous point looking at 360 sales in Japan, where the Katamari series enjoyed the greatest success and will be launched with the by far smallest installed base. And what's with "offending words"? All this means is that the announcements were made before they should. It's not that Namco simply committed a mistake regarding exclusivity.
    Edited by 1 at 13/09/07 @ 14:22

  • GiantHaystax #24 4 years ago

    Quote:
    "The game later emerged as a Live Arcade exclusive thanks to lethargic sales of the PS3"


    Erm it's not a XBLA game its coming on a disc . Don't think it's coming out in europe either.

  • RexRunti #25 4 years ago

    <em>Yeah ES for PS3 was pretty much confirmed by Famitsu, dont get any more official than that</em>

    Yes because a random magazine article is much more official then changes to the company website.

    /Waits for official comments from Namco.

  • Beano #26 4 years ago

    Famitsu a random magazine?

  • RexRunti #27 4 years ago

    Well OK a good magazine. But still a magazine that shouldn't ever be considered to be the official spokesman of Namco Bandai anymore then say OXM, Edge or even Eurogamer.

  • messiahtj #28 4 years ago

    Quote:
    "Yes because a random magazine article is much more official then changes to the company website."

    A random magazine article??? How old r u??? 8??? U dont have a fcking idea what r u talking about kiddo xDDD. Famitsu is the most important videogames magazine/site in the world!!!!, eurogamer is sht compared to Famitsu.....no offense taken :D

  • pinchofsalt #29 4 years ago

    The same Famitsu that give Nintendogs 10/10 making it, in their opinion, one of the 6 best games ever created.
    Hmm.
    Its a Square wank-fest is what it is.
    Edited by 1 at 13/09/07 @ 15:29

  • RexRunti #30 4 years ago

    It's still a magazine. Also it's a magzine which is more than a few days old... Things change after all Katamari and Eternal Sonata was on Namco's american website when the (japanese) magazine was released. The BBC is currently predicting a general election before christmas one still won't happen unless Gordon Brown says so.

  • aine #31 4 years ago

    Namco Bandai Europe was unable to comment on the US website happenings this morning, unfortunately, so we'll have to wait until that side of the world wakes up for comment.

    there's a namco bandai europe? what the fuck do they do?

  • mattigan #32 4 years ago

    Oh dear, now it very well may be a timed exclusive, but why wait, what really is the point of the PS3???

  • InternetRed #33 4 years ago

    Wouldn't it be harder to port than they make out, to make it work on three different sets of hardware?

    Also, how would it control using the wiimote? From my limited experiences of the game (I have the PS2 ones but they are NTSC versions and i've still got to get a NTSC PS2, but played on the PSP version) it uses tank-tred controls, which could be difficult to control with a remote. Unless you pushed towards the screen to go forwards, away for back, turn the remote left and right for the corresponding moves, and maybe jump the remote up and down to do a charge roll. Even so i can see lots of people dashing around the room, screaming as they try to roll things up.

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #34 4 years ago

    how would it control using the wiimote

    By plugging in a 'Classic' controller in to it, perhaps? (or using a gamecube one).

    In fairness, I'd say it probably is worth their time making a Katamari for the Wii, since it's a family-friendly franchise, has a PS2 hardware-level heritage and the Wii is now reputedly the leading format. But if they are going to use tilt controls, then it will probably benefit from custom built levels etc, so it wouldn't be a port of 'Beautiful' any more than 'Beautiful' is a port of 'Damacy' or 'Everyone Loves'.

  • monkie_king #35 4 years ago

    use remote + nunchuck: hold each upright, and tilt forward/back as appropriate. you know, like tank controls.

  • Kryon #36 4 years ago

    Hahaha and it continues...PS3lol!

  • Carrybagma #37 4 years ago



    @xerxes: Yes, but will the typical 360 owner actually buy it? Microsoft are doing well to break the 'shooters onlylol' impression of the machine, but the typical 360 owner seems to fit in well with that stereotype, demanding... more shooters.

    I wonder if this will go down as well as Viva Pinata did.

  • Carrybagma #38 4 years ago

    Hmm. Here's one article that suggests otherwise:

    [link url=http://www.digitalbattle.com/2007/0 8/12/360-software-perceptions-missleading/
    ]http://ww w.digitalbattle.com/2007/08/12/...[/link]

    Action/adventure....

  • Nikanoru #39 4 years ago

    You've clearly never played Katamari - just because it's a fun and charming game, doesn't mean it would be improved by replacing lovely fluid controls with random flailing about.


    You've clearly never used the Wii controllers - just because you're used to stiff, limiting oldschool controls doesn't mean it wouldn't be improved by replacing those with something nextgen. ;)