Attention regular folk: you can now buy Keita Takahashi's cute-as-hell ALPHABET

I was more than a bit bummed when I failed to back (via Kickstarter, naturally) the LA Game Space earlier this year and as a result missed out on obtaining a copy of Keita Takahashi's and Adam Saltsman's Alphabet.

For a $15 donation, backers gained access to the above-mentioned curiosity as well as something like 30 other indie titles.

That was nice and all, but the only one of those rewards that really appealed to me was Alphabet. I guess that goes a long way toward explaining why I didn't hand over any money in the end--despite the fact that the game offers players the chance to "run, jump, eat, sing, poop and sleep through silly obstacle courses."



Still, whenever Alphabet pops up in online conversations, I think, damn, I'd really like to play that game someday. Well, someday could be today, if I'd like it to be. That's because regular folk like you and I can now buy it and four other titles from juegosrancheros.itch.io for--you guessed it--$15.

Considering doing the same but not yet ready to sign in to your PayPal account or dig your credit card out of your wallet? Check out my friend Anne's entertaining playthrough of Alphabet. It should help you reach some sort of consensus on the matter.

Should you follow through with the purchase, come back here and let me know what you think of the game--especially if you figure it to be another Katamari Damacy.

Wait, a Tetris-like Katamari Damacy puzzler hit Nintendo's DSiWare service back in 2009?

In the comments section of my recent post about "book-style" DS games, two fine folks pointed me in the direction of a Giant Bomb write-up that detailed a good number of such releases.

One of the many games highlighted in that post was Korogashi Puzzle Katamari Damacy (or ころがしパズル塊魂).

Unbeknownst to me, the folks at Bandai Namco dropped Korogashi Puzzle Katamari Damacy onto the Japanese DSiWare shop (or whatever the hell it was called) all the way back in 2009.



Given my love of book-style DS games, Katamari Damacy and puzzlers, I nearly fainted when I first became aware of Korogashi Puzzle Katamari Damacy's existence.

Sadly, unless I'm horribly mistaken (someone please tell me if this is the case), Korogashi Puzzle Katamari Damacy never made the leap from the DSiWare shop to the 3DS eShop.

Oh, well, maybe this is just the universe's way of telling me I need to pick up a Japanese DSi pronto?

I'd totally buy a copy or two of Keita Takahasi's Wattam if I owned a PS4 (even though I don't understand a second of its first trailer)

I know everyone else in the world who's at all interested in the PS4 is drooling over the "triple whammy" of games--the Final Fantasy VII remake, The Last Guardian and Shenmue III--that were announced at E3 2015 a couple of days ago.

I understand that, I really do, but if I were to be honest (and why wouldn't I be on my own blog?), I'd admit that I'm far more intrigued by Keita Takahasi's Wattam than I am by any of the aforementioned titles.

Which is kind of strange, as I can't say I have a single clue as to what the hell is going on in the trailer that can be watched below.



Still, I wouldn't pass up a chance to put Wattam and its weird collection of characters through their paces, as the ages-old saying goes.

Sadly, that would require me to purchase a PS4--something that isn't likely to become a reality anytime soon, if ever. If Keita and his crew of crazy game-makers (they previously developed the first two Katamari Damacy titles, after all) were to port Wattam to, say, the Vita, though, I'd be all over it like rainbow sprinkles on a frosted doughnut.

How about you fine folks? Are any of you chomping at the bit to sink your teeth into this outlandish-looking PS4 effort?

See also: 'Everything you need to know about Wattam, from Robin Hunicke & Keita Takahashi'

A couple of Katamari Damacy + Solitiba doodles for anyone who cares

So, I recently started doodling again.

Not that I ever meant to stop, mind you--or not that I made some sort of specific pact with myself to stop, at least.

In fact, I can't remember when my "doodling" trailed off, although I'm pretty sure it was more than a year ago.

As for why this happened, I can only guess at this point, but I have a feeling I simply ran out of ideas. 

My brain recently became flooded with ideas, though, thanks to a project I'm working on for the technical writing certificate program I'm taking through the Seattle branch of the University of Washington. 

Specifically, I'm working on a "quick-reference guide" for the weird Game Freak-developed and -published 3DS (and iOS) title that has gotten so much attention here in the last six months or so, Solitiba. 

Although the focus of this document is its text--which is supposed to help people understand and remember the nuances of the various "phases" associated with Solitiba's racing segments--I want to make it visually appealing, too, so I decided a couple of weekends ago to whip up a few drawings that could be snuggled within all of the letters and punctuation.

My first creation wasn't a total success. (Check it out here, if you're feeling adventurous.) Later efforts were a lot better, though, if I do say so myself.

I don't know if I'd say this is an example of the latter, but I also wouldn't call it a complete turd. Granted, it was a quick-and-dirty sketch produced as a sort of placeholder image for my guide's cover. (In the end, I decided to go with something else.)

I like the doodle, above, a lot more. Of course, what's not to like about a cute little horse with a sparkly mane and stubby legs that's attempting (not very successfully, mind you) to play solitaire?

This drawing, on the other hand, is supposed to depict a similarly stylized undulate teetering atop a house of cards (or, "Horse of Cards," which is the name I gave to this image when I published it on deviantart a couple of days ago).

Had enough of my Solitiba-inspired illustrations (if they can even be called that)? How about a Katamari Damacy-inspired illustration? I concocted it after one of my new colleagues wore a Katamari-branded t-shirt to work last Friday.

I have a feeling Katamari Damacy's denizens usually don't alter their antennae like this one has, but what can you do?

Anyway, if you like any or all of the doodles shared here, you may want to head over to my deviantart gallery and take a gander the handful of others I've generated in the last few years.

See also: previous posts about Solitiba

Japanese 3DS owners get the best Swapnote stationary designs

I don't know about you, but I haven't opened up my 3DS' Swapnote app for some time now.

That's not a reflection on the quality of the product, mind you; rather it's a reflection on my inability to deal with the flood of a million (give or take a few thousand) Swapnotes that are sure to flood my in-box should I decide to check in on it.

I'm seriously considering testing my mettle, though, thanks to the following handful of stationary designs that have been sent to Japanese 3DS owners in recent weeks.

I'm pretty keen on the one above, which first appeared about a month ago in response to the continued success of Denpa Ningen no RPG 2 (aka The "Denpa" Men 2), because of its colorful, Katamari Damacy-esque vibe.

The rather classy one above, on the other hand, was released to celebrate the arrival of the new year.

In a cruel twist of fate, not only do Japanese 3DS owners get to play Tobidase Dōbutsu no Mori (aka Animal Crossing: New Leaf), but they also get to exchange adorable, Animal Crossing-themed notes and doodles thanks to the stationary design seen above (which was first delivered to unsuspecting gamers a week or so ago).

Two days ago, the folks at Nintendo starting sending out the precious piece of stationary that can be seen above, which once again includes characters from the popular eShop title, Denpa Ningen no RPG 2.

Will those of us who don't have Japanese 3DSes (or don't have friends who have Japanese 3DS3s) ever gain access to any of these Swapnote designs? I have my doubts, but I'm crossing my fingers and toes all the same.

Is that a banana in your pocket, King of All Cosmos, or are you just happy to see me?

I think you'll find the headline above to be pretty appropriate after watching the following video, which apparently will welcome gamers when they boot up their copies of Namco's Katamari Damacy Novita.



Anyway, I don't know about you, but the combination of the King of All Cosmos' skin-tight, banana-yellow jumpsuit and his colossal bulge has me feeling just a bit ... conflicted.

(Via andriasang.com)

The Great Gaymathon Review #44: Katamari Damacy (PlayStation 2)

Game: Katamari Damacy

Genre: Arcade-Action

Developer: Namco

Publisher: Namco

System: PlayStation 2

Release date: 2004

I'm sure this has been said many times before, and by better writers than myself, but I think it's quite possible that Katamari Damacy's backstory--which involves the colossal King of All Cosmos getting plastered, destroying the solar system and then asking his diminutive son to rebuild it--is the best to ever appear in a video game. At the very least, it's one of the wackiest. It's only a smidge wackier than Katamari Damacy's gameplay, though, which puts players in the role of the aforementioned pint-sized prince and tasks them with rolling the titular katamari (Japanese for "clump" or "clod") over anything and everything in sight in order to make it grow as large as possible. (Most of the objects in each stage stick to said katamari if they touch it and if they're smaller than it. All of that junk is then somehow used to recreate the stars and other celestial bodies that were obliterated by the king.) Unsurprisingly, this Keita Takahashi-designed title's graphics and soundtrack are pretty wacky, too--the latter, the bulk of which was composed by Yū Miyake, especially. Don't take that to mean this is one of those games that is so weird it's no fun; Katamari Damacy has fun in droves. In fact, I'd say it's one of my all-time favorite titles. The only possibly negative thing I can say about it is that I wish every stage had an "eternal mode" and that said mode was unlocked from the start (as it is, each level begins with a strict time limit), as exploring the game's beautifully realized set pieces at will--with Miyake's energetic tunes blaring in the background--is an absolute blast.

See also: Previous 'Great Gaymathon' posts

You say bento, I say brilliant

I love re-tweets. You know why? Because they make me aware of some awesomely random things, like the following Costume Quest bento box (created by the lady behind annathered.com):

(Software consultant and ludologist Jason McIntosh is responsible for the re-tweet that made me aware of the above-mentioned bento, by the way.)

Anyway, if you think Anna's Costume Quest bento is awesome, just wait until to see some of her other creations--like this Katamari Damacy bento, or this Noby Noby Boy bento, or this Tingle bento. (I also like this Pink Castle Crasher bento quite a bit.)

To see more photos of her Costume Quest bento (and her other bentos, too), check out her Flickr photostream.

Beulah, peel me a grape

Sorry, the quote above--from the 1933 Mae West film, I'm No Angel--is the first thing that popped into my mind when I came across artist Kim Roberts' (aka Kimbot1984 over at deviantart.com) "Katamari Fun" a few days ago:



Don't you just love how Godzilla and King Kong are duking it out in the background while a pair of UFO float overhead?