Late Night Consoling

Namco has sent official confirmation that a version of the acclaimed Katamari Damacy (PS2) series will be coming to the PSP. Tentatively titled Me and My Katamari, the game once again casts the player into the role of the diminutive Prince, son of the decidedly not dimunitive King of All Cosmos, in his quest to roll up pretty much everything into a huge ball.

Series creator Keita Takahashi is apparently not involved in the production of the game, by his own volition. Takahashi was forced into designing the PS2 sequel We Love Katamari after employer Namco threatened to go ahead with the project regardless of his lack of involvement. When it was revealed that Namco's plan was to simply release what amounted to the first game with added Christmas textures, Takahashi signed on despite very public dissatisfaction with the situation. He has recently announced his intention to ultimately leave the video game industry due to a frustration with its sequel-based mentality and the creative limitations placed on its developers. However, he gave a wide window for his exit, indicating that he hopes to be designing playgrounds in the next decade, so there's hopefully still time for him to think up a new design or two while he still sticks around. Takahashi was trained as an artist, with a concentration in sculpture.

A previously rumored Nintendo DS version of the game, mentioned in an issue of Nintendo Power, has been unaddressed for quite some time and at this point can probably be assumed cancelled or indefinitely delayed.

Following up on its Xbox 360 backwards compatibility lists for North America (212 games) and Japan (12 games), Microsoft has now released its European list. The list contains 156 titles, all of which are also on the North American list. Sadly, Respondesign's Yourself!Fitness is one of the titles that did not carry over despite its inclusion in the 212-game lineup.

Industry pioneer Ralph Baer, creator of original home video game console Magnavox Odyssey, has been honored with a National Medal of Technology award. The prize is the United States' most distinguished commendation for innovators in technology and has been awarded since 1985 to companies, teams, or individuals.

Microsoft has been quite enthusiastic with licensing of its top-shelf game properties, with several novels based on Bungie's Halo (Xbox) and a forthcoming series based on Rare's Perfect Dark universe (N64, X360). Now, publisher Prima Games has announced that it will be publishing a comic series based on Rare's Kameo: Elements of Power (X360), a 360 launch title. Prima is widely known as a publisher of strategy guides and hint books for games. No doubt spurred on by the easy availabilty of walkthroughs and FAQs on the internet, Prima has supplemented its traditional business with the occasional foray into products such as books of game concept art, and now this upcoming comic.

The series will be a monthly series to comprise six issues in total, and will be illustrated in a manga style by Mobile Suit Gundam's Hiroyuki Kitazume. Sunmin Park, the director who recently signed on to helm the Kameo film adaptation, will be handling the writing duties for the strip.

To nobody's great surprise, Dolby has announced that its Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound technology is supported by the Xbox 360, as is Dolby Digital decoding for video playback. Upcoming Xbox 360 games supporting these sound capabilities include Neversoft's Tony Hawk's American Wasteland, Infinity Ward's Call of Duty 2, Rare's Perfect Dark Zero, and Bizarre Creations' Project Gotham Racing.

A Reuters press release announces that Activision and DreamWorks have entered an agreement that will allow Activision the exclusive license to several upcoming DreamWorks films, including Kung Fu Panda, Rex Havoc, any new Shrek films, How to Train Your Dragon, and the imaginatively titled Bee Movie.

GameSpot previews some of the Xbox 360's Xbox Live Arcade titles, and also has a designer diary for Bizarre Creations' Project Gotham Racing 3 (X360).

1UP talks with Tomonobu Itagaki about the use of a female Spartan in Team NINJA's Dead or Alive 4 (X360), as well as Hiromichi Tanaka about the Xbox 360 version of Square Enix's Final Fantasy XI (PS2, X360, PC).