Me and My Katamari on PSP

2006 should see the release of Me and My Katamari on PSP, according to what’s been announced on Gamespot:

Today Namco confirmed that the growth is going to continue in the US and Europe in 2006 with the release of the newly named Me and My Katamari on the PSP.

For the third installment in the series, The King of All Cosmos and the royal family travel to a tropical paradise for vacation, only to be given the responsibility of rolling up yet more katamari to make new islands for homeless animals. As always, the king delegates his authority, and the prince and his cousins wind up doing all the grunt work.

The game was previously available in import only in Europe and the USA. No more precise date has been given, though, so a vague “2006″ it will be for the moment.

Burning Man vs. Xbox 360 Launch

Now I’ve heard everything. Corporate giants are out to copy an anti-corporate festival … The release of Xbox 360 is going to mimic Burning Man … I’m not sure how I feel about this. It’s actually quite disturbing. But for you gamers, I suppose it’ll be a rockin’ event.

http://www.joystiq.com/entry/1234000697067435/

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Burning Man meets E3 for Xbox 360 launch
Posted Nov 10, 2005, 8:27 AM ET by Vladimir Cole
Related entries: Culture, Nintendo Revolution, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

Chris Di Cesare, director of Xbox marketing, spent a few minutes rappin’ with us about Microsoft’s plans for the Xbox 360 launch event out in the middle of the Mojave desert. Since we’ve already covered the basics (all you need to know is that event tickets are being given away throughout the day today at participating websites), we’ll spend a little more time deconstructing the event itself.

Chris noted that the event has been likened to the Burning Man festival that takes place annually in Black Rock desert, Nevada. That Microsoft acknowledges and even embraces the idea that this is “Burning Man meets E3” indicates that they’re shooting for a completely different vibe than the Times Square/Toys-R-Us location they chose to host the original Xbox launch on November 16, 2001.

With the Zero Hour event, the company is shooting for “overtones of being something that’s more of a festival or celebration…. We wanted to do something that was different, and something that was true to the audience that the box was designed for, and that’s the gaming audience,” said Chris.

This isn’t the first time that Chris has adopted (some would say usurped) a fringe cultural movement. First, it was the wildly successful I Love Bees campaign that brilliantly adopted the ARG (alternate reality gaming) genre for marketing purposes, a success that subsequent imitators have failed to achieve. Now, by openly evoking Burning Man (and we assume designing the actual event so that it feels like Burning Man), Microsoft (and Sony for that matter) have been tirelessly campaigning to reform gaming’s image in a larger version of the reinvention personified by Xbox architect and Microsoft VP J Allard (pictured below).

No Oblivion For Christmas?

Much to my and many friends’ dismay, it seems that The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, expected at first to be available for Christmas, won’t be out for this year in the end, but for a yet undefined date, somewhere between February and April 2006. This is bad news for those who were awaiting it with impatience, and a hard blow for MicroSoft, the game being one of the big titles planned for the launch of the Xbox 360.

Take-Two said that the game won’t be released until it’s fiscal Q2, which means some time between February and April of 2006. The company’s President and CEO, Paul Eibeler, says that the delay is to ensure quality of the product. According to Eibeler, the game’s developer, Bethesda Softworks, requires “additional development time to ensure the title meets gamers’ high expectations for this popular franchise”.

Rendez-vous next year, as we say in my country. And now, I need to find another Christmas gift for my boyfriend. Drats.