Namco cancela Katamari de PS3 y empieza para Wii

Namco Bandai anunció a principios de año que estaba desarrollando la secuela next-gen de Katamari Damacy, llamada Beautiful Katamari, para PS3 y Xbox360. Hasta hace poco, la desarrolladora ha continuado el trabajo en las 2 versiones del proyecto.
Sin embargo, fuentes cercanas a Namco Bandai han contado a IGN que el estudio ha tenido problemas con el port del juego a PS3 y esto, junto con el estancamiento de ventas del sistema, han llevado a una silenciosa cancelación del proyecto. Viendo las ventas mejores de lo esperado de Nintendo Wii, la compañía, según las fuentes, en su lugar ha traspasado recursos para hacer una versión de Wii de Beautiful Katamari. Ya que el título no puede ser portado desde Xbox360, el juego se va a rediseñar para Wii.
Esta no es la primera vez que se habla de un Katamari para Wii. A principios de 2007, empezaron a salir a la luz informes de Katamari. Sin embargo, las fuentes de la desarrolladora indicaban por aquel tiempo que Namco no estaba entusiasmada con el prospecto de tirar para delante dicho proyecto.
(seguir leyendo en la notícia en inglés)

Beautiful Katamari Skips PS3, Goes Wii
Rumor: Sources allege publisher has quietly canned the PS3 build of the quirky title; started work on Wii effort instead.
by Matt Casamassina
June 29, 2007 - Namco Bandai revealed earlier this year that it was developing the next-generation Katamari Damacy sequel, Beautiful Katamari, for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Up until recently, the developer continued to work on both versions of the project. However, sources close to Namco Bandai tell IGN that the studio ran into some trouble with the port of the game to PlayStation 3 and these issues, coupled with the stalled sales of the system, have led to the project's quiet cancellation. Looking to better-than-expected sales of Wii, the company has, say insiders, re-shifted resources to ready a Wii build of Beautiful Katamari instead. Given that the title cannot be ported from Xbox 360, the game is being re-concepted for Wii.
This is not the first time Katamari has been rumored for Wii. In early 2007, reports of Katamari for Wii began to surface. However, development sources indicated at the time that Namco was not thrilled about the prospect about moving forward with the project, mostly because it was not convinced that Wii would be a success. The game's original creator has in the past been critical of Nintendo's platform, too.

We contacted Namco Bandai for comment, but a spokesperson for the company did not return our inquires in time for the publishing of this article.

As always, until we get an official confirmation from the company, this story should be considered rumor. However, when asked, our well-placed sources said the information was "100 percent reliable."

Stay tuned in the coming weeks for more.


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