Thursday sees the PSN release - for a mere GBP 3.19 / EUR 3.99 - of Noby Noby Boy, the new game by Katamari Damacy's creator Keita Takahashi.
A small but dedicated playing community has unlocked the end credits to the eccentric PlayStation 3 game Noby Noby Boy. Released way.
Noby Noby Boy is an interactive playground where players control both ends of a stretchy character called BOY and just fool around, interacting with the structures and bizarre inhabitants of randomly-generated maps. All the BOY-stretching done collectively by all players across the PlayStation Network is reported to a GIRL in space, who grows in turn, connecting the Earth to the Moon and Mars, and opening up new environments to explore.
It's not an easy game to explain - so we're pleased to present five exclusive videos and a chat with Takahashi that will, hopefully, shed some light on Noby Noby Boy's strange and wonderful world.
Eurogamer: I was in the audience when you showed Noby Noby Boy at Nottingham GameCity a little over a year ago. Back then, it was just a grey world, a BOY, and a pig - but it was still fun to play with. What have you added since then?
Keita Takahashi: Were you at the event? Well, that's kind of embarrassing for me.. The version shown at GameCity was not completed at all. There were 3 BOYs shown back then, and the structure of BOY wasn't finished - like the way collisions between BOY or the pig and the environments worked. The game as it is now is a totally different game. In short, the game sequences were not finished and I was working until the very morning of my departure from Japan to make the game as polished as possible, even though it was clearly impossible to show something completed.
So, one year later, I am here with this game hoping that people will enjoy it!
Eurogamer: Tell us about the relationship between the BOY and the GIRL. What does the GIRL do? Is she the BOY's GIRLfriend?
Keita Takahashi: When BOY grows, he informs GIRL about it and her body grows accordingly. GIRL lives in space and is trying to link all the planets of the solar system. I think that she is trying to link all the planets of the solar system together to make all the people living there understand each other, and have a good relationship with each other.
As earthlings are not getting along with each other very well, that's where things should start. However, I believe that if the whole solar system gets along better, then earth will get better too. Well, maybe with this will and energy people on Earth will get along better!
Regarding the fact that BOY and GIRL might be more than friends, I can't answer this question, as it is a private matter.
Eurogamer: Why did you choose to have all the players on the PlayStation Network work together to unlock everything in the game, rather than have each one do it on his or her own?
Keita Takahashi: Right now the trend for online gaming is online co-op. However, with BOY's body growing as it does, and with the engine managing the physics of the moving objects, it would have needed a huge server to manage everything at the same time. We met this issue at the beginning of the development, so we came up with this idea of a network mode which is not a multiplayer mode. We had a lot of other ideas, but we ran out of time and could not implement them in the game.
Apart from the technical reasons, we wanted to show players how it feels to achieve something when everybody shares the same goal. I think that it will be fun - but I think that there is something more to it.
I am really looking forward to seeing the players' reactions, as this is something that I cannot do or even imagine before the game's released.
Eurogamer: Are there any techniques or secrets to being able to stretch your BOY super long?
Keita Takahashi: There is a super technique, which consists of leaving the game on and not touching it! When you don't control BOY, he wanders around freely by himself. So if you leave the game on during the night, he might have grown when you wake up in the morning.
Eurogamer: There are a lot of love hearts in the screenshots. What do these mean? Can you make friends with the people and animals?
Keita Takahashi: Sorry, there is no special meaning except that he is happy! It is just an effect that pops out when BOY is walking. Usually in games we use an effect with dust flying in the air, but I think it's boring. So I wanted to use something that would make me happy if I were walking in the real world. That's why I decided to use hearts
Even without the flashy hearts displaying, you will notice that in Noby Noby Boy's world, people are already on good terms with animals too, so not only they will ride on BOY's back, they will also ride on animals' backs sometimes.
PS3 / Other / Release: Feb 19, 2009 / ESRB: U
PlayStation Network sale gives half-off Final Fantasy, Namco Bandai games
Final Fantasy games are getting a 50% sale for the next two weeks, and Namco Bandai is holding a similar sale for four weeks.
READ MORE >Noby Noby Boy reaches Uranus
Noby Noby Boy, the curious final 'game' from Keita Takahashi, has unlocked a new level for players: Uranus.
READ MORE >Noby Noby Boy Multiplayer Footage Continues to Baffle, Delight
'In single player, the game allows BOY to eat another BOY as well as people and animals, etc,' says Noby Noby Boy creator Keita Takahashi in a new..
READ MORE >'just 300 million to go before the girl has stretched over 2 billion. Soooo..how long before we ..'
see all 20 commentsNoby Noby Boy Multiplayer Footage Confounds
You'd think by now, after buying and playing the game a bit, that I wouldn't be amazed by Noby Noby Boy footage. And yet every frame of this video..
READ MORE >'I don't get this game at all.'
see all 52 commentsWeekly PlayStation Store Update: Oh Noby Noby Boy
Today's PlayStation Store update brings Katamari Damacy creator Keitha Takahashi's totally insane downloadable game Noby Noby Boy. The $5 title..
READ MORE >'Afro Samurai is [coming] out for the PS3? Huh, I'll be downloading this demo to get an idea of ..'
see all 28 commentsNoby Noby Boy Footage: Downloadable Madness
'What is a game? Should there be a definition for a game? That's the way I feel,' writes Keita Takahashi, creator of Katamari Damacy and the..
READ MORE >'I have no idea what the fuck i just watch, or have no idea what the goal is. I also feel they ..'
see all 45 commentsNoby Noby Boy Release Date, $5 Price Announced
Noby Noby Boy, the downloadable eat-and-grow PlayStation 3 title from Katamari Damacy creator Keita Takahasi, will be released worldwide on..
READ MORE >'Now THIS is a cool idea. I think the only thing they may have a problem with is predicting the ..'
Katamari Creator's Next Project Coming Early 2009, First Screenshots Emerge
The next game from Keita Takahasi, the creator of the beloved roll 'em up series Katarmari Damacy, will arrive early next year as a downloadable..
READ MORE >'I'm confused here. So he left that old game shop because they were trouncing upon Katamari ..'
see all 19 commentsKatamari Damacy Creator's New Game Coming to Tokyo Game Show
Nobi Nobi Boy, the new game from Katamari Damacy auteur Keita Takahashi, will be shown at the Tokyo Game Show late next week. Though the game..
READ MORE >'OK am jealous. The dude makes fun and imaginative games. MS needs to go court this guy.'
see all 12 commentsKatamari Creator's PS3 Project Revealed
Namco Bandai has unveiled the first details on the latest project from Katamari Damacy creator Keita Takahashi. Titled Nobi Nobi Boy, the..
READ MORE >'ha suckers, 360 and wii get the rehashed katamari that isnt event worked on by Takahashi, and ..'
see all 60 comments- Author: admin
- Category: Category
Thursday sees the PSN release - for a mere GBP 3.19 / EUR 3.99 - of Noby Noby Boy, the new game by Katamari Damacy's creator Keita Takahashi.
A small but dedicated playing community has unlocked the end credits to the eccentric PlayStation 3 game Noby Noby Boy. Released way.
Noby Noby Boy is an interactive playground where players control both ends of a stretchy character called BOY and just fool around, interacting with the structures and bizarre inhabitants of randomly-generated maps. All the BOY-stretching done collectively by all players across the PlayStation Network is reported to a GIRL in space, who grows in turn, connecting the Earth to the Moon and Mars, and opening up new environments to explore.
It's not an easy game to explain - so we're pleased to present five exclusive videos and a chat with Takahashi that will, hopefully, shed some light on Noby Noby Boy's strange and wonderful world.
Eurogamer: I was in the audience when you showed Noby Noby Boy at Nottingham GameCity a little over a year ago. Back then, it was just a grey world, a BOY, and a pig - but it was still fun to play with. What have you added since then?
Keita Takahashi: Were you at the event? Well, that's kind of embarrassing for me.. The version shown at GameCity was not completed at all. There were 3 BOYs shown back then, and the structure of BOY wasn't finished - like the way collisions between BOY or the pig and the environments worked. The game as it is now is a totally different game. In short, the game sequences were not finished and I was working until the very morning of my departure from Japan to make the game as polished as possible, even though it was clearly impossible to show something completed.
So, one year later, I am here with this game hoping that people will enjoy it!
Eurogamer: Tell us about the relationship between the BOY and the GIRL. What does the GIRL do? Is she the BOY's GIRLfriend?
Keita Takahashi: When BOY grows, he informs GIRL about it and her body grows accordingly. GIRL lives in space and is trying to link all the planets of the solar system. I think that she is trying to link all the planets of the solar system together to make all the people living there understand each other, and have a good relationship with each other.
As earthlings are not getting along with each other very well, that's where things should start. However, I believe that if the whole solar system gets along better, then earth will get better too. Well, maybe with this will and energy people on Earth will get along better!
Regarding the fact that BOY and GIRL might be more than friends, I can't answer this question, as it is a private matter.
Eurogamer: Why did you choose to have all the players on the PlayStation Network work together to unlock everything in the game, rather than have each one do it on his or her own?
Keita Takahashi: Right now the trend for online gaming is online co-op. However, with BOY's body growing as it does, and with the engine managing the physics of the moving objects, it would have needed a huge server to manage everything at the same time. We met this issue at the beginning of the development, so we came up with this idea of a network mode which is not a multiplayer mode. We had a lot of other ideas, but we ran out of time and could not implement them in the game.
Apart from the technical reasons, we wanted to show players how it feels to achieve something when everybody shares the same goal. I think that it will be fun - but I think that there is something more to it.
I am really looking forward to seeing the players' reactions, as this is something that I cannot do or even imagine before the game's released.
Eurogamer: Are there any techniques or secrets to being able to stretch your BOY super long?
Keita Takahashi: There is a super technique, which consists of leaving the game on and not touching it! When you don't control BOY, he wanders around freely by himself. So if you leave the game on during the night, he might have grown when you wake up in the morning.
Eurogamer: There are a lot of love hearts in the screenshots. What do these mean? Can you make friends with the people and animals?
Keita Takahashi: Sorry, there is no special meaning except that he is happy! It is just an effect that pops out when BOY is walking. Usually in games we use an effect with dust flying in the air, but I think it's boring. So I wanted to use something that would make me happy if I were walking in the real world. That's why I decided to use hearts
Even without the flashy hearts displaying, you will notice that in Noby Noby Boy's world, people are already on good terms with animals too, so not only they will ride on BOY's back, they will also ride on animals' backs sometimes.
PS3 / Other / Release: Feb 19, 2009 / ESRB: U
PlayStation Network sale gives half-off Final Fantasy, Namco Bandai games
Final Fantasy games are getting a 50% sale for the next two weeks, and Namco Bandai is holding a similar sale for four weeks.
READ MORE >Noby Noby Boy reaches Uranus
Noby Noby Boy, the curious final 'game' from Keita Takahashi, has unlocked a new level for players: Uranus.
READ MORE >Noby Noby Boy Multiplayer Footage Continues to Baffle, Delight
'In single player, the game allows BOY to eat another BOY as well as people and animals, etc,' says Noby Noby Boy creator Keita Takahashi in a new..
READ MORE >'just 300 million to go before the girl has stretched over 2 billion. Soooo..how long before we ..'
see all 20 commentsNoby Noby Boy Multiplayer Footage Confounds
You'd think by now, after buying and playing the game a bit, that I wouldn't be amazed by Noby Noby Boy footage. And yet every frame of this video..
READ MORE >'I don't get this game at all.'
see all 52 commentsWeekly PlayStation Store Update: Oh Noby Noby Boy
Today's PlayStation Store update brings Katamari Damacy creator Keitha Takahashi's totally insane downloadable game Noby Noby Boy. The $5 title..
READ MORE >'Afro Samurai is [coming] out for the PS3? Huh, I'll be downloading this demo to get an idea of ..'
see all 28 commentsNoby Noby Boy Footage: Downloadable Madness
'What is a game? Should there be a definition for a game? That's the way I feel,' writes Keita Takahashi, creator of Katamari Damacy and the..
READ MORE >'I have no idea what the fuck i just watch, or have no idea what the goal is. I also feel they ..'
see all 45 commentsNoby Noby Boy Release Date, $5 Price Announced
Noby Noby Boy, the downloadable eat-and-grow PlayStation 3 title from Katamari Damacy creator Keita Takahasi, will be released worldwide on..
READ MORE >'Now THIS is a cool idea. I think the only thing they may have a problem with is predicting the ..'
Katamari Creator's Next Project Coming Early 2009, First Screenshots Emerge
The next game from Keita Takahasi, the creator of the beloved roll 'em up series Katarmari Damacy, will arrive early next year as a downloadable..
READ MORE >'I'm confused here. So he left that old game shop because they were trouncing upon Katamari ..'
see all 19 commentsKatamari Damacy Creator's New Game Coming to Tokyo Game Show
Nobi Nobi Boy, the new game from Katamari Damacy auteur Keita Takahashi, will be shown at the Tokyo Game Show late next week. Though the game..
READ MORE >'OK am jealous. The dude makes fun and imaginative games. MS needs to go court this guy.'
see all 12 commentsKatamari Creator's PS3 Project Revealed
Namco Bandai has unveiled the first details on the latest project from Katamari Damacy creator Keita Takahashi. Titled Nobi Nobi Boy, the..
READ MORE >'ha suckers, 360 and wii get the rehashed katamari that isnt event worked on by Takahashi, and ..'
see all 60 comments