Keita Takahashi, creator of the famous Katamari Damacy series, is feeling down about the state of gaming in general. In a recent interview with Computer and Video Games, he commented on the current state of gaming from his point of view:
“Defining the word creativity is difficult in a sense. Even the likes of God of War, for instance, it is really well made. It’s a great graphic game with an interesting story. It’s not fair to tell them that their games have no creativity. Having said that I do feel many games do lack the wow factor in a sense. Something that you feel very surprised by.”
This is a debate I’ve often lent voice to, as it does often seem that the percentage of creatively dynamic games seems to be lessening despite the best tools to work with that developers have ever had access to. Takahashi also commented about Katamari:
“I feel that the setting is normal for me … there’s nothing surreal about it. I think if Katamari is considered so creative then to me it feels like the videogame industry in general has lost its direction.”
I’m afraid I have to disagree with Keita here. Maybe Katamari is standard fare in Japan, but in America there is nothing normal about a gigantic homoerotic king who says things like “This sky is not pretty at all. It’s rough and masculine. Possibly sweaty.” Katamari did have a major impact on gaming though, so I can’t help but think: If Takahasi is bored with the current state of gaming, it seems the best person to suggest a solution would be staring him in the mirror.
[Thanks Joe!]
