Katamari Damacy set for US release

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Namco today announced that it is bringing what may be the biggest surprise hit for the PlayStation 2 in Japan to the US. The extraordinarily strange but extremely popular action puzzle game Katamari Damacy will ship exclusively for the PS2 this September.

In the game, players jump into the shoes of Prince of the Cosmos, a little green guy whose job is to push a ball around debris-strewn city streets (the prince's father, the great king, got drunk and knocked the stars out of the sky, creating the mess). Players must guide their ever-growing "katamari"--Japanese for "clump or large mass"--through the game's many levels. All sorts of objects, including signs, cookies, people, and clouds, will stick to the player's ball, which is able to pick up progressively larger objects, such as cruise ships and skyscrapers, as it gets bigger and bigger.

The game was popular enough in Japan to warrant the announcement of a sequel to be released there by the end of the year. Check out GameSpot's hands-on impressions of Katamari Damacy for more information on the quirky game.