Resources

I read many articles and interviews for this blog.  I will chronicle my findings here.

• Davis, Ryan. "Katamari Damacy Review." GameSpot. CBS Interactive, Inc., 24 Sept. 2004. Web. 20 Oct. 2009. . This source is written by a professional video game reviewer for GameSpot, one of the largest video game websites. It gives a rendition of the gameplay, presentation, music, cultural aspects, and story and even has a video review. I chose this as a sources for my project because it gives a professional review and a quick break down of the core points I wanted to discuss.

• Famitsu Marketing Data Service. "Video Game Industry Software Sales - 2004." 2004 Video Game Software Sales. Famitsu, 2004. Web. 15 Oct. 2009. . This is a compilation of marketing data created by Famitsu Marketing Data Service. They provide comprehensive information on Japan's interactive entertainment industry. It shows the trends and direction of the Japanese game market. This particular snap-shot is of the year 2004 (in which Katamari was released) and shows its sales in the first year of release in comparison with other games that year. It was in the top 100 best selling games of its release year.

• Hewitt, Dan. "Electronic Entertainment Expo 2005 State of the Industry Address." Address. 11th Electronic Entertainment Expo. Los Angeles Convention Center, Los Angeles. 2005. Entertainment Software Association. 2005. Web. 20 Oct. 2009. . This is an address from the Entertainment Software Association for E3 2005 (Electronic Entertainment Expo). E3 is the largest video game conference in the U.S. It is for game industry personnel and is a forum for the companies who produce and design video games to release and unveil the new products. This particular address is important because the speaker uses Katamari as an ideal game example for video game design.

• Sheffield, Brandon. "Rolling the Dice: The Risks and Rewards of Developing Katamari Damacy." Gamasutra. CMP Media, LLC, 11 Mar. 2005. Web. 20 Oct. 2009. . I chose this article as a source because it includes an interview with the game creator and had some good quotes from him. It also touched upon the original concept for the game and the inspiration, which many other articles did not. It also includes a rather good description of Japanese culture and Mr. Takahashi's, the game designer, education.

• Theobald, Phil. "Keita Takahashi talks Katamari Damacy." GameSpy. IGN Entertainment, Inc., 10 Mar. 2005. Web. 25 Oct. 2009. . This is another article from an interview with Takahashi, the game designer. He discusses his inspiration, concept, and process.

• "Time Magazine Names "The Sims 2" Best Video Game of the Year." Time Magazine 21 Nov. 2004. Print. Katamari made number 4 on the Time Magazine yearly list of best video games in 2004. This is important because it shows how even a tiny game like Katamari can become a hit across the world.