PlayStation Vita's launch Katamari Damacy game wasn't always a PlayStation Vita title. In a group interview session held with the Japanese press yesterday, producer Toshiyuki Nakanishi revealed that the game's development originally started with a prototype for PlayStation 3.
When switching to Vita, Namco Bandai made the obvious decision to utilize the system's twin analogue sticks for control. However, the development staff felt that there would be new users who would appreciate a more direct touch-based control interface, so they added touch controls as well.
One thing that's missing from the Vita version is gyro and accelerometer controls. This is something that couldn't be added due to development time limitations. Nakamura admitted that his own daughter first got into the Katamari series through the smart phone version which has gyro controls, but she loves the Vita version's touch controls.
Namakura also touched upon what has become one of the Katamari's most standout features, music. The game includes 20 songs, many from famous artists. The BGM will see subtle changes based off the size of your katamari. Vita's hardware apparently facilitates such audio effects.
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