MEDIA ADVISORY

NAMCO BANDAI REVEALS NEW BEAUTIFUL KATAMARI(TM) INFORMATION AND SCREENS

NAMCO BANDAI Games released new Beautiful Katamari information and screens today that show off some of the wacky and wild stages in the highly anticipated title for the Xbox 360(TM). Beautiful Katamari brings Katamari into the next generation with 720p high-definition graphics, new and unique levels, mounds of original items to pick up, new cousins to play as, presents to discover, a bouncy new soundtrack, and an online mode where fans around the globe will be able to compete in the most outlandish Katamari VS mode to date!

For the first time, Beautiful Katamari takes the popular franchise online worldwide with a high-rolling 4-player VS mode where Katamari fans from around the globe will be able to compete against each other in a "Thingy Battle." The objective of this battle mode is to roll up the most of one particular item (decided by the King of all Cosmos, of course) in order to show the King you are the best planet-creator around. The player with the most items collected at the end of the time limit will win the session and the love of the King. With five different online stages that vary in space and time, the fun and addicting online VS mode will have Katamari fans hooked.

In addition to the VS mode, Beautiful Katamari will include online worldwide leaderboards for the number of presents and cousins collected in the single player game, as well as a worldwide online ranking that shows off players' individual scores for the online VS mode. Keeping in line with the quirky theme, the game also includes a planet called "Everyone's Katamari" that shows the combined size of everyone's Katamari by a cow grazing in a field. The more the world rolls up, the larger the cow becomes! Mooooooooooo!

The Prince and his cousins have access to everything in the game via the unique menu system called Princedom. When in the Princedom, players can roam from level to level, change options, view cut-scenes, switch characters, and get together for a fun and fabulous groove session at the jukebox. In addition to a unique and interactive menu system, the levels in Beautiful Katamari also feature more depth than ever before. In Roller Roaster, The Prince must collect all objects that are either hot or associated with heat such as pizza, coffee, or hamburgers, to get his Katamari up to 10,000 degrees Celsius. In order to obtain your hotness and win the mission, players must avoid rolling up cold objects like ice cream, soda, fire extinguishers and falling in the river! The hotter you stay, the cooler you will be in Beautiful Katamari!

Beautiful Katamari will release this Fall for the Xbox 360.

For more information on Beautiful Katamari, visit the game's official website at:
http://katamari.namco.com