Namco Bandai would like you to continue playing Katamari games forever, and thus they've announced the next game in the bizarro roll-up-junk series, appropriately titled (drum roll) Katamari Forever. The game is a PlayStation 3 exclusive--the first title in the franchise to hit that platform--and will run in 1080p when it ships to retail in the Fall.
Forever isn't an entirely new Katamari game, though--most of the 30-plus levels in the package will be recycled from previous entries in the series. You can at least make them look different, though, with four unlockable graphics filters that do things like make the backgrounds and objects cell-shaded or give them a wood-grain texture.
One new level I got to see didn't involve picking up junk at all. Instead, it was set in an arid desert and had you soaking up water from scattered pools and rolling around the dirt, making everything green, lush, and flower (kind of like in Okami). The game's storyline involves the King of All Cosmos losing his memories, which turns most of the levels black and white, so as you get his memories back, you'll also bring color back into those levels.
Katamari Forever really seems built to appeal to people who have stuck with Katamari all this time and haven't gotten sick of it yet, a group which--if Namco Bandai is fortunate--is probably still pretty sizable. Here's a trailer that shows off those graphics filters and some other funky stuff.
