NOBY NOBY EVE: A LONGER LOOK AT NOBY’S DIGITAL PLAYGROUND

So they did have a master plan after all, and it’s all been leading up to this, hasn’t it? A day before Noby Noby Boy‘s long-awaited PlayStation Network release, Namco have taken a sharp turn and — rather than give us sparse, 30 second single-camera blips of the game — lead us instead on a three minute montage tour through its universe.

Not to say that there’s anything particularly revealing or surprising that we haven’t seen before (apart from the giant flailing Noby and the brilliant square-wheeled carrot car), but what strikes me more than anything, especially as the Boy knots himself through that lattice structure at 1:55, is how consistently the game fits in with what designer Keita Takahashi has been dreaming of all along.

As I mentioned in my first attempt at explaining the game, since first finding his audience with Katamari Damacy Takahashi has famously been saying that while making games has been a fun ride, his heart has got more ‘physical’ designs, particularly constructing playgrounds for children.

Like he told Edge magazine in 2007 as he toured the Nottingham, UK site that has been cordoned off for him to do just that: “I just want to make a park where a child will feel like taking off his shoes and start to run.”

Everything we’ve seen of Noby Noby Boy looks like a universe constructed to do just that, and I can honestly say there hasn’t been a world I’ve been so excited to ditch my sneakers and just play in in quite some time.

o–o [Namco]

Previously:
It's a stretch: Explaining Katamari creator's new Noby Noby Boy …
Ask a stupid question: Takahashi finally ‘explains’ Noby Noby Boy – Offworld
Happy Holidays from Offworld (feat. Keita Takahashi) – Offworld
Another new look at Noby Noby Boy – Offworld
76 Trombones: this morning's Noby parade – Offworld