Do you love Katamari? Of course you do! That’s why the newest iOS release is called Katamari Amore. It’s a free iOS app that’s just made its appearance on iTunes today, for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch owners. Time to start making those stars.

The purpose of Katamari Amore is the same as every Katamari game ever, thankfully. (Don’t ever change!) Players control the Prince of the Cosmos, son of the illustrious King of the Cosmos….

If you play video games, you’ve heard of Katamari Damacy. Even casual gamers recognize it. Sure, they may not know the exact name, but describe the premise and they’ll know what you’re talking about. (“Right! That game were you roll stuff into a ball.”) Better yet, just singing along with the main theme can clue people into exactly what game you’re talking about.

“Na na na na na na na na na na Katamari Damacy!”

Suddenly everyone recognizes it, and perhaps sings along…

The Japanese lucky cat has become a familiar figure worldwide. People buy statues for their homes, necklaces with the familiar charm and can even set one as their user icon when first setting up a Windows 7 computer. But many people aren’t really familiar with what this iconic cat means, or how prevalent its presence is in popular culture.

Gamers in particular may run across the familiar cat statue in popular games, without even realizing it. Even more interesting is the idea that the virtual lucky cats function the same way in games as they’re supposed to in real life.

So in this week’s Important Importables we’ll take a closer look at what the Maneki Neko is and some of its more popular video game appearances…

The eccentric creator of the awesome and unique puzzler Katamari Damacy, Keita Takahashi, has officially left Namco Bandai and has started a company called Uvula.

Takahashi wants to broaden his horizon’s in the gaming business so, in collaboration with his wife composer Asuka Sakai, the new company claims to be focusing both on gaming and music, hence his studio’s name reference to the inside of the mouth.

Mother’s Day is this Sunday (May 9, 2010), and there’s just enough time to get out there and pick something special up for your mother, grandmother or wife. While cards and flowers are nice, a game is just as thoughtful – especially since it’ll last longer. So in honor of the forthcoming special occasion, I’ve put together a brief list of games which might appeal to them and work well as gifts.

Now you’re probably asking how I would know a mother, or grandmother, would love these games. Well, I have done extensive research (I asked my mother and my mother’s friends – some of whom are grandmothers) what games they love. Yes, all mothers are unique and special with their own tastes, but there’s still a good chance that yours might have similar tastes…

Oh Namco Bandai, what am I going to do with you? You seem to know just how to sneak into my heart (and wallet). In case you haven’t heard, Namco Bandai has perfected and produced a portable, cell phone version of Katamari Damacy called Rolling with Katamari. Rolling with Katamari – it has such a nice ring to it.

Its a 2D-ish style approach to the famous Katamari Damacy series, optimized for certain mobile phones. Once again, the King of the Cosmos knocked all the stars out of the sky and the Prince has to make new ones on Earth by collecting stuff. Rolling with Katamari has five game modes, 30 levels, music from Katamari Damacy and the official page states that there will have additional, downloadable levels available in the future…

A demo for the upcoming sticky ball game, Beautiful Katamari, is now available on Xbox Live. The full version is being developed by Namco Bandai for the Xbox 360 and is expected to be released Fall 2007.

The download, available this morning (August 14, 2007), is free and more than 400 MB, so give it 10 minutes or longer to run. The demo is a 3 minute trial (with max size of 80cm) of the upcoming game and doesn’t really offer much that is new. The small environment is a mix of water, town, road and filled with familiar objects and sound effects.

The control scheme is the same as the earlier Playstation games, requiring that…