Saturday Morning Feel-Good Story: Playground From the Mind That Brought Us Katamari

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Can someone please get me a ticket to Nottingham? I mean, not right this minute or anything, but some time in the next few years might be good. Preferably corresponding with whenever the greatest playground in the history of the world is completed.

Katamari Damacy creator Keita Takahashi will be fulfilling a personal dream when he designs a playground for the kids of Nottingham, England.

Wow. So apparently, while discussing the finer points of his GameCity festival keynote speech, Takahashi casually mentioned his dreams of playgrounds to Iain Simmons, the festival's director; in a snap the guy was off and running toward city council, pulling as many strings as possible to make the vision a reality. The Wired news brief links to an interview with the mad genius, in which he further outlays his plans.

Discussions are still at an early stage, but the currently favored site is an old playground in need of replacement in University Park, near the Lakeside Arts Centre. We visited it with Takahashi early on an overcast morning, the day before his talk. Despite the gloomy conditions, he seemed taken with the site, frequently wandering off in the middle of conversation to test the equipment and photograph the views. He imagines installing a wind turbine on the climbing net, and decorating it with hundreds of LEDs.

“I want to make it happen,” he announces later, after staring out of the window for some time. “But I don’t really understand why everyone is trusting me so much!” he adds, with his trademark shy giggle.

Oh God, he shyly giggles. Everything about the guy exudes such cuteness that sometimes I think his brain must be made of kittens. Seriously though, how could anyone not trust him with this undertaking? It seems so natural. The lovely Alukh introduced me to Katamari two years ago, and it's one of the very few games I've played that is so bizarre and cute that I don't even particularly mind losing at it -- it's worth it just to have had the experience. Gathering everything in the world from kaiju to fireflies to giant household items in the role of a Little Prince-esque protagonist, it's pretty much the definition of wide-eyed exploration: the vaguest of aims, and wondrous new perspectives. Having played it, it doesn't come as much of a surprise really that Takahashi would be interested in creating a world of his imagination on a grander and more tangible level. In fact, I can't think of anyone who might better design a playground. Hayao Miyazaki, perhaps, or maybe Shigeru Miyamoto -- though all those pipes and bricks might be injury lawsuits waiting to happen.

Takahashi also alludes to a new game in the works -- Noby Noby Boy, a game even its own creator seems at a loss for describing (which isn't a bad thing, considering Katamari made absolutely no sense to me at all until I actually sat down and played it) -- but the playground wonderland seems to be on the front burner at the moment. This is how he sees it:

"I just want to make a park where a child will feel like taking off his shoes and start to run."

Not if I get there first. I may have been the slowest runner in my class every year, but my legs are longer now that I'm older. I'll meet you at the fiber optic swing sets, jumping off at the highest point into a field of sparkling lights.



_DictionaryGirl_ is sometimes fascinated by the same sorts of things that amused her in kindergarten, and still finds stealth swinging in quiet playgrounds to be top of cool.

web address: http://suicidegirls.com/news/geek/22743/Saturday-Morning-Feel-Good-Story-Playground-From-the-Mind-That-Brought-Us-Katamari/