Video: Katamari controller hack for PS2
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted May 25th 2009 2:39PM
posted May 25th 2009 2:39PM
What better way to remember all of those people who died when the moon and the stars were destroyed by the King of All Cosmos than a Memorial Day game of Katamari? Rather than continue to half-ass it with her PlayStation controller, hackster and NYC Resistor member Kellbot has put together a real life spherical controller, utilizing such items as a large mirror ball (sadly, the Yoga ball proved too pliable to roll on the ball bearings), a mouse, a gutted PS2 controller, a digital pot, and -- of course -- the world famous Arduino. Interested in building your own? Hit that read link to get all the details, but not before you peep the video after the break.
[Via Hack A Day]
[Via Hack A Day]
Awesome.
this looks more fun than that new tony hawk skateboarding controller
seconded
Yup. If there's one game that needs an awesome peripheral such as this one, it's Katamari. Namco, take notice!
I disagree, the skateboard controller looks very nice and definitely fun. The only problem is the price of course, which will come down 6 months after release to something more manageable.
This katamari controller on the other hand just doesn't go that last inch to perfection. Why does she have to hold the mouse on the ball if every other piece of the project has been ruthlessly disassembled and rewired?
Really cool project.
kudos to her dad or boyfriend for building it for her
i lol'd
This might be funny if it was vaguely true. Sorry, does it bug you that I'm smarter than you *and* I've got tits? Tough shit.
silly human
everyone knows wiminz can't arduino
Kelly I think you've been trolled.
haahaha.. best engadget comment ever
frankly, I would be happier if more of the people who were both smarter than me and had tits were women.
Great comeback, Kelly. Sometimes the biggest part of someone's day is taking a bite out of someone else's. Perhaps, though, this poor kid is just sick of the no-girlz aspect of his life, and he's just read Neil Strauss' "The Game", and, lucky you, you're the first girl he's had the huevos to try it on. He's going negative first, but he'll unapologetically warm up to you sometime in the next few days.
That project rocks. Great work. Makes me want to fire up some Katamari!
A white knight appears.
kelly.... will you marry me?
I wanna one !!
looks like an oogi mc tagie
nice project!!!
nice project
Wow.. this is epic.
Not as epic as your avatar.
That's pretty cool. The next step would be to mount that laser mouse to the bottom so you can play the game with one hand.
seconded, it seems very odd to have to hold the mouse in one hand and roll with the other, when clearly the prince is using both of his little hands to roll up the katamari ball.
I'm guessing they're no way to super-charge roll the katamari this way.
Finally, a gorgeous girl with brains to match. Thumbs up!
you need to leave your parents basement more. Or your being sarcastic and saying she's not very smart.
@ alpha: or you could try not being such a huge cock. It's people like you that make me hate being a man. We're not all chauvinists and ass-holes.
No not all of us. It sounds like you might have an underlying gender issue. Just calling it as I see it.
Well done!
Wow, that's a really good idea! Thanks for the how-to as well! Next step: add a system that controls resistance of the ball, making it harder to physically push the larger the katamari gets ;] I might actually have to give this one a try.
That seems a little overboard in my opinion. I understand the concept of immersion, but to handicap your own performance in the game is another thing entirely. Peripherals are designed to aid in the playability of something, not hinder it. Racing wheels for games don't become harder to turn if the car becomes damaged, though they may be harder to control on-screen. Of course this is just my opinion, if you wish to create your own crazy mod for Katamari, who am I to stop you.
Actually yes, there are racing wheels (I own one), that when coupled with the right game DO get harder to turn if the car takes damage. The wheel has force feedback, which the game can use to jerk the wheel, increase stiffness, or vibrate it. Need for speed does this.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_rising_terminal
Raaaaaaaaaaaage.
Made the video nearly unwatchable.
Other than you being quite picky and over-the-top, I loled at your comment :D
Looks like you beat me to it. I didn't see that you'd written that.
Not picky or over the top.
That voice makes me want to shoot people.
It is a giant trackball.. haha
she looks like the older brother from zathura lol
She sounds like that girl outta american pie, the way she raises her voice at the end of sentences:
"This one ^time^, at band ^camp^..."
Annoying as feck!
Also, lesbian.
where do you get a huge metal ball like that??
It's a "gazing ball", you can find them at tacky lawn and garden stores.
Well done, Kelly. Still though - did you have to castrate Optimus Prime completely to make this, or did you leave him with one huevo?
She's cute.
Ah, to be young and not know that trackballs used to exist...
LOL... Yeah I thought the same thing... but there weren't that big trackerballs..
This is a great fun project to do, even to get create it with an even bigger ball, and that's what as I gather was the actual plan but didn't turn out so well..
Next thing is to integrate it all into 1 little nice package with it's own buttons and even BT controller instead of using a ripped PS3 controller..
Kelly, keep up the great work...
This is pretty sick. If there was a way to do the boost roll this would actually be marketable I think. I play all my Katamari games over and over. It's like tetris that way. Too bad the yoga ball idea didn't work out that would have been great. The upside is this is more marketable and easier to build should you decide to have some of these manufactured or build them for folks. Would be pretty sweet to have the balls painted up like the one in the game.
Sweet idea and great job Kelly. Hope you market these. I'm in.
Also, you have nice hands.
Cheers,
holto
"Bowling Ball Madness"?
ITS A TARP!
not sure if you can hook it up, but such a controller was made by Philips in the early nineties:
http://www.freetimeweb.nl/home/picture/sub/electro/video/cdi/cdi_roller-controller-22er9012.jpg
nice project anyway...
Hmm, stole the mousebit from my comments on another hack a while back O_o I'm OK with it though.
Am I the first to ask how do you do the special moves now that you don't have both analogues?
This reminds me of when I used my DDR pad in MAME and played Pac Man.
My friend picked up a chair and used it for a controller.