When news hits about the PS3 losing an exclusive, people still jump up and down with delight, despite so many having slipped from Sony’s grasp. But when a previously exclusive game such as Katamari not only slips from the once-untouchable Playstation platform and suddenly goes exclusive for the other side, you have to wonder where it all went wrong. If N’Gai Croal is to be believed, then that is exactly what has happened with Namco’s next installation of the Katamari series.

Who is N’Gai Croal and why is he so credible? Well he’s been a journalist for twelve years now and has worked his way up to Newsweek’s General Editor, having joined in 1995 as Associate Editor. Now you would imagine that such a man would have built up a whole catalogue of contacts in his twelve years, and it seems one of them has spoken up.

Rewind back though, and it all seems so obvious. Back when the PS3 wasn’t even close to being on the shelves, Namco, out of the blue, announced that Ridge Racer 6 would be coming exclusively to the 360. Fair enough, no sign of the PS3, not really a huge deal. Ridge Racer 7 went back to the PS3, and balance was resumed.

Since that time, Namco have announced that Eternal Sonata will be coming only to the 360, and then Ace Combat 6 going multi-platform (a timed exclusive for the 360); things were getting strange. Just last week, Pac-Man CE was released exclusively on the Xbox Live Arcade, when it could have been on the Playstation Store too. Signs that MS and Namco were getting cosy perhaps? It seems so.

Pac-Man has marched his way to the 360’s Arcade service three times now

Mr. Croal managed to find out that MS and Namco are very close to striking an exclusivity deal, which is apparently going to be announced at the new-look E3 when Microsoft speak. The move by MS is a very clever one. Katamari has a hardcore following since its introduction on the PS2. Since then it appeared on the PSP too, rolling up more fans as it went. The Japanese love it too, and if there was one area Microsoft needs to work on, then it’s in Japan. Could this be a turning point? Plus the game is accessible for all ages, appealing right across the board thanks to its accessibility, and not being another shooter with complicated controls that an average mum would never figure out.

But when a little birdie with good reason to know–and to gloat–informed us that the We Love Katamari sequel, Beautiful Katamari, would join the ranks of Xbox 360 exclusive titles, the pattern was impossible to deny. We’ve since confirmed that an exclusivity deal between Namco and Microsoft is very close to fruition, likely to be announced at the E3 Media and Business Summit in July. Namco is enjoying the warm embrace and ever-deepening ties with Microsoft, while Microsoft sees this as an opportunity to change the perception of Xbox 360 as the barracks for bald space marines and little else.

So what about the rest of Namco’s catalogue of games then? We only recently heard that SOULCALIBUR IV would be coming to the 360, but what about Tekken? A logical step to increase the catalogue of popular Japanese games and strengthen the fighting genre on the 360. Not only that, but having seen the first shots of Time Crisis 4 (with revamped G-Con 3, and with it working on an LCD screen), is it time that the Time Crisis series moved away from a single console platform too?

The Rumor tag is present since this isn’t official, but N’Gai Croal is pretty damn reliable, MS have been getting close to Namco recently and it does all add up. We will be waiting come E3 for when the news breaks. Sorry, if the news breaks.