I’m not exactly about to craft a costume, but I’ve been playing Namco’s “Me and My Katamari” on the Sony PSP for the past week. The third title in the Katamari Damancy property has a little prince rolling up objects onto a Katamari ball to gain mass and create islands for a few lost animals. It’s definitely quirky, the objects that get rolled into the ball include everything from candy and pencils; to people and trees; and skyscrapers and entire cities. The property created an instant following for Namco Bandai games, and the fans are being rewarded with a costume contest run on the game’s Web site. There’s a bunch of fan art submitted on the site right now, and entries for the “cosplay” costume contest will be posted soon. This is a great example of how a company can leverage a heavily-involved audience to further promote a property.