Keita Takahashi joins social dev Tiny Speck

Social game start-up Tiny Speck will be working with Keita Takahashi on its browser-based MMO, Glitch.

Takahashi is prinipally known for his work on Namco Bandai's Katamari Damacy and Noby Noby Boy, but left the company after 11 years in September 2010.

A month before his departure, Takahashi publicly expressed his dissatisfaction with the direction of the industry to Official PlayStation Magazine, calling the games shown at that year's E3 as "a bit dull" and the future of the industry as "a bit dark."

It was feared that Takahashi had left the industry altogether, but, according to a statement released the Tiny Speck blog, its first meeting with the idiosyncratic designer revealed shared beliefs in, "curiosity, humor, absurdity, and above all a belief in the positive power of play."

"Everybody has heroes. Some are fortunate enough to have a chance to meet their heroes face-to-face. And some have the exceptional fortune to work directly with one of their heroes on a shared goal," the statement reads.

"Keita Takahashi...has always been a hero to everyone on the Glitch team. His power of imagination and ability to realise something wholly unique and different stands out in the history of games."

Tiny Speck was formed in 2009 by four of the original team behind Flickr, and raised $10.7 million in funding earlier this year.