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Gamefly: Japanese and Chinese Coaches, Princess Debut this fall

Posted Jul 1st 2008 5:00PM by JC Fletcher
Filed under: Rumors

According to Gamefly's list of upcoming games, Ubisoft is following up their excellent My French Coach and My Spanish Coach with something that is going to excite a lot of you: My Japanese Coach, with a tentative September 18 release date. Hopefully it's a language trainer and not a game about, say, a tennis coach who happens to be from Japan. It's being joined by My Chinese Coach, with a release date of August 28.

In addition, Gamefly lists two unannounced titles from Natsume. Cave's Princess Debut is apparently being released on September 26, and on August 28, Natsume will release Hi! Hamtaro Ham-Ham Challenge, recently announced for Europe by 505 Games. These releases are unconfirmed, of course, but likely.

North America harvests Rune Factory 2 this fall

Posted Jun 24th 2008 11:45AM by Candace Savino
Filed under: News

In the best DS news we'll hear all day (depending on which DS Fanboy staff member you ask), Natsume announced that they're bringing Rune Factory 2 to North America this fall. While we predicted localization would happen eventually, it was always a matter of when, so we're glad to see it being taken care of. Considering that the first game in the series took a year to find its way over here, a nine-month delay (Japan got the game last January) doesn't seem too bad at all.

While we initially thought this sequel would be too similar to the original Rune Factory, the premise adds some freshness into the RPG-Harvest Moon formula. In Rune Factory 2, you not only play as the main character, Kyle, but later you take over as his child. The game therefore spans two generations, providing us with double the fun.

If you share our excitement, make sure to check out the first English screens in our gallery below.

Gallery: Rune Factory 2

[Via press release]

Rumor: Harvest Moon: Delay of Frustration

Posted May 15th 2008 11:00AM by Chris Greenhough
Filed under: Rumors

Once mooted for a June 8th release, Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness now looks like being held up for almost two months, after Gamestop listed a revised release date of July 29th.

Oh, sure, that's not the same as official confirmation from Natsume by any means, but we won't lie to you: we're all worried sick. Our cow, Clover (far right), is so concerned she's barely yielding any milk, the sheep are bleating more than usual, while mealtimes at the old farmhouse are now conducted in deathly silence. Even the chickens look sort of anxious.

Gallery: Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness

[Via Go Nintendo]

Promotional Consideration: Moons, Zombies, Dodgeballs, and Tactics

Posted May 4th 2008 11:00PM by Eric Caoili
Filed under: Features, Promotional Consideration

Aside from its preview page tease and Time Hollow's localization, there wasn't much in the way of exclusive DS news in this month's Nintendo Power, at least compared to what we've seen in recent issues.

Paging through the magazine, however, we spotted at least two advertisements that we wanted to share with you. As we were tearing them out to throw into our scanner, we thought, "Why not post all of the other DS ads (and the cover)?" Join us past the break for the scanned pages!

Continue reading Promotional Consideration: Moons, Zombies, Dodgeballs, and Tactics

River King: Mystic Valley heads on over to Europe

Posted Apr 4th 2008 5:00PM by Candace Savino
Filed under: News

Rising Star announced today that they're bringing River King: Mystic Valley to Europe, a game that we're sure all you European folks have been aching for. More than likely, though, you haven't heard much about this title (which will be called Harvest Fishing over in Euroland). The game features touchscreen fishing, as well as a dramatic storyline (for a fishing sim).

Your ultimate task is to rescue your sister, who has somehow fallen into an endless sleep. The only way to save her, though, is to find the River King, a big fish that knows what the cure is. As if that's not trippy enough, you also make friends with the magical creatures you encounter on your way to finding the big fella.

A nice feature of the game is its online Wi-Fi, which allows you to have fishing tournaments with friends. The only problem is, though, that you may not know too many people who end up getting the title to make it worth it.

In any case, should you be interested, River King/Harvest Fishing hits Europe in June (and the U.S. this April).

Gallery: River King: Mystic Valley

[Via press release]

Gamestop preorder bonus for Harvest Moon DS Cute is cute

Posted Mar 12th 2008 9:00PM by Candace Savino
Filed under: News, Fan stuff

Gamestop can be so cruel to our wallets. We try to resist their silly preorder bonuses that come with games, but at times it's too hard to ignore the temptation.

The most recent battle of wills comes with Gamestop's bonus for Harvest Moon DS Cute. If you couldn't tell from the picture above, it's a plush cat! That may not seem like a big deal for many of you -- after all, what's another cheap stuffed animal? -- but here at DS Fanboy, we love cats (especially the "lol" kind). Maybe not as much as we love pugs, but we digress.

We like the Harvest Moon series anyway, so normally preordering this game wouldn't be an issue. Yet, since two Harvest Moon games are coming out pretty close to each other, we were hoping to spend our money on Island of Happiness instead. Cute is essentially the same game as Harvest Moon DS, except that the main character is a girl rather than a boy (plus, a few other minor additions). Island of Happiness, on the other hand, is a completely new game with a Lost in Blue meets Harvest Moon concept.

We probably won't waver in our decision to stick with Island of Happiness, but if you're a fan of the franchise and haven't played Harvest Moon DS yet, this preorder bonus might make the purchase a worthwhile one.

[Via Siliconera]

2008's Biggest Blips: Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness

Posted Feb 4th 2008 12:00PM by Candace Savino
Filed under: Features

Developer: Marvelous
Publisher: Marvelous/Natsume
Release: June 8

When it comes to light-hearted, adorable games that make us want to smile, the Harvest Moon games top the list. The formula is relatively simple: grow and harvest crops, woo boy/girl, forge friendships, lather, rinse, repeat. Yet, if playing Harvest Moon doesn't tug at your heartstrings even a tiny bit, you're probably the kind of person that eats babies for a living. Not that there's anything wrong with that (in fact, we have an excellent barbecue sauce recipe, if you're interested).

In case you need even more evidence that the Harvest Moon series is full of feel-good games, the two upcoming entries for the DS are subtitled Cute and Island of Happiness. How much sweeter can you get without dying from an immediate sugar coma?

Borrowing a page from Lost in Blue, Island of Happiness kicks off with your character and a handful of friends stranded on a deserted island. As the game world changes and the number of buildings increases, more and more people start settling there. The game features 100 different NPCs, some of whom are bachelors (or bachelorettes, depending on whether you start the game as a girl or boy) that you can woo and marry. The game also features 3D graphics and utilizes stylus controls, thereby making full use of the handheld's capabilities.

We only wish more games could be as relaxing and refreshing as those in the Harvest Moon series. As far as we're concerned, all games could use a good dose of Harvest Moon in them. To prove our point, we've made a few suggestions of game mash-ups that we'd like to see happen.

1. Harvest Moon meets Contra in Super Seed

Is it just a coincidence that one of the heroes of Contra is Lance Bean? If you ask us, this game is just begging for a Harvest Moon infused sequel.

2. Harvest Moon meets Resident Evil in Mansion of Magical Itchy ... Tasty

Did you ever stop to think that zombies need a little love, too? Did Chris Redfield or Jill Valentine ever take the time to invite the zombies to a festival, or try to gain some heart points with a platter of fried brains? Maybe impaling people is just the tyrant's way of indicating that he'd really like someone to bring him a kebab.

3. Harvest Moon meets Metroid in Metroid Prime: Gatherers

Samus has done enough hunting. It's time for her to switch gears.

4. Harvest Moon meets Castlevania in Dawn of Happiness

Castlevania needs to turn that frown upside down. Dawn of Sorrow? No thanks, Debbie Downer IGA.

5. Harvest Moon meets Dementium in A Wonderful Ward

Ending up in a mysterious place without knowing why you're there isn't uncommon in the Harvest Moon games. If one of these protagonists ended up in Redmoor Hospital, we're sure they'd spend their time planting crops and making friends with the locals.

Gallery: Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness

---

N+	Back	Come the revolution

Creator of Harvest Moon interested in making a game like Spore

Posted Dec 4th 2007 5:00PM by Candace Savino
Filed under: News

Is anyone else interested in some sort of Spore meets Harvest Moon hybrid? If you are, the future might very well be a rosy place, indeed, because Harvest Moon creator Yasuhiro Wada dreams of making a game similar to Will Wright's creation sim. He recently told Gamasutra, "Eventually, I'd like to make something like Spore, where you create something, and from there, new stuff is going to be created again and again and again ... But you want to be one of the people living in the city, and to be a part of this growing too."

Wada also said that King's Story (which was his concept) was originally supposed to be more like Spore than what it turned into. We like how King's Story is shaping up, so we're not really bothered that it deviated from its original idea, but it still would be nice to see Wada's true vision ultimately realized. Hopefully we'll one day see this Spore-like game that he wishes to make.

Demo de Harvest Moon

Posted Nov 4th 2007 12:00PM by JC Fletcher
Filed under: News

Ready to learn some valuable life skills for once, we decided to enroll in Harvest Moon A&M and take a class on "Playing Puzzle de Harvest Moon." We were motivated not only by our desire to improve ourselves and learn a trade, but also by the fact that the class is about five minutes long and is, in fact, a Flash game and not a class. Further rumination on the subject brought us to the conclusion that Harvest Moon A&M was a thing we just made up.

Anyway, now we know how to play Puzzle de Harvest Moon, even though the tutorial totally didn't prepare us for how frantic the actual round was going to be. Of course-- what's faster-paced than farming? We're quite impressed with the unique design-- it's not often that a puzzle game comes along with completely fresh gameplay.

[Via GoNintendo]

Rune Factory - fight for your right to harvest [update 1]

Posted May 4th 2007 11:00AM by James Konik
Filed under: Interviews, News, Video

Even though the sequel to Rune Factory: a Fantasy Harvest Moon is starting to get attention, don't forget that the original is due for its North American release over the next few weeks.

IGN recently put up some screens, videos and an interview with the game's U.S. product manager. The video shows off the game's new direction: combat. It all looks pretty straightforward, but that energy you spend fighting is going to have to come from somewhere - the crops you produce. We're undecided as to whether this is really going to work, surely the peaceful gameplay is what gives Harvest Moon its unique feel?

Aside from the combat, it looks like all the series' traditional elements are in place: tending crops, making friends and wooing the girl of your dreams by presenting her with vegetables. If only real life were so simple.

Cooking and forging will be handled via the touch screen, along with inventory management. You'll also be able to trade items and screenshots over wi-fi, perhaps landing a husband or wife in the process. The accompanying video gives a July release date for Rune Factory.

[Update: fixed grammatical error]

Harvest Moon DS gets pushed back

Posted Aug 1st 2006 11:30AM by David Hinkle
Filed under: News

Turns out those of you with a green thumb and constant itch to tend land will have to wait just a bit longer as the DS installment in the popular farming franchise Harvest Moon has been pushed back from a release of late in August to 12 September 2006. Pretty big deal, no?

During the interim, why don't you watch the trailer a couple more times and think happy thoughts of bathing sheep and planting crops. Also, should we expect Natsume to give Harvest Moon DS the big push again, maybe even further into the future than a few weeks?

Harvest Moon trailer available

Posted Jul 21st 2006 10:45AM by David Hinkle
Filed under: News, Fan stuff

The videos just keep on rolling today.

Next course up in our delectable entree of tender cuts of game footage for the day is a trailer for the farming sim Harvest Moon DS. Should you be the type of person who is thrown into bouts of rage when viewing farming duties such as tending to soil, cleaning livestock, and playing simple card games (the bane of every good farmer's existence), you might want to avert your gaze, instead opting to close your browser window and enjoy a nice bubble bath. May we suggest you go with the Pina Colada scented variety? We like the way it makes you smell.

[Note: Video opens and plays in Windows Media Player after the link.]

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