Posts with tag harvest-moon
E308: DS Fanboy raises its spirits with Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness
Continue reading E308: DS Fanboy raises its spirits with Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness
E308: DS Fanboy explores the lands of Rune Factory 2
Imagine my surprise when I played Rune Factory 2 and it was like Harvest Moon had a baby with Secret of Mana.
Continue reading E308: DS Fanboy explores the lands of Rune Factory 2
E308: A smattering of Natsume simulation screens
E308: Bushels of excitement sprout as Harvest Moon trailer is revealed
Natsume was quick to deliver its E3 lineup, and they have already begun showering us with fertile, productive videos and news. Nice one! Go on -- use your powers of vision to check out the above video, then use your powers of purchasing to buy the thing when it comes out. Harvest Moon is a pretty failsafe franchise.
E308: We fit into Natsume's niche
Natsume will be sharing some DS love at this week's E3 convention, showing off Princess Debut and Rune Factory 2 for the first time. Island of Happiness and Hamtaro will also be on the company's E3 agenda, balancing out the lineup nicely.Harvest Moon fans (like ourselves) will probably be the most excited by this schedule, as we'll get more media and details on Island of Happiness and Rune Factory 2, which come out this summer and fall respectively. At the same time, we can't help but be intrigued by Princess Debut. Depending on how the "adventure" parts work, it might be the closest thing to an otome (girl's dating game) that we've seen for the DS outside of Japan. We're also not going to complain about the rhythm-based dancing segments, as we're rhythm game fiends.
Granted, all these titles are rather niche, but we wouldn't take Natsume any other way.
Gallery: Princess Debut
Natsume makes us a happy blog with new Harvest Moon screens
Hit up our gallery below for the new screens from Island of Happiness.
North America harvests Rune Factory 2 this fall
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.
[Via press release]
Games to help curb your addictions
The "self-help" era is upon us, even finding its way into the video game industry as of late. Aside from the obvious fitness awareness game on Nintendo's other system (we mean Wii Fit, of course), there have been quite a few attempts to help gamers improve their lifestyles and habits. Take, for example, the upcoming My Weight Loss Coach and Ubisoft's "Easyway" title to help people quit smoking.Our favorite approach so far, though, was when DS Fanboy reader Dan used Pokémon to quit smoking. If there's anything we've learned from Dan's inspiring story, it's that the best way to curb an addiction is to replace it with another. We then decided that we wanted to help more of our fine readers that are suffering from such torments day in and day out. Pokémon may cure smoking, but what about other plaguing ailments? We're happy to say that after months of testing on monkeys and small children, we've finally come up with a few perfect video game cures.
So, look no further than Dr. DS Fanboy, and check out our ultimate self-help guide to find the fixes for your addictions.
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Master that addiction! |
Harvest Moon: Chicken of Happiness
Those "other recent updates" form the good news: if you preorder Island of Happiness from Amazon, you get this amazingly cute plush chicken and chick, both of which look like they came from the Pac-Man cartoon. We don't care when it's coming out or, really, what the game is: we just want the spheroid chicken.
[Via CAG]
Rumor: Harvest Moon: Delay of Frustration
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.
[Via Go Nintendo]
Promotional Consideration: Moons, Zombies, Dodgeballs, and Tactics
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
Nintendo Power promises the moon
As it does every month, Nintendo Power closed its latest issue with a preview of the next installment, guaranteeing updates on Sonic Chronicles, Time Hollow, and Ghostbusters. The magazine's writers also hinted at "a surprise or two," suggesting readers study the Moon image above for hidden clues.
Our eyes must be suffering from spring allergies, as we haven't picked up any clues after hours of staring at the page. Will it be a preview of Renegade Kid's Moon? Perhaps another entry for the Harvest Moon series? Or maybe Nintendo Power just wants our attention on the white satellite before it pulling off its grandest, most villainous stratagem yet -- carving its name into the Moon with a laser cannon.
Give us your best guesses!
Another Week in Japan: Hardware and software numbers 4/14-4/20
Something caused a Phoenix Wright sales revival, and we suspect it was the Gyakuten Meets Orchestra concert (which was also a Gyakuten Kenji hype event). Both the first and second Gyakuten Saiban games for the DS ended up in the top thirty this week.Newcomer We're Fossil Diggers (a second-party effort by RED Entertainment that actually sounds really fun, at least to the dinosaur lovers in us) deserves all the glory, though. Debuting at third place, this unique piece of software did rather well for itself in its first week.
Besides the same old games that have been showing up in the charts for the past few weeks, the other notable is Square-Enix's dull-sounding bookkeeping game. It seems like a rather niche title to end up in the top thirty, but who knows -- maybe a lot of Japanese folks are getting ready to take the Level 3 Bookkeeping exam. Or, maybe they just can't resist a game by the beloved Squeenix.
To see all the placings and numbers for yourselves, just click on past the break.
Continue reading Another Week in Japan: Hardware and software numbers 4/14-4/20
Another Week in Japan: Hardware and software numbers 4/7-4/13
In a strange turn of events, there's only one new DS game in Japan's top thirty this week, and that's Oshiri Kajiri Mushi's Rhythm Lesson DS. In case that title doesn't ring a bell, you may know it better as "that butt-biting bug game." If there's one thing we've learned from this bug, it's that biting is serious business. Despite Japan's love for DS software and quirky rhythm games, though, Oshiri Kajiri Mushi only debuted in the eighteenth spot. Perhaps butt biting is even too weird for Japan?In hardware, the DS fell behind the PSP once again. Yet, there's already signs of the Monster Hunter hype beginning to dwindle, as the PSP sold 35,000 less units than the week before. Will the new brown model that comes out next week help the PSP keep a wide lead, or will the gap start to narrow again between the two handhelds? We're looking forward to finding out!
To see the Japanese placings and numbers, just check after the break.
Continue reading Another Week in Japan: Hardware and software numbers 4/7-4/13
Rising Star picks up Rune Factory for Europe
Chalk this one up in the "better late than never" category, Europe. Rising Star, niche game publisher extraordinaire, will be bringing Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon to the continent in September, only a year after the game came out in North America and two years after it first released in Japan. In case you're confused, yes, we mean the first Rune Factory, not the hopefully-soon-to-be-localized sequel.Still, for what it's worth, this blogger thoroughly enjoyed the game. Are any of you European Harvest Moon fans excited about this news, or has that ship sailed long ago?
[Via press release]
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