In a way, Rune Factory 2 is like having two games in one. The focus of the first generation of the game, where you play as a young man with amnesia who decides to settle in the town of Alvarna, has a different feel and sense of purpose than the second generation, where you play [...]

I’m still sucked into Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness while Japan is looking forward to Bokujou Monogatari: Youkoso! Kaze no Bazaar (Harvest Moon: Welcome! Bazaar of Wind). With Harvest Moon: Welcome! Bazaar of Wind being the umpteenth Harvest Moon game on the Nintendo DS you have to ask what makes this yearly Harvest Moon release [...]

In addition to giraffe racing you can train pets in the second Harvest Moon game for the Wii. As seen in the screenshots above, you can teach a cat to jump, a dog to shake, and a penguin to clap. I wonder what the panda can learn because, you know, that’s one of the possible [...]

Natsume is celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Harvest Moon franchise by releasing Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness for the Nintendo DS on August 26 and Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility for the Wii on September 16. The Harvest Moon series is in full bloom now, but only because Yasuhiro "Hiro" Maekawa, President and CEO [...]

As the title suggests, the animals in Harvest Moon: Waku Waku Animal Panic are important. In addition toiling on a farm you get to race around the world on the back of your favorite animal. You can pick from a trusty horse, used in the other Harvest Moon games, or something more exotic like a [...]

Natsume is a developer and publisher in Japan. In North America they are only known as a family friendly publisher. However, Hiro Maekawa, President and CEO of Natsume’s US subsidiary, has dreams of making games, ballroom dancing games. He teamed up with Cave, notable for bullet hell shooters, to create Princess Debut. The Nintendo DS [...]

More Harvest Moon? Natsume hasn’t even finished Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility. The next game in the series is also for the Wii and the emphasis appears to be more on animals than waggle. Concept art for Bokujou Monogatari: Waku Waku Animal March (Harvest Moon: Exciting Animal March) has a young farmers in standing in [...]

Natsume, aka North America’s Harvest Moon publisher, isn’t about to forget any game in the series, even if it’s a spin off. Last summer, Rune Factory came out with a quizzical, but fun fusion of fantasy and farming. This year Natsume will release Rune Factory 2: A Fantasy Harvest Moon in the fall.   The [...]

Marvelous is aggressively expanding Rune Factory series in Japan. The Harvest Moon spinoff already got a Nintendo DS sequel back in January. Later this year, Rune Factory Frontier will bring the series to the Wii. Neverland Company, the developers of the DS games, will stay on board as the developer for Rune Factory Frontier. This [...]

When I think of farming video games the only thing that comes to my mind is Harvest Moon. Marvelous and Natsume in North America pretty much have a monopoly on the genre.   Enter Ubisoft.   The Unterhaltungssoftware Selbstkontrolle (i.e. German equivalent of the ESRB) has a rating for Farm Life, a Nintendo DS game. [...]

Gender differences aside Harvest Moon DS Cute is essentially Harvest Moon DS. To tempt Harvest-core fans to purchase Harvest Moon DS Cute, Gamestop is giving a plush cat to anyone who pre-orders the game.

Nintendo teased us with some Harvest Moon release dates in their massive beginning of year release schedule. However, not all the dates were accurate and it definitely didn’t include a date for Innocent Life: A Futuristic Harvest Moon Special Edition since it’s a PlayStation 2 game. Natsume sent over their release list and this is [...]

I mentioned a March release window for Rising Star Games’ Wii-Make of Harvest Moon: Magical Melody before, but let’s replace that with an exact date. European gamers will finally be able to play Harvest Moon: Magical Melody on March 14. Natsume released this back on the Gamecube back in March 2006.   However, since this [...]

You might remember a little PSP game where you play as an android farmer called Innocent Life: A Futuristic Harvest Moon. On February the updated PSP to PS2 port arrives in North America care of Natsume with a few bonuses. New events and a close up camera are the highlights for players who tackled the [...]