The Ushi No Tane websites specialize in information, FAQs, and guides about the Nintendo console versions of the Harvest Moon, Story of Seasons, and Legend of the River King video games. These game genres are created and published in Japan by Marvelous (JP). In other regions, you'll find Natsume, XSeed Games/Marvelous (USA), Marvelous (EU), and Rising Star involved in the series' release.

The latest version of the mainstream farming series that have been released in various regions of the world are:

• Japan: Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life (January 2023)
• North America: Harvest Moon: The Winds of Anthos (September 2023) and Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life (June 2023)
• Europe: Harvest Moon: The Winds of Anthos (October 2023) and Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life (June 2023)

The latest version of River King, in all regions of the world, is River King: Mystic Valley (JP 2007, NA 2008, EU 2009).

Since 2000, Ushi no Tane has been run by a grouchy old lady who happens to be fond of video game agriculture along with two feline helpers: Intern Captain Bootu and Intern Hondo Mewnaka. The website is not officially affiliated, sponsored, endorsed, or employed by the developers of Harvest Moon, Story of Seasons, or River King. This is simply a fan site.

Latest Farming Video Game News

Happy Farm'n Friday! The coleus seeds have started to sprout after being sowed a few weekends ago. And despite my best attempt to not cause the soil to be super damp and grow green algae, it happened anyway. Drat! I was a little enthusiastic and added water to the seedling tray reservoirs instead of sticking with the spray bottle of water, and now the surface of some of the trays has green slime. Plants are okay, though; it just looks yucky. I've switched to only using the spray bottle for the other seeds I started this week - dianthus and nasturtium. The seed packet description for the dianthus flowers noted it may take between 1 and 3 weeks to germinate, but they popped up after 4 days. That was a surprise.

The leftover potatoes from last year's harvest were planted last weekend, but I didn't have time to plant the new variety for this year in the front yard. That'll be this weekend's task once I get some compost for the potatoes. I had enough to start the fingerling potatoes, as they're smaller, but not enough for these big purple spuds.

On some non-farming related news, a report came across my office inbox the other day from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the federal agency that oversees and enforces consumer protection laws in the US (e.g., Truth in Lending Act, RESPA, etc). The agency's report this week was about microtransactions, privacy, advertisements, and the flow of currency in the video game industry. I didn't know Roblox was such a beast, with an average of "71.5 million active daily users globally in December 2023." The report even cites Roblox as an example of unclear usage of the correlation between Robux and real money.

Converting game assets back to fiat currency within a game can lead to increased costs for players, for example, by using differing ratios for deposits and withdrawals or burdensome thresholds for withdrawal. For instance, the popular game Roblox allows players to create games and virtual worlds within Roblox's gaming universe, as well as play games created by other users. As users move from game-to-game within Roblox, they can buy virtual items in exchange for Robux, the platform's in-game currency. When a virtual item is bought within a game developed by a specific player, that player earns Robux. Roblox's terms and conditions only allows players that are active creators to cash-out their earned Robux for fiat currency. Notably, while Roblox has separate "User Terms" and "Creator Terms," everyone who joins Roblox's must agree to both terms and conditions, essentially making all players also creators. To convert earned Robux to USD, an active creator must earn a minimum of 30,000 Robux. Additionally, Roblox's conversion rate to USD is not intuitive. Buying 100,000 Robux through Roblox's store costs $1,000, but withdrawing 100,000 of earned Robux only gets a player $350. Even with these constraints, Roblox players that are creators withdrew $740.8 million in 2023.

Overall, it's an interesting informational report on the impact of real money on virtual assets.

Claire Preorders Open

The Marvelous-approved Nendoroid figure for Claire is now available for preorder on the Good Smile website! Our farming protagonist's figure comes with a baseplate, two faces, a turnip, a small farm field mat, a watering can, a tiny bubble cow (oh my!), a chick, and a few other posing parts. If you preorder directly from Good Smile, a gold watering can bonus accessory will be added to your order while supplies last.

Claire and her accessories costs $42.99 / €44,92 / 6900円 plus shipping (and tax if applicable).

Good Smile has websites in various regions where you can preorder until May 15. The figure is estimated to be delivered in September:

• Good Smile Online US | Claire Nendoroid | $42.99
• Good Smile Online EU | Claire Nendoroid | €44,92
• Good Smile Online JP | Claire Nendoroid | 6,900円

Snacko Free Demo

Early access kitty farming game Snacko now has a free demo available on Steam for a limited time. The demo offers a few gameplay choices: the first few days of the game's story, a shrine speed run, and a sandbox mode where you can tinker with the in-game systems. You can download the demo from the game's Steam store page. It's important to note that the save game created during the demo will not carry over to the full game.

• Snacko Demo | Steam Store

The character customization option was released today, allowing players to colorize their protagonist, Momo. The ears and tail can be colorized separately from the main body and the face/eyes, so things could get really colorful!

Rusty's Retirement Release Date

Mister Morris Games announced this week that his idle desktop farming game, Rusty's Retirement, will be released on Steam on April 26. This cute game is meant to be played on a PC while you do other tasks, such as office work, watching movies, writing code, or other computer activities. Rusty will water and harvest crops automatically and will eventually have many equally cute mini-robot helpers to handle farm tasks. You can add it to your Steam wish list today:

• Rusty's Retirement | Steam Store

Sugardew Funded

The campaign to fund RokaPlay's merchant farming game Sugardew Island ended this week with a total of a little over €95,000 (~$103,000 USD). All stretch goals, such as adopting wild animals and additional livestock colors, were met. RokaPlay is expected to release the game later this autumn, around August.

• Sugardew Island | RokaPlay Website
• Sugardew Island | Steam Store

HM3 Comic

And here's a new-translated comic from the HMGB3 strategy guide, illustrated by Igusa Matsuyama.

Until next time!

-Cher
(Where did March go?)

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