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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:
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.
Happy Farm'n Friday! Media Create, the software sales ranking company in Japan, stated that from the 20th to the 26th, Story of Seasons: Trio of Towns sold about 100,000 copies, making it the video game with the highest sale number for that week. In comparison, the prior games sold about 46,000 (PopoloCrois) and 130,700 (Story of Seasons) in their first week of release.
This month's Nintendo DREAM and this week's Weekly Famitsu have articles celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Japanese series. They both also contain an interview with Yoshifumi Hashimoto, the producer of the series. Some interesting tidbits:
The ratio of male-to-female players (in Japan) has shifted a bit. In the past it used to be mostly female, but the number of male players have increased. Hashimoto hopes that some day it will be 50/50. The average age for the male audience are those in their 20s and 30s.
Hashimoto explains the boy players say they stop playing because the love rival took the girl they like, while the girl players feel the rivals are a better match to the marriage candidates than they are. At the moment that's why they don't add rival events to the series, but he said he'd like to add them back in sometime.
Features like blowing on the DS mic in Grand Bazaar or the touch screen panel animal games in Harvest Moon DS he felt were a burden on the user.
The reason why the Harvest Goddess and Witch Princess haven't been part of the recent versions (as I interpret it) is because these characters are meant to be on a higher plane of existence, with Witchie and Dessie being a homage to these characters. Hashimoto hints that whether these two characters come back is up to the players.
Since the series is enjoyed by players of all ages, at the moment handheld/mobile devices are the best platform for it.
They plan to add download content to Trio of Towns.
Hashimoto is looking forward to the 30th anniversary of the series. His favorite character is Popuri, as he prefers the florist-type characters. His favorite in-game animal is the Angora Rabbit, and his favorite pet is the Shiba Inu from Trio of Towns.
In Europe, Rising Star Games is having a 50% off sale on the "top 4" items they sell on their website. Two of the items are Harvest Moon related: the Mega Chicken + reversible Chick plushies, and the Mega Dog plushie. The Chicken plushie set is on sale for £12.49, and the Dog plushie is on sale for £9.99.
If you were looking for the US equivalent, these plushies are available on the Multiverse Studio online store:
Until next time!
- Cher
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