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! Hope everyone is doing well! This weekend will be dedicated to cookie baking. Since I won't be spending any time with my relatives this year, cookies and gifts will be sent by mail. With the before-Christmas mail deadline coming up, I have to get those cookie goodies out the door soon!

The weekend baking plan, for now, is to whip up some marshmallow fudge, bake some chocolate/vanilla sugar cookies, and perhaps one more type of cookie. Anyone remember the "Chenice Chew" mystery from last Christmas? Grandma's hand-written recipe for these bars never really panned out, but it may be her written instructions were difficult to interpret. I happened to be flipping through the 1960 Ladies' Home Journal Cookbook, and came across a similarly-named recipe. Turns out Grandma's recipe card had a few misspellings and a different outline of baking steps. The instructions probably made sense to her at the time, but it was confusing for someone trying to read it years later! No wonder they never turned out.

One World Details

This week, Natsume confirmed that some character customizations will be available for players of Harvest Moon: One World, scheduled to be released next spring on the Nintendo Switch. Players can choose their farmer's hair color, eye color, and skin tone! And the little Harvest Wisps (Aqua, Ignis, and Vitae) are cuties too.

The video game company also shared another screenshot of their in-development game, showing off some of the crops that farmers can grow. On closer look, it appears that hybrid crops from previous versions of the series are also in One World. We can see a pink-colored Royal Herb (from the celery series), some Purple Asparagus, a Crimson tomato, and possibly a White Carrot and a Mandrake carrot. And if you look just a little bit closer, blue sprinklers are watering the crops directly adjacent to their placement! Yaay, automation!

PoOT Updates

Marvelous also updated information on the Japan website for Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town.

• The sky garden the little Earth Sprites can take players to is way up in the sky, with a giant beanstalk leading to a small crop field.
• Villagers will post requests at the Olive Town city hall. Tasks that are town-based are for improving the town, such as helping to remodel the town's streets. Town improvements will help to attract more tourists.
• There are town festivals such as a painted-egg hunt, a mushroom hunt, and a barrel-distance launch.

Newly introduced villagers are:

• Misaki - Manages a town bistro
• Clemens - Tool shopkeeper
• Angela - Owns the town general store, and Cindy and Jack's mom
• Nguyen - Flowershop owner
• Carina - The local stylist of hair and makeup
• Norman - A cooking ingredients shopkeeper

There are still villagers with official reveals remaining such as grandpa's remaining friend (besides Mayor Victor), the biker-guy Rash, Manuela the fisherwoman, and Mikey the kid. Lots of villagers still left to go!

More gameplay videos were released over the past week, including this one that covers crafting:

『牧場物語 オリーブタウンと希望の大地』
🌱遊び方紹介🌱

【クラフト】
開拓や牧場で手に入れた素材で色んな物を作ろう！
収納箱やメーカー、柵や道にニワトリのオブジェまで！？
クラフトであなただけの牧場を自由につくろう✨

🌐https://t.co/qmTLyLa0BO#牧場物語 #オリーブタウン #牧場物語25th pic.twitter.com/tHRoCABpvS

— 『牧場物語』公式アカウント (@bokumono_PR) December 11, 2020

The video begins with a massive list of craftable items in the main menu, along with a calendar, world map, and rucksack. Player can craft decorative items such as topiaries, paths, street lamps, and furniture. There are also recipes for useful items like gates and fences, farm tools (bucket), and maker machines. There is also a recipe for Small Fish Bait that can be attached to the fishing pole to make small fish easier to catch, and a recipe for a ring and a necklace! More than one of the same item can be crafted at a single moment Some crafted items can be customized by changing its color with paint; the current color will be noted in the corner of the item's icon in the rucksack.

Earlier videos cover the change of seasons and visiting the Sprites' village and taking care of animals with harvesting and using a farm bell to herd the animals out of their barns. There was a strange, grey-colored chicken in the poultry barn... hmm...

Japan-only Lottery Drawing

Marvelous in Japan is also holding a Twitter contest, with the grand prize being a BokuMono 25th-anniversary cow pillow. Farmers in Japan can enter by following the Official BokuMono account and then posting a tweet using the #告発牧場 hashtag in their tweets that states the cold, hard truth of video game farming. Examples given were comments like "watering crops until midnight" or "the sprites don't finish all their work" or "being chased by wild dogs."

Players have until midnight (Japan time) on December 25 to tweet their best farming truths. Qualifying entries will be entered into a drawing for the puffy cow head pillow that has holes to insert your hands for maximum nappage.

Until next time!

- Cher
(Bleh, I don't want to go outside and rake up wet leaves...)

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