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: Home Sweet Home (August 2024) and Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life (June 2023)
• Europe: Harvest Moon: Home Sweet Home (August 2024) 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

Release Date Announced for Next Harvest Moon Game, Marv/XSeed Shuffle Publishing Names, and Wholesome Games Celebration | Posted at 02:47 PM 16 August 2024

Happy Farm'n Friday! Autumn is fast approaching! I'm not too keen on the sky becoming dark earlier every day, but there is not much I can do about that except move somewhere closer to the equator. However, Mr.Fogu and the interns won't go along with that plan.

It is starting to become sunflower season. The first of the scraggly-looking stalks bloomed this week. I thought they didn't get enough sun to be large, full-leaved plants, but I've planted the same varieties in years past and grown great-looking sunflowers. This year, the tall sunflowers only reached about five feet tall. Kind of small, but it means I can view the flowers without looking up! And the bees don't care how tall the plants are anyway.

Maybe I'm jealous of the other sunflowers in the neighborhood, with their thick stalks and multi-headed flowers. If I can only grow skinny sunflowers, I'll plant more seeds next year and have a sunflower hedge. Gotta think positive, after all.

Harvest Moon:HSH Release Date

Natsume announced yesterday that the release date for their new farming game, Harvest Moon: Home Sweet Home, will be August 23 (next Friday!). The reveal included a new gameplay trailer:

Home Sweet Home puts the player in the role of a city dweller who decides to move back to their hometown of Alba. But like the protagonist, the youth have moved away, and the population is aging. Nobody wants to live there! Team up with your childhood friend to unlock happiness and restore the village to prosperity.

The trailer revealed lots of crop mutations, such as the Snowman and Mellow Yellow watermelon, White Eggplant, Ice Trumpet tulip, White Knight and Incredible sunflowers, and more. The crops also have the same star rank and quality characteristics as Winds of Anthos, which makes sense given that Home Sweet Home is basically a graphically improved version of the previous HM game.

The game has a total of 8 marriage candidates, several that have been revealed so far:

• Braden, the livestock owner from One World, who was revealed earlier and was in the horse race footage in the new trailer
• Christina, the female protagonist from Anthos
• Harriet, a competitive-like angler (new character)
• Hugo, the Alba town chef (new character)
• Jacques, the DLC character from Winds of Anthos, in a steampunk-less form
• Jeanne, the green-haired herbalist from Skytree Village and Light of Hope
• Justin, the male protagonist from Anthos

Naturally, if you're playing as Justin, then the Alba-town childhood friend and marriage candidate is Christina. And if you're playing as Christina, then Justin is a marriage candidate. So I'm assuming that means six marriage candidates have been revealed, as you can't marry Justin if you are Justin. The press release says "four different bachelors and four different bachelorettes" are available, so maybe there's a chance that my best buddy is finally a candidate? Maybe? We'll have to wait and see...

The game includes competitive and date festivals, fishing, protagonist clothing outfits, Doc Jr's fertilizer maker, and foraging. Mining is also included, but we have yet to see how that works.

More information about a price will likely occur closer to the game's release date next week. Can't wait!

(I had to take vacation time starting on the 23rd, so this aligns perfectly with my time-off from office work. Completely a coincidence!)

Marv Restructure

As per Marvelous' fiscal year report a few months back, Marvelous has moved forward with making the company name more prominent in the Western market. This week, the entertainment giant announced a brand reorganization with XSeed Games.

• Moving forward, all games from Marvelous JP that are being localized outside of Japan will be published under the Marvelous USA brand. This includes Story of Seasons, Rune Factory, and Farmagia.
• Games from third-party developers, such as the upcoming indie-developed vampire-themed farming game, Moonlight Peaks, will be published under the XSeed Games brand.

Speaking of Moonlight Peaks, with Gamescom coming up next week (August 21 to 25), developer Little Chicken has added the free demo back to the game's Steam Store page. If you are attending Gamescom, head over to the Indie Area to visit with them.

Another farming game that will be at Gamescom in the Indie Area is Sally from Lucid Tales. Crowdfunded in November 2022, this game has players teaming up with a group of kids and two grandmas as they sail the sky in their flying boat. They'll explore sky islands, grow crops on the deck, cook meals with friends, and more. You can learn more about Sally on the Steam Store page:

• Sally | Steam Store

Wholesome Games Celebration

The Wholesome Games group is showcasing a variety of cozy and happy games from now until August 21. The Wholesome Games Celebration offers discounts and free demos for a variety of cuddly and fun games, including several farming games:

• Dikum (20% off, early access)
• Everafter Falls (10% off, demo available)
• GoGo Town (10% off, early access)
• Ikonei Island - An Earthlock Adventure (70% off, multiplayer support)
• Lightyear Frontier (25% off, early access, demo available)
• Rusty's Retirement (25% off, idle game)
• Snacko (25% off, early access)
• SunnySide (25% off, demo available)
• Sunrises Order (25% off, demo available)
• Wylde Flowers (25% off, demo available)

Indie farming game SunnySide is also now available on PlayStation 5 and XBox X|S. Rainy Games' next goal is to release their farming game on the Epic Game Store. I bet they're all excited to have their game finally out after years of hard work!

Until next time!

-Cher
(Gotta get my iPad charged up for Home Sweet Home!)

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