Natsume at E3 2008
The company behind Harvest Moon shows… plenty of Harvest Moon!
Tags: 2008 E3 Categories: DS Features, Features, Wii Features
Posted by Jake McNeill on Jul 21st, 2008
Natsume’s meeting room is possibly the quietest place at all of E3. This is not to say its games aren’t good or that there’s little interest in them, although I’d be remiss if I didn’t recognize that they generally target a very specific niche. Rather, I can’t help but think that this quiet atmosphere perfectly reflects the nature of the games on display perfectly, as anyone who knows the Harvest Moon series will attest, they are games with mellow themes, laid-back pacing, and actions that stress finding balance rather than causing chaos. We are talking about farming RPGs, after all.
With this year marking the series’ tenth anniversary, it comes as little surprise that three of the four games in Natsume’s booth are related to the Harvest Moon franchise. The first of these, Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility, marks the series’ first installment on the Wii, and naturally comes complete with the expected miming of actions like watering plants, raking leaves and chopping wood, all of which are thankfully optional. The game will also add a bevy of new pets, livestock, and crops, as well as a story revolving around the titular mother tree.
Due for release on the same day (August 26th) is Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness on the Nintendo DS. The game touts all-new Wi-Fi based online competitions and rankings, as well as a unique island locale for players to explore and populate.
Also on DS is Rune Factory 2, the sequel to Harvest Moon’s spin-off series with more RPG/dungeon crawler leanings. Due for release in October, the sequel improves on the game’s predecessor by adding more convenient on-screen menu icons, a multi-generational storyline, and some new Wi-Fi minigames.
Finally, the surprise at Natsume this year was a game by the name of Princess Debut, which seems like it was designed specifically for fans of my girlfriend’s favorite anime, Princess Tutu (it’s okay, though – she also likes stuff like Cowboy Bebop. But I digress). The game works out to be something like a combination of a traditional Japanese girl-oriented dating sim, and… uh, Elite Beat Agents. Yeah, it’s a wacky combination, and it’s worth a second look for that alone. The story follows a princess who must decide amongst various suitors with disparate personalities and then woo them with her skill at ballroom dancing. Now, imagine two grown men huddled over this game in serious conversation and you have an idea of just how absurd E3 can get for us sometimes.
Still, Natsume bears the unique distinction of being one of the few publishers to not only meet expectations this year, but at the same time bring something completely unexpected to the table. And while this still comes with the caveat that, yes, this is a publisher whose games aim for a very small niche, it seems undeniable that every last game in this lineup looks to hit that niche dead on.
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Tags: 2008 E3
Posted by Jake McNeill on Jul 21st, 2008 and is filed under DS Features, Features, Wii Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.
