Princess Debut Charms Our Dancing Shoes Off

Back at E3, we had a chance to check out some of the titles Natsume is publishing in the US. Titles like Rune Factory 2 for the DS. It's of course the second Rune Factory game, which is best explained as Harvest Moon meets fantasyland. The game's going to be out this fall, and here's something I didn't know about it: Rune Factory 2 has over 9,000 words of text. That's a lot of text! For those not into the fantasy element, the DS and the Wii will both see new Harvest Moon games. Bring on the farming and marrying!

Natsume's Princess Debut Contains Dancing, Romancing, Dresses

Harvest Moon publisher Natsume has a new IP - it's called Princess Debut, a "rhythm and adventure game for girls" coming to Nintendo DS in the fall.

It sounds a little bit rhythm-action, a little bit dating sim (not the hentai kind of dating sim, of course). Players become a princess and have 30 days to master dance moves and woo one of six princes to be their partner, over the course of a branching, event-driven storyline before the dance portion begins.

There are 20 different outfits, 14 endings and 18 different musical styles like Waltz, Latin, Dance, Tango and Ballroom. Natsume knows its audience (e.g, me) — I'm generally not into "games for girls" per se, but multiple endings, tons of unlockables, romance and rhythm gameplay? Seriously, I'm so there.

Admit it, guys — this sounds kind of cool to you, too, right? Right?!

The Harvest Moon farm/life sim franchise is coming up on ten years old! Natsume will toast the anniversary with not one, but two new games "later this quarter," and promises tons of commemorative goodies, too.

There's Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness for DS, and Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility for Wii. And yes, there will be pre-order bonus stuffed toys.

Please hold the girl jokes, but as a fan, I think this news is amazing. Especially because the screenshots, handily provided for you after the jump, show that in the Wii version, you can ride on an ostrich. Horses are so ten years ago. And screenshots for the DS version (one of which seriously shows a girl saying "Wow, it's bigger than I thought"), reveal not only that the possible girlfriends are as decision-wrenchingly cute as always, but that the top screen map will actually show you where townsfolk are so that you can visit them.

Full announcement along with the screens after the jump.

One of my favorite games at last year's E3 was Natsume's Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon for the Nintendo DS, a bizarre melding of Harvest Moon farming with action RPG. Now Natsume announces the imminent arrival of the sequel, Rune Factory 2, heading to the Nintendo DS this fall, featuring all of the monster-fighting, girl-wooing, crop-planting action of the original with an all-new storyline and the ability to eventually take on the role of your son, should the aforementioned wooing work out for you.

Natsume will be showing off the new title next month at their E3 booth, traditionally known as Paradise to Harvest Moon fans. We'll see if we can't stop by and give the old hoe a go.

The Other Atari

Japanese RPG fans, rejoice. Japan-based publisher Marvelous Entertainment announced a co-publishing partnership with L.A.-based XSeed, who's best known for Shadow Hearts: From The New World and Wild Arms 4 and 5. Through the deal, Marvelous, who among other titles publishes Natsume's Harvest Moon series, gains more North American presence, while XSeed gets to publish some of Marvelous' upcoming games here in the U.S.

Slated for a Fall 2008 launch, the first title they'll co-publish is Valhalla Knights 2 for PSP, a sequel to the April 2007 RPG that the two companies also co-published.

Full release follows the jump.

XBLA Game Music Is Getting Better, Yo

As far as video game music is concerned, when the service first started, we either had to limit the number of the tracks or use built-in synth to play each tune in order to accommodate the capacity restrictions. I think that most of these technical problems can be solved now because of recent improvements in the technology. I think that it would be truly interesting if games come about using the powerful sound capabilities of the Xbox 360 while incorporating a system that manipulates sound in real-time so that the music interacts on a deep level with the gameplay.

Hudson and Natsume's Omega Five was originally scheduled to hit Xbox Live Arcade sometime in November, but that's obviously come and gone and we're without the game. It looks like Xbox 360 owners may finally get the side-scrolling shoot 'em up as early as next week, as Console Monster indicates a January 9th release date. It was certainly one of my highlights at last year's Tokyo Game Show, so I'll be first in line. No solid word on pricing yet, but the Forgotten Worlds-esque shmup looks like it's worth the scratch.

January 9th Arcade Release Revealed [360 Monster via Destructoid]

Hudson's Omega Five isn't sorta great, it's really great. And by "really great," we mean really great. At TGS, we played the crap outta it and are very much looking forward to downloading it. Gamasutra's Brandon Sheffield has posted a Q&A with Hudson director Daisuke Sato. Hudson is publishing, but Natsume (Wild Guns, Harvest Moon) developed the game with a small five person team. That, however, is not why the game is called Omega Five. Doh! Sheffield asks Sato if the game is an Xbox 360 exclusive:

Q). Do you have any plans to bring Omega 5 to PlayStation's PSN?

A). Not at present, no.

Q). Any particular reasons why not?

A). The specs of the respective hardware were one reason. We also determined that certain aspects of the development would be easier using the 360. The project was conceived of first for the 360, and we kept it exclusive to keep the development team small.

Omega Five Is Alive

Harvest Moon for the Rest of Your Life