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Seven minutes of little-known facts about Harvest Moon
Harvest Moon creator Yasuhiro Wada considers Harvest Moon 64 the version closest to his initial image of the game, and the PlayStation edition, Harvest Moon: Back to Nature was supposed to be an updated remake of 64. Find out what else you don't know in these seven minutes of Did You Know Gaming?
PSA: Hometown Story opens shop, designed by creator of Harvest Moon
A death in the family assigns the title of shopkeeper to its owner's descendent in Hometown Story, a town simulation game for the 3DS designed by Harvest Moon series creator Yasuhiro Wada and scored by Nobuo Uematsu. If braving the hells of retail as a bright-faced youth seems overwhelming, know that you'll have a magical sprite named Pochica to spout advice at you as you manage your storefront. Managing the shop will gradually introduce you to the town's inhabitants, leaving you to decide whether you'd like to help them out of their crises. Gathering items from villagers or the outskirts of town will help your shop grow, granting players a bigger inventory and more foot traffic. If you're considering taking on another life aside from your Pokedex conquest or your stint as mayor, Hometown Story is on display in actual stores this week.
Hometown Story travels to North America on October 22
Hometown Story settles down in North America on October 22 for 3DS, publisher Natsume announced. Hometown Story comes from Yasuhiro Wada, the creator of Harvest Moon, and it plays off of that franchise's strengths: adorable characters conducting business and meeting people in a happy village. Wada told us at E3 that Hometown Story will focus less on farming and more on the spectrum of human relationships – and not just marriage, as is the case with Harvest Moon. "When marriage eventually turned into the overall goal for some players, I started feeling a little awkward about that," Wada said. "With Hometown Story, I wanted to shift the focus from marriage to many different kinds of human relationships."
Hometown Story hopes to recapture that Harvest Moon magic
The Natsume booth feels more than a little out of place amid the murder and mayhem that defines the E3 show floor experience. For those weary of the pulsing music, constant explosions and gruff voice-overs blasting from every ear-level speaker in sight, Natsume's display of gentle, colorful games about farming and fishing can feel like an oasis from sensory overload. While they've dabbled in just abut every genre known to man, an unexpected game called Harvest Moon – which hit the SNES long after it withered on the vine – has since become Natsume's strongest brand, with 19 prime series games to date. There's no end in sight for this strangely compelling series, though its creator Yasuhiro Wada has moved on to a new IP called Hometown Story, which he hopes will have the same longevity as the series that introduced the curious addictiveness of simulating mundane tasks years before The Sims.%Gallery-191606%
Retail therapy: Wada's 'Project Happiness' is a shopkeeper's life
Harvest Moon creator Yasuhiro Wada and publisher Natsume revealed their next project together at E3. "Project Happiness" is a new IP in which you run a shop in a small village, buying and selling items to improve the shop and learning the stories of all the customers who come in over the years. Natsume later revealed plans to put it on 3DS and mobile; during an interview at E3, Wada said it was planned for a "variety of platforms."Wada recruited top talent to create his new game. Character designs, for both humans and the adorable "sprite" creatures that inhabit the world, are by Pokemon character designer Atsuko Nishida. The music, including that heard in the above trailer, is composed by legendary Final Fantasy series composer Nobuo Uematsu.
Harvest Moon creator working on new IP 'Project Happiness' for Natsume
Talking to us at GDC about his new company Toybox, Harvest Moon creator Yasuhiro Wada hinted at upcoming announcements for E3. Today, Natsume revealed that Toybox will develop a new IP codenamed "Project Happiness," with Natsume publishing the unknown game in North America and Rising Star Games publishing in Europe."Project Happiness is an IP that is very close to my heart, and stems from years of working on other great titles like the Harvest Moon series," Wada said in the announcement. "Project Happiness is not only meant to be a fun game experience, but I also want it to help expand the player's view of the world, and make them ponder what their life means to them." It's a tall order, and one we're not sure will lead to happiness in all cases.Natsume and Wada will reveal more about Project Happiness at E3, and Joystiq will be there to tell you about it.
Harvest Moon creator Wada forms Toybox Inc.
Yasuhiro Wada has had a long career. He's best known for creating the Harvest Moon series at Victor Interactive Software, which later became known as Marvelous Entertainment. Later, he became CEO of Marvelous, a position he left in 2010 to become COO of Grasshopper Manufacture. Now, Wada is returning to creative work, and has formed his own company, called Toybox Inc., a two-man operation with former Marvelous producer Tomio Kanazawa (who worked on Deadly Premonition when Marvelous published it in Japan). They have three projects in the works -- the PS3 update of Deadly Premonition, and two others they may announce at E3.Like Mistwalker, the two creators plan to work with development partners on each game. "Toybox is only two," Wada told me. "We are the control hub." The new company will support "all" console and handheld platforms, and Wada plans to make "not so big, but not download" games.
Yasuhiro Wada waxes nostalgic about Harvest Moon
Yasuhiro Wada has been engaged in the games industry for over 20 years, but lately he's been more into management than actual game production. With the formation of Toybox Inc, however, he joins the ranks of Japanese developers like Yuji Naka and Keiji Inafune – developers who left top management positions at major companies to pursue more active creative roles at smaller startups. While his name might not be the biggest in the biz, he's responsible for one of the most quietly influential games in the industry: Bokujou Monogatari, known outside of Japan as Harvest Moon.Wada grew up in the countryside, where he dreamed of eventually making his way to the big city. When he finally did get to Tokyo, however, he learned that there are some elements to good ol' country living that deserve appreciation. It was this experience that served as the inspiration for a game idea: A non-combative game that conveyed the simple pleasures of country life. It wasn't an easy pitch, and Wada had to build rapport at his company first with a portfolio of small successes. It took about 2 years to build both the record and the budget necessary to propose Harvest Moon to his higher-ups, but his patience paid off in both development and marketing experience.[Image: GameFAQS]
Yasuhiro Wada working with Swery on new Deadly Premonition PS3 project
During his GDC panel (ostensibly a Classic Game Postmortem on Harvest Moon), former Marvelous CEO Yasuhiro Wada casually revealed that he's working with Hidetaka "Swery65" Suehiro on a new Deadly Premonition project for PS3.The announcement was far too casual to include details -- like whether it's a sequel or some kind of update of the original (which came out on PS3 in Japan) -- but Wada said that a for-real announcement was possible at E3.
Report: Kimura, Wada leave Grasshopper Manufacture
Two of Grasshopper Manufacture's recent high-profile hires have left the company as of last month, Siliconera reports. Former Marvelous president Yasuhiro Wada and Little King's Story creator Yoshiro Kimura both left Marvelous and joined Grasshopper in 2010. Both had previously worked with Suda 51 as producers on No More Heroes. We're unsure what the two were working on at Grasshopper, but the company currently has plenty in progress. It's making Evangelion Sound Impact, Lollipop Chainsaw, Codename D, and, with Digital Reality, Sine Mora and Black Knight Sword.
Marvelous's Wada and Kimura join Grasshopper Manufacture
Grasshopper Manufacture has added even more talent to its roster, according to a report from the latest Famitsu. Yasuhiro Wada, former president of Marvelous Interactive (and creator of Harvest Moon), and Little King's Story director Yoshiro Kimura, have joined Suda 51's team as chief operating officer and chief creative officer, respectively. "We haven't released a single [original] title in the past year, which is something that caused a lot of regret in my mind," Suda told Famitsu (according to 1UP's translation). "Having these two people join Grasshopper will make us a more sturdily-organized company, and it'll improve our development, technical, and release skills." Both have previously worked as producers for Grasshopper games, including both No More Heroes. Suda suggested that the new hires could help Grasshopper expand into new genres, including games for all ages.
Yasuhiro Wada stepping down from Marvelous position
"Personal reasons" mark the departure of Yasuhiro Wada, the creator of the Harvest Moon franchise, from Marvelous Entertainment Inc., Kotaku reports. Wada will relinquish his current position at the end of the month, but will continue to serve the company in an advisory capacity. Wada has been critical of Marvelous as of late, voicing his concerns about the publisher's lack of brand recognition. While we'd agree that not every gamer out there knows about Marvelous, we'd also argue that producing one of the best games of 2009 is certainly a big step toward gaining consumer trust.
Marvelous' Wada: Game industry needs originality, Marvelous needs more recognition
Last month, Marvelous president Yasuhiro Wada posted a note on the publisher's site, in which he said he had "teary eyes" over disappointing sales of Marvelous' Wii products, including No More Heroes, Rune Factory Frontier, and Muramasa. He discussed his sentiment in an interview with Edge Online, saying that he is frustrated with the lack of originality in games and hopes to counter this with the Marvelous catalog. "I think this is why gamers are leaving video games," Wada told Edge of the reliance on existing IP. "I believe that variety is the only way to bring more people into gaming." Wada also said that the Xbox 360, despite Microsoft's "great job in bringing that many JRPGs on its console," is a lost cause in Japan, though there is hope for the next generation. As for why Marvelous games aren't selling, Wada puts some of the blame on lack of company recognition. "Marvelous has just reached the point its games are getting noticed and getting good reviews," he said. "But we are not a major name yet. The Marvelous brand is still associated to some not so good titles we made in the past." He compared the publisher to others like Nintendo, Capcom, and Square Enix. "Even if you don't fully understand what a title is about, because it's branded Nintendo, Capcom or Square Enix, you feel like ok to buy and try it." He said that the company needs to try to reach the roughly million-strong "gamer market" on Wii. A market that might enjoy, say, Little King's Story.
Suda and Wada behind bloodless No More Heroes
A recent announcement that Europe would be getting a bloodless version of No More Heroes didn't go down well with many of our bloodthirsty commenters. At the time, PAL publisher Rising Star Games refused to reveal what was behind the decision, but more light was shed on the omission earlier today, in a joint statement from director Suda51 and producer Yasuhiro Wada (pictured above unsuccessfully trying to give away free toilet roll and autographs on the streets of Akihabara).Turns out that it was Suda and Wada themselves who decided to drop the outrageous levels of gore from the European version, citing the "broadly growing Wii market" in the region.Not that this affects many of you, as the U.S. version still contains plenty of the crimson stuff. Buckets of it, in fact.
Creator of Harvest Moon interested in making a game like Spore
Is anyone else interested in some sort of Spore meets Harvest Moon hybrid? If you are, the future might very well be a rosy place, indeed, because Harvest Moon creator Yasuhiro Wada dreams of making a game similar to Will Wright's creation sim. He recently told Gamasutra, "Eventually, I'd like to make something like Spore, where you create something, and from there, new stuff is going to be created again and again and again ... But you want to be one of the people living in the city, and to be a part of this growing too."Wada also said that King's Story (which was his concept) was originally supposed to be more like Spore than what it turned into. We like how King's Story is shaping up, so we're not really bothered that it deviated from its original idea, but it still would be nice to see Wada's true vision ultimately realized. Hopefully we'll one day see this Spore-like game that he wishes to make.
