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Marvelous, XSEED to tell Little King's Story this winter
Both XSEED and Marvelous Interactive have confirmed plans to bring the Wii-exclusive sim-style RPG Little King's Story to North America. Previously known simply as "Project O," the game marks the second "key" title to emerge from the companies' recent co-publishing alliance. Not to be confused with that other game about kings and town building, Little King's Story is said to combine simulation, strategy, and adventure game elements as players build their kingdom, manage townsfolk, and conquer rival nations. The art style alone has our interest piqued, and with devs and designers from such games and series as Harvest Moon, Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and Super Mario RPG attached to the project, we doubt that we'll be able to resist waving the Wii remote in the air like a scepter when Little King's Story drops this winter. %Gallery-24964%
These Steal Princess screens fell off the back of a truck
If there's one thing we've said about Steal Princess, it's that the art is fantastic. Seriously, are your jaws on the floor every time you look at something from the game? Our jaws have crashed to the floor a record number of times.The latest on the game, courtesy of Famitsu's site, presents us with a glimpse into some of the items players would be using. Also, by way of these screens, we get to check out some of the game's environments. Which, by the way, look pretty good. Overall, we're liking everything we're seeing on the game.If you're looking for more, check out the official website for the game.
More information for your Avalon Code logbook
Matrix Software's Avalon Code affords players a decent amount of customization in terms of weapons: as revealed in this latest update, you'll be able to equip a weapon in each hand, from a selection including swords, axes, crossbows and other implements. In addition, you can use items to add elemental attributes to those weapons, increasing their effectiveness against certain types of monsters. We're sure you'll be able to identify monsters' elemental weaknesses on sight, both from having played an RPG before or from possessing a modicum of common sense (if there are ice monsters, for example, they would obviously be weak against Cap'n Crunch fire), but just in case they aren't obvious, that information will be among the data gathered when you attack the enemy with your book.
Why buy the Harvest Moon when you get the cow for free?
There's been a disturbing lack of press about Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility. In fact, we've probably seen and heard more about Rune Factory: Frontier than we have about Tree, which came out in Japan last year.What we do know is that preordering the title through Amazon will get you an adorable cow plushie. Of course, it's difficult to tell when you'll actually receive the game and plush doll; Natsume lists "Summer 2008," Gamestop lists late July, Gamefly lists early August, and Amazon lists late August, to name a few of the scattered release dates. Still, for Harvest Moon fans who were planning to buy the game anyway, a cute cow plush is a nice bonus that might make preordering through Amazon the best way to go. It's certainly not the greatest gift ever, but we think it will definitely appeal to the Harvest Moon crowd ... mostly because we're in that crowd, and we want one for ourselves. Gallery: Harvest Moon [Via CAG]
Harvest Moon: Chicken of Happiness
Okay, the bad news first: it looks like that rumored delay for Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness was not only true, but understated: while GameStop still says July 29, Amazon now says August 26, and other recent updates to their listing seem to indicate that they know what's going on. Those "other recent updates" form the good news: if you preorder Island of Happiness from Amazon, you get this amazingly cute plush chicken and chick, both of which look like they came from the Pac-Man cartoon. We don't care when it's coming out or, really, what the game is: we just want the spheroid chicken. %Gallery-15230% [Via CAG]
Rune Factory Frontier produces screens, website
Harvest Moon fans (like us) are probably drooling at the thought of Rune Factory: Frontier, which is releasing in Japan sometime this year (and not in other territories until forever, we'd guess). Yet by now, you should be used to the "look but don't touch" mantra, with all the screens we show you week after week.As far as Rune Factory: Frontier goes, being restricted to looking is especially painful because the screens are nothing short of lovely. We only wish that Marvelous was quicker with the whole localization thing.In other news, the game's official website is open for business. Since the site isn't offering anything tangible at the moment, though, you can just click past the break to see the rest of the pretties.
Steal a glimpse at Steal Princess commercial and art
We haven't heard much about Climax's Steal Princess other than, well, that Climax is working on it and that it's a dungeon/puzzle game of some kind based on finding a key to exit each room of a dungeon (sort of a roguelike-lite?)With Climax and publisher Marvelous preparing Steal Princess for a July 31 release, we've been given more reason to pay close attention. First, they've released four pieces of artwork that we wish were wallpaper-sized, which can be found at Inside-Games. Of course, the game doesn't use the same high-contrast anime look as these images, but they're still effective advertising (in that they are really cool). Second, if you want to know more about the actual game, Marvelous has released a commercial, featuring several simultaneous tiny gameplay clips. We may have reason to be interested in Steal Princess. AQ Interactive's announcement of their U.S. publishing plans includes a lot of Marvelous games whose identity has yet to be revealed. It seems likely that they'd pull from their DS lineup.
Rumor: Harvest Moon: Delay of Frustration
Once mooted for a June 8th release, Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness now looks like being held up for almost two months, after Gamestop listed a revised release date of July 29th. Oh, sure, that's not the same as official confirmation from Natsume by any means, but we won't lie to you: we're all worried sick. Our cow, Clover (far right), is so concerned she's barely yielding any milk, the sheep are bleating more than usual, while mealtimes at the old farmhouse are now conducted in deathly silence. Even the chickens look sort of anxious. %Gallery-15230% [Via Go Nintendo]
XSEED inks Marvelous deal, Valhalla Knights II confirmed
Sometimes one set of hands just isn't enough to bring games stateside. At least, that's the thinking over at niche game publisher XSEED, which just signed a co-publishing deal with Harvest Moon virtuoso Marvelous Entertainment. The pair note that the agreement will help let Marvelous set up shop here in the US, while XSEED will help localize "key" titles from the Japanese studio.While the news makes us think that we'll soon be up to our eyeballs in farming sims, XSEED has only thus far confirmed that it will help localize Valhalla Knights II, though the companies note that additional game announcements will follow shortly. The sequel to last year's PSP action RPG Valhalla Knights is expected to ship this fall, with XSEED marketing guru Ken Berry stating belief that the game "will help to set the quality standard high for all future games coming out of this deal." That's certainly a lofty expectation for a sequel to a game that was largely panned by critics last year.
Promotional Consideration: Moons, Zombies, Dodgeballs, and Tactics
Aside from its preview page tease and Time Hollow's localization, there wasn't much in the way of exclusive DS news in this month's Nintendo Power, at least compared to what we've seen in recent issues.Paging through the magazine, however, we spotted at least two advertisements that we wanted to share with you. As we were tearing them out to throw into our scanner, we thought, "Why not post all of the other DS ads (and the cover)?" Join us past the break for the scanned pages!
New Valhalla Knights 2 class revealed
Normally, you know everything you need to about a game well before its release nowadays. Back when the internets were just a series of tubes in a cradle, we had to rely on magazines to feed us information only on select titles -- often after the games were released. So to hear that Marvelous waited until a month prior to their release of Valhalla Knights 2 to talk about one of their character classes (something that should be a major talking point) is a surprise.The new class is a martial arts sort of group who call themselves Akatoki. Apparently, neither the male nor female class really enjoys wearing a top. But of course, the latter has to for fairly obvious reasons. This game hasn't been picked up for localization outside of Japan yet, but the natural course of things dictates that sequels will normally come out, regardless how the first title sold. Do you hear us, Nippon Ichi and Namco-Bandai? We want Ar Tonelico 2. We won't forget. We also want this.
Rising Star picks up Rune Factory for Europe
Chalk this one up in the "better late than never" category, Europe. Rising Star, niche game publisher extraordinaire, will be bringing Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon to the continent in September, only a year after the game came out in North America and two years after it first released in Japan. In case you're confused, yes, we mean the first Rune Factory, not the hopefully-soon-to-be-localized sequel.Still, for what it's worth, this blogger thoroughly enjoyed the game. Are any of you European Harvest Moon fans excited about this news, or has that ship sailed long ago?[Via press release]
DS Daily: Tough choices
The next few months will be filled with a lot a great releases -- perhaps too many. Super Dodgeball Brawlers, Bangai-O Spirits, Final Fantasy Tactics A2, Etrian Odyssey II, Space Invaders Extreme, Arkanoid DS, Rondo of Swords, Jake Hunter: Detective Chronicles, Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness, and The World Ends With You are just a few that we can name on the spot, and all of these will be out before July starts. Unless you have abundant amounts of currency, though, you probably can't afford to buy that many games in such a short period of time. Also, money isn't the only problem. Supposing that you could afford everything you wanted, you wouldn't even have the time to play them all. Narrowing down the field is tough, but necessary. What games that are coming out in the next three months do you consider must gets? And they don't have to be chosen from the games listed above, so go nuts.
King Story screens tell an interesting tale
We can't help but be charmed by King Story. While we've never hidden the fact that we love the game's artwork and style, seeing it all in screen form makes us even giddier. Our favorite of the batch is the world map (pictured above), which features medieval-style art that's just perfect for a game of this nature.Aside from learning that hats are serious business in this title, we've also come across a few (roughly) translated details. Since a king is nothing without his subjects, one of your tasks will be to expand your land to attract more people. There are monsters around to threaten the folks living in your country, though (see that big dragon there?), so you're going to have to vanquish those, too. There are also seven other kingdoms (you can see the eight different lands pictured in the map above), each of which has their own king. As for the towns in your country, each person has their own name, job, and business to attend to, leaving a lot of NPCs for you to interact with.But if you're looking forward to this game, don't get too excited yet. While King Story should be releasing in Japan this summer, it will probably be a long while before this title gets localized. In the meantime, though, you can check out the screens we've posted after the break.
Samurai Deep Discount Kyo
Remember Samurai Deeper Kyo, that anime-based game released with the Samurai Deeper Kyo DVD set earlier this year? It's a rare cart due to its limited availability with the expensive "Complete Series" collection, and it has the added allure of also providing a solid action experience, despite having been originally released in Japan back in 2002.Well, those of you who saw the DVD set's exorbitant mark up and resigned yourself to never owning this gem might want to reconsider with Best Buy's sale price: $29.99. While that might seem like a lot to pay for a GBA game these days, that's less than half of its usual list price of $79.99! Plus, you'll also get a heap of episodes from an anime which may or may not be worth watching![Via GoNintendo]
More screens illuminate Luminous Arc 2
The Luminous Arc 2 love just keeps on coming. These newest screens show some Flash Drives, some basic attacks, and some character art. The Flash Drives are still a little underwhelming in the details department, but for the most part, the game looks stunning. We also like that the character pictured to the right uses a giant rolling pin as her weapon.Localization for the game is still not planned, but after news of Etrian Odyssey II coming to North America, we're confident that Atlus will come through on Luminous Arc's sequel soon -- even if it's not an in-house game.%Gallery-15251%
We're willing for localization on Luminous Arc 2: Will
There might not be any big butts in these latest Luminous Arc 2: Will screens (posted in the gallery below), but they're still worth looking at. In case you didn't notice from previous screens, the art style is similar to the first game, but with a much more attractive interface and menu system this time. Hopefully that means the developers have fixed some of the more frustrating aspects of the first game, but then again, if this doesn't end up localized, we suppose we have nothing to worry about. After spending some time with the original Luminous Arc, though, we're hoping that we do see this game on our shores eventually.But, are there already too many SRPGs bound for the DS for you to hope for localization on this one? Or, would you like to see Luminous Arc 2 reach English-speaking and other markets at some point?The official website was also updated with some wallpapers and videos, so fans of the series should head on over there and check it out. As for those of you who can read Japanese, you might be interested to know that this game is set to release on May 15th.%Gallery-15251%
Gamestop preorder bonus for Harvest Moon DS Cute is cute
Gamestop can be so cruel to our wallets. We try to resist their silly preorder bonuses that come with games, but at times it's too hard to ignore the temptation. The most recent battle of wills comes with Gamestop's bonus for Harvest Moon DS Cute. If you couldn't tell from the picture above, it's a plush cat! That may not seem like a big deal for many of you -- after all, what's another cheap stuffed animal? -- but here at DS Fanboy, we love cats (especially the "lol" kind). Maybe not as much as we love pugs, but we digress. We like the Harvest Moon series anyway, so normally preordering this game wouldn't be an issue. Yet, since two Harvest Moon games are coming out pretty close to each other, we were hoping to spend our money on Island of Happiness instead. Cute is essentially the same game as Harvest Moon DS, except that the main character is a girl rather than a boy (plus, a few other minor additions). Island of Happiness, on the other hand, is a completely new game with a Lost in Blue meets Harvest Moon concept. We probably won't waver in our decision to stick with Island of Happiness, but if you're a fan of the franchise and haven't played Harvest Moon DS yet, this preorder bonus might make the purchase a worthwhile one. [Via Siliconera]
DS Daily: Samurai Deeper Kyo and the last GBA game you played
Just when we thought we had played the last great GBA game, Siliconera pointed us towards Samurai Deeper Kyo, a slick action title recently brought to the US by Destineer. Marvelous Interactive published it in Japan back in 2002, but that doesn't take away from how fun it looks! The game only comes packed as a bonus with the Samurai Deeper Kyo anime series DVD set, so you'll find it difficult to acquire a copy. Anyway, the idea of having another GBA release to look forward to finding and playing reminded us how long it's been since we tapped that bottom box on the DS's initial menu screen. Months! How long has it been for you? And what was the last GBA game you loaded up?
No More Heroes first planned for 360, says Suda51
No More High-Definition Heroes was almost a reality, had Grasshopper Manufacture's Goichi Suda not been privy to some Wii whisperings during his project's planning stages. "Originally, I'd wanted to make this game for Xbox 360, actually," he told MCV. The No More Heroes designer, also known as "Suda51," explained that he was swayed by Marvelous Interactive president Yashiro Wada, who shared "information about the new Wii and how the new controller would work before it came out." Suda51 admitted to being pleased with his choice, feeling that the distinctive wack 'n slash worked well with the Wii's control system. We're inclined to agree ... but then we wonder if anybody's ever expressed concern over the Xbox 360's "hardcore" audience.
