Ushi No Tane
Harvest Moon News
Issue 67
http://www.fogu.com/hm/

August 24, 2006

The October 2006 issue of Nintendo Dream has new articles about the
latest versions of Harvest Moon. 

The Wii article has an interview with Yoshifumi Hashimoto, who is the
producer for Marvelous' Harvest Moon team. In the interview with
Nindori, Yoshifumi explains they most likely will not be using the
WiiConnect24 for there latest version of the game but they might if
they make another Wii version of the series. 

For those who don't know what WiiConnect24 is, it is a standy-by
system that allows the Wii console to download game updates when you
are not playing the system. It even allows developers to send demos
to the console while you sleep.

Yoshifumi also hints at a possible connectivity system between the
new DS "Island Grows With You" game and the Wii version. He did not
seem to deny or confirm that they are implementing a connection
between the two games. He's such a tease!

Nindori's article also explains that there are only 7 people living
on the Wii island where the Great Tree use to grow. There is
yourself, 3 girls (Airi, Casey, Lena), and 3 boys (Won, Ose, and
Gil). Marriage is possible in the game and your spouse is
(supposibly) able to help you with your farm work. You can choose to
play as a boy or a girl, so depending on what gender you pick you get
the 3 boys or the 3 girls as marriage canidates. There isn't any
information on the 6 villager's attitudes and lifestyles, but Won
looks to be a doctor of sorts and Casey reminds me of Gwen.

Nintendo Dream, page 17
http://www.fogu.com/hm/scans/060822_nindori_wii01.jpg 
Nintendo Dream, page 18
http://www.fogu.com/hm/scans/060822_nindori_wii02.jpg 
Nintendo Dream, page 19
http://www.fogu.com/hm/scans/060822_nindori_wii03.jpg

 There haven't been any full page scans for the DS Island game, only
images taken with a cell phone. From what I can read of the fuzzy
pictures you can grow Rice as a crop. The Rice is planted in the
Spring and then harvested in Fall. It also produces a higher yeild
harvest than regular crops and you can use the rice as cooking
ingredients.

Rune Factory is out in Japan! I haven't had the chance to play with
it yet (it is sitting on my desk, still unwrapped unfortunately) but
there are a few who have progressed through the game quite a bit.
Myah describes the game as being very normal Hm-ish until you get
into the caves and fight monsters. Festivals are an all day event and
time progresses as normal while you talk to the participants.

Here is a list of some of the festivals the Japanese players have
found:

Spring 01 - New Years Day
Spring 18 - Spring Thanksgiving 
Spring 23 - Egg Festival
Spring 27 - Cooking Contest

Summer 01 - Beach Opening Day
Summer 18 - Milk Festival
Summer 26 - Exploration Meetup

Fall 07 - Harvest Festival
Fall 17 - Moon Viewing
Fall 24 - Wool Festival
Fall 28 - Fishing Day

Winter 07 - Winter Thanksgiving
Winter 24 - Starry Night
Winter 30 - New Years Eve

There does not appear to be any Rivals to compete against for the
bachelorettes. Magic is available in the game and you can purchase
offensive and curative spells. 

Crop wise, you can grow Turnips, Potatos, Cucumber, Cabbage, Tomatos,
Corn, Onions, Pumpkin, Eggplants, Carrots, Sweet Potatos, Spinach,
Peppers, Strawberries, and Pineapple. There are also Apples, Grapes,
and Oranges, but I do not know if you can grow the trees yourself or
if they are "wild" items.

Until next time!

- Why was the sheep arrested on the freeway?
-- Because she did a ewe-turn! 

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PAST POLL QUESTION
Q: Interested in Harvest Moon Island?

47.8% = Only if it's translated into English.
31.3% = Are you dumb? Of course!!
13.4% = My head is swimming, too much Harvest Moon!
07.5% = Hey, you have a booger on your lip...
(Total votes: 67)

This issue's poll:
Q: If Natsume sold their games online to avoid delays, would you buy?

Vote at http://www.fogu.com/hm/hmlist/poll/ 
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