From the Editor's Desk

I am so very blessed to be able to attend so many wonderful events. Recently I got to attend an informal Natsume event covering Harvest Moon The Tale of Two Towns (both for the DS and 3DS), and Gabrielle’s Ghostly Groove: Monster Mix on the Nintendo 3DS. I learned a lot of fascinating things about both games, and upcoming plans from Natsume. The first tidbit of information is they are working on a shop for their fans. Yes the plush animals from the Harvest Moon games will be on sale. Hopefully that will be available soon. They are hoping to have it ready early September.

Harvest Moon The Tales of Two Towns will be out on the DS on September 20, 2011. The Nintendo 3DS version will be out on October 11, 2011. The game will be similar on both the Nintendo DS and Nintendo 3DS. Pre-orders will receive a plush Alpaca. If you were at E3 (like I was), the Alpaca from E3 will be slightly different from the pre-order Alpaca. Speaking of animals, cats will help herding the chickens in a good way. The dogs will help herding the sheep. Also in a good way. Speaking of the animals, cats and dogs will get along.

The Nintendo 3DS will have better graphics, 3D (of course), 3D petting mini game, and Streetpass. Natsume wants a 3D Harvest Moon experience. However those who do not have a 3DS can experience the game on the Nintendo DS. Both versions will have a multiplayer mode. There is no interactivity between the Nintendo DS and Nintendo 3DS versions. Security protocols are too different. The farms in the multiplayer are different from the main game farms. This is for local and online.

Harvest Moon The Tales of Two Towns continues the non-linear fun in either Blue Bell(European style town known for live stock) or Konohana(Eastern style town known for growing crops). These two towns have conflict between them. Players decide which town to start out in. They can switch towns at the end of each season. They can also try to manage farms in both towns. So there is a linear story that the players can take at their own pace. The goal is to resolve the culinary war between the two towns. Numerous town rivalry events will happen in the game.

The majority of the characters in Harvest Moon The Tale of Two Towns are brand new. Triplets from bazaar, mailman from the bazaar, and Pierre returns. The harvest goddess takes care of multiplayer so she is also in the game. Up to three friends can join you in the multiplayer. The coolest thing about the sharing concepts in Harvest Moon The Tale of Two Towns is Streetpass. You select items (up to 99) and put them in a certain slot. As you run across others 3DS owners with the same game, trading will occur. If you only put a certain number of items it will stop there. Weeds can be exchanged for rare recipes. It all depends on what you put in there, and what they put it in. There is no Spotpass in Harvest Moon The Tale of Two Towns at this town.

Harvest Moon The Tale of Two Towns will increase the dialogue, and the personalities of the characters. They are working on the depth of the characters and the Bulletin Board quests. It will expand the roles the characters have. They are much more complex in Harvest Moon The Tale of Two Towns than in previous Harvest Moon games reflecting the complexity of people you will meet in real life.

Gabrielle's Ghostly Groove was moved from August to October 4rth, that way it will be out around the time of Halloween. She is in junior high school and sneezes her soul out. She is working on getting it back by scaring other little girls. Their screams power her up. There will be no Streetpass, and no multiplayer in Gabrielle's Ghostly Groove. The gyroscope will be used a bit for one mini game.  However players will not have to move a lot. She will have twenty different unlockable outfits. Natsume would also like to grow the Gabrielle's Ghostly Groove franchise. Maybe we will see this game on the Playstation 3 Move, and/or Xbox 360 Move.

Princess Debut and Cheer We Go were inspirations to the niche market that Gabrielle's Ghostly Groove encompasses. This is a hand held rhythm game on the Nintendo 3DS. It was originally slotted for the Nintendo DS but made the migration to the 3DS. The touch screen controls on the bottom screen does not require the exact placement. So the dancing is on the top screen in 3D, and the touches on the bottom screen is based all on timing. It improves the game play in rhythm games.

God bless you and yours,
Paul Bury
Editor in Chief
Family Friendly Gaming