Synergy is the name of the game these days. Perhaps that's why Marvelous and XSEED have formed a US co-publishing agreement. For the two companies, its all about establishing a greater presence in North America. This means good news for fans of Valhalla Knights 2 and other games as well. More on the strategic business move in the full article after the jump.

Yasuhiro Wada is moving out of the farm life and is taking his life-sim visions on to the villages with the Nintendo Wii title King's Story. Today we managed to get a bunch of new screenshots from the game, all of which you can see by clicking on the "read more" link below.

It was revealed only a couple of days ago that the European version of Nintendo Wii exclusive No More Heroes was censored and that the original bloody and gore-filled content were removed.

European publisher Rising Star Games, at the time of the announcement, refused to provide any explanation for the said development. But Suda 51 and Wada recently came up with one. Check their response after the jump!

Grasshopper Manufacture's offering for the Nintendo Wii, Suda51's No More Heroes, did not receive a warm welcome at launch. According to Akiba Blog, nobody bought the game aside from a member of the press.

More details await at the full article.

Similar to Harvest Moon games, Marvelous Interactive's Yasuhiro Wada said he wants to create something like Spore (Nintendo Wii, DS, PC) in which gamers can create something that grows and produces other nifty stuff. In an interview, Wada talked about micro worlds and shared his ideas.

Find out more at the full article.

We certainly can't wait to get our hands on Grasshopper Manufacture and Marvelous Entertainment's No More Heroes, but we'll just have to wait until February next year for the game to hit Western shores. For the meantime, check out some juicy info that Suda 51 and executive producer Yasuhiro Wada revealed in the No More Heroes launch event held in Shibuya. Details in the full article!

We all love the Harvest Moon franchise. It lets us live the easy life: plow the farm, run errands, and woo the girl (or boy) of our dreams. And when Marvelous Entertainment president Yasuhiro Wada said that the next Harvest Moon game will have online game features, we'll find ourselves loving the game series even more.

In an interview with Game Informer, Wada said that an online Harvest Moon is in the works, but he did not specify for which platform. He did mention that it will not be a MMORPG for the PC platform, however.

Wada revealed that two to eight players will be able to interact in another player's town, and even toyed with the possibility of letting every player have the same NPCs available in your town. Does that mean that there's a possibility of love triangles between two players and a virtual wife? Interesting, that.

Wada didn't mention which console will get this Harvest Moon title, so we'll have to keep our eyes peeled for now. More updates to come!

  

One of Wii's much-awaited titles, Project O (Ousama Monogatari  in Japan), now has a more concrete release date: Spring of 2008 in Japan. It's not really that concrete, but now at least we have an idea when it will be released next year.

More details on the game was introduced in the Tokyo Game Show event by Marvelous Interactive, courtesy of producer Yoshiro Kimura and executive producer Yasuhiro Wada, also Marvelous Interactive's CEO.

Touched upon in Marvelous' discussion was the issue of Project O's genre. Kimura said that the game is an RPG Simulation, a different thing altogether compared to the Simulation RPG genre. The Simulation RPG genre includes games like Final Fantasy Tactics.

Project O promises to deliver more oomph despite the lack of things that players usually manage in Simulation RPGs. Kimura said that gamers will be able to enjoy the game as much as the same way early gamers enjoyed simple games on the Famicom (or NES), and seeing that the game packs in a lot of charm that is characteristic of most classic games, it's not that hard to imagine why.

If you've been closely following QJ.NET's coverage of the unfolding Tokyo Game Show (TGS), you'll know that one of the more anticipated titles (even though slated for Japan-only releases) belong to Marvelous Interactive.

We just got word that these titles will be soon arriving in North American shores as well. This news came from Harvest Moon creator Yasuhiro Wada as he spoke about Marvelous' plans for U.S. and the rest of the Western markets.

According to Wada, a satellite office will be opened somewhere in North America within the next two years. Wada metioned:

We'll bring a couple of people from Japan to manage, but of course we need somebody in the U.S. who already has connections and relationships with retailers and distribution channels, which is why we are hoping to find a partnership with someone who's already in the U.S.

The video game creator also said that this will facilitate the releases of their different titles in the said region. "We might leave Harvest Moon with Natsume. But all the new and original titles we'll be trying to launch in Japan, we'll want to launch ourselves in the U.S.", Yasuhiro Wada continued.

Some of the more prominent titles from Marvelous Interactive include No More Heroes for Nintendo Wii and Valhalla Knights 2 for the PlayStation Portable.

Here's another gamerzines.com offering. Since the bigger consoles (360Zine) and PC get a version of the free downloadable magazine made for the DS and PSP called HGZine (short for Handheld GamerZine).

This issue features a number of exclusives including: WipEout Pulse (hands on and developer interview), an interview with Yasuhiro Wada, creator of Harvest Moon, and a sneak peek at Team 17's Worms.

Reportedly, Yasuhiro Wada reveals that a new Harvest Moon set to hit next year and that he thinks Microsoft is working on its own portable gaming device.

Also included are reviews of portable games like Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales, SOCOM: Fireteam Bravo 2, Burnout Dominator, and Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops. Publishing director David Taylor had this to say:

Traditionally portable games have been overlooked by the games press. However, gone are the days when the DS and PSP simply get ports of cut-down versions of console games. Now we have exciting new properties like the Brothers In Arms game for DS in this issue or WipEout Pulse, where the game has been designed from the ground up for the device and gamers are now looking for ways to keep up to date with their favourite games on these platforms. HGZine is a great way to do this, with professionally written features and pages enhanced with video and multimedia.

As is usual, you'll need a copy of Adobe Reader version 6 or higher to be able to read the magazine.