New Harvest Moon games announced

Ubi Soft has today announced that it will publish Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life for the GameCube and Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town for the GBA in Europe later this year. The Harvest Moon farming simulation games have previously appeared on the Game Boy Color, the Nintendo 64, the PlayStation, and the PlayStation 2.

"Ubi Soft is looking forward to distributing the delightful Harvest Moon games later this year. The series has a loyal following and a well-deserved reputation for top-quality gameplay," said Sally Cormack, product manager at Ubi Soft. "The latest titles will bring many exciting new elements to the series."

Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life for the GameCube will introduce more than 40 new characters to the series and will feature improved systems for raising animals and growing vegetables. The GBA game is set in Mineral Town and is based on the world and characters from Harvest Moon: Back to Nature , which was released for the PlayStation in December 2000. Intriguingly, players will be able to link the two games together and effectively connect the two towns, which will allow villagers in the game to travel between the two towns, triggering new events and surprises as they do so.

Both Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life and Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town are scheduled for release in Europe in October this year. No North American release dates have been announced at this time, but we'll bring you more information on both games as soon as it becomes available.