Good news for farming fans

Whilst budding European horticulturists wait to get their green fingers on Rune Factory 2, due out tomorrow, North American farmers can look forward to the third instalment, the cleverly entitled Rune Factory 3, arriving on November 9th.

As well as the usual mixture of farming and fighting, Rune Factory 3 is the first multiplayer title in the series, allowing you and two friends to pillage dungeons in search of rare items, dangerous monsters and untold secrets.

Previous releases in the series, Rune Factory for DS and Rune Factory Frontier for Wii have both scored well, so hopefully Rune Factory 3 will be another impressive and addictive entry in the series.

We'll bring you a full review of Rune Factory 2 shortly after its European release, and will review Rune Factory 3 after it lands in North America on November 9th.

Natsume Inc., a worldwide developer and publisher of family-oriented video games, announced today that Rune Factory 3: A Fantasy Harvest Moon has gone gold and will be released for the Nintendo DST November 9th at an MSRP of $29.99. The game is rated E 10+ by the ESRB. The Rune Factory series combines the fun and rewarding gameplay of Harvest Moon with the fantasy and excitement of an action-RPG, offering Harvest Moon fans and traditional RPG players the best of both worlds.

"We can't wait for Rune Factory 3 to hit stores next month so players can experience this thrilling new chapter in the Rune Factory saga," said Hiro Maekawa, President and CEO at Natsume. "It's loaded with content: great new characters, more than a hundred challenging quests, and an all-new multiplayer mode! It's one of the deepest and richest RPG experiences you can find on the DS!"

The people of Sharance and their horned Univir neighbors are embroiled in a bitter conflict. An age-old hatred between humans and monsters divides them. Micah is an adventurer with an unusual secret: he's half monster! He'll have to unite the humans and the Univir in time to stop the growing evil force that threatens to destroy them both!

Rune Factory 3 introduces a number of exciting new features to the Rune Factory series: befriended villagers will now join you in battle and lend you their unique skills, players can transform Micah into his monster form to unleash a savage new arsenal of fighting moves, and the game's new multiplayer mode lets up to three players work together to conquer unique dungeons packed with rare items and fearsome monsters.