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Other than (of course) Nintendo, the presence of Japanese developers and games was fairly muted at E3. There were certainly treasures to be found for fans of niche Japanese gaming, however, and perhaps chief amongst these was Project Happiness, a game by Harvest Moon creator Yasuhiro Wada. Bound for the 3DS and mobile platforms, Project Happiness puts the player in charge of a store. Much like the player’s farm in the Harvest Moon series, the store’s success helps to revitalize the surrounding community. What’s particularly interesting about this game is the character design, which will be handled by Pokémon designer Atsuko Nishida, and the musical score, which will be done by Nobuo Uematsu, one of Japan’s most respected video game soundtrack creators. This is a big change from the Harvest Moon series, which generally doesn’t make great efforts in the graphic and sound departments. 
Project Happiness will be published by Natsume in North America, and is coming out in 2013. By Becky Cunningham |