Harvest Moon creator's Hometown Story leads Natsume's E3 slate

Natsume's E3 2013 presence will be highlighted by the first hands-on appearance of the Nintendo 3DS title Hometown Story, the publisher announced today.

Hometown Story was originally announced at E3 2012 by its director, Harvest Moon creator Yasuhiro Wada, as "Project Happiness." Wada revealed the game's new title, Hometown Story, in March.

In Hometown Story, you play as someone who inherits a store after their grandmother passes away; the task of running the store brings you back to your hometown, where your interactions with the townspeople gradually unfold your backstory while you attempt to keep the shop in business. According to Wada, the game takes place in the Harvest Moon universe, but is different from that series of farm-simulation titles.

Wada is working on the game at Toybox, the Japanese studio he leads. Also on board are Nobuo Uematsu, the composer of the Final Fantasy series, and Atsuko Nishida, the character designer responsible for Pikachu and other Pokémon.

Natsume will also be showing some 3DS eShop titles at E3, including Gabrielle's Ghostly Groove Mini. You can check out the latest Hometown Story trailer below; the game is in development on Nintendo 3DS. Natsume will be publishing it in North America, while Rising Star Games will handle European publishing.