Natsume has announced that Harvest Moon returns in a new title for the DS and 3DS in Harvest Moon: The Tale of the Two Towns, scheduled to hit shelves this summer (from Nintendo World Report, complete with press release). This game was released in Japan last summer under the title Twin Villages, but the more Dickensian title is on the English version, the first to hit the 3DS.

The crux of Two Towns is a rivalry between the Western-themed livestock-focused town of Bluebell, and the more Asian-looking crop-growing town of Konohana, which translated to English, means something along the lines of “this flower.” Although I’d get a kick out of a slightly darker turn for the series in which the rivalry turns into a feud the goal is the ultimate union between the estranged towns. So much for my hopes for agricultural espionage and a Machiavellian web of political and relationship intrigue.