Crispy Gamer News

I may be a sinner, but at least I never made the Baby Jesus cry. 

- Fable 2 lead designer, Richard Ham, has left the Lionhead building, on the hunt for greener pastures at Splash Damage, according to Develop. There he will take on the role of creative director. Splash Damage is best known for creating Activision’s Enemy Territory: Quake Wars. Ham will begin work on an as-of-yet unannounced title for Splash Damage. If he was looking for a change of pace from working on such games as The Movies and Fable 2, he’s picked the right studio to join.

- NCsoft Entertainment is the latest publisher to step away from the Entertainment Software Association. In published reports the MMO maker and operator said that it was not leaving the trade group because of financial reasons and that it may return into the sheltering arms of the ESA at a later date.

- Two new titles will hit Xbox Live Arcade this Wednesday: Namco Bandai Games’ PowerUp Forever and Q Entertainment’s Meteos Wars (800 MS Points each). Powerup Forever is an action shooter with “endless levels that extend for infinity,” while Meteos Wars is a puzzler where players arrange colored blocks to ignite and demolish falling Meteos on 20 different planets. Clear your dance cards, kids.

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Natsume’s Rune Factory 2: A Fantasy Harvest Moon for the DS has shipped to retail this week. The Rune Factory series combines the gameplay of Harvest Moon with the fantasy trappings of an action-RPG.

Rune Factory 2 is set several years after the first game after the evil Sechs Empire has been defeated, and the Kingdom of Norad is once again at peace. Things won’t stay that way for long, however, as strange disturbances in the earth warn that a new evil is stirring. It’s up to player to uncover this new threat to the land and bring peace to the kingdom once more. Over the course of the story, players will build and develop a farm, befriend townspeople, raise monsters, take on quests, and find a wife.

In a first for the Rune Factory series, the story of Rune Factory 2 is multigenerational. Players begin the game as Kyle, a strange man who comes to Alvarna Village. Eventually, players will take on the role of Kyle’s child, opening up a whole new adventure.

Rune Factory 2 is rated E for Everyone by the ESRB.