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Where would Europe be without Rising Star Games? Answer: in a very, very dark place. The European publishing arm of Marvelous has already announced localizations of Muramasa: The Demon Blade and No More Heroes: Desperate Struggle, and has now confirmed plans to bring Cing's hat-obsessed strategy title, Little's King Story, to the region next March.

You can watch a trailer for the game here, if you like, and make yourself queasy with the cloying cuteness of it all. Not only that, but nine new screens (sadly not wearing adorable hats) sneaked into our gallery!

We're completely dying of charm here. The TGS trailer for Cing's Little King's Story has dialed the quirky adorableness to levels that are potentially hazardous to human sanity. Look at Howser the Bullknight and his faithful companion, Pancho! One of the job classes is "Carefree Adult!"

Seriously, every aspect of this game has been designed by Science to melt hearts and fill the air with joyous laughter. We're going to have to do our very best to overcome our natural aversion to games about ordering a bunch of people to build stuff for you and try this. Speaking of which, we're looking forward to finally reading more hands-on impressions from TGS!

We've stared at Little King's Story for a while, so we're quite familiar with the look of the tiny monarch and his populace of multifariously-hatted thralls. But, partially as a result of being stood up at E3, we have only the faintest notion of what playing it entails.

Like its contemporary tiny-king-building-a-town game, My Life as a King, Little King's town uses different buildings to determine what can be done. In Little King, the buildings serve to train the occupants in different skills, including fighting and farming. Unlike the WiiWare title, every townsperson is called into combat at your command, and their skills determine their abilities on the battlefield.

Your population doesn't seem to be able to diminish; according to the preview, when someone dies, a new resident washes up on the beach, though this new person will have "no loyalties and no relationships." And when someone does die, you have to attend his funeral. It's a strangely personal touch for the strategy genre.

You must also participate in hand-raising votes about the growth of the kingdom. If you fail to vote along with the majority of your constituents, your popularity will decrease and people will be less likely to do what you ask.

When I arrived at my XSEED/Marvelous appointment here at E3, I had one question on my mind: how awesome is your Little King's Story game? Being the incredibly professional blogger that I am, I came up with that hard-hitting question following two days of grueling punishment at the show with a combined 8-9 hours sleep. But, when I got there, I had not a single chance to unleash my intelligent query as the game was nowhere to be found.

In asking PR rep Jimmy Soga, he informed me that it was the decision of Marvelous to yank the game from the show. Why? Well, they felt it wasn't a strong enough build to show the public. I asked if it was perhaps a problem of the game crashing or it being that the section quarantined for the press at E3 was rather glitchy, but he had no other information for me other than I would not be able to play it.

Stay tuned for impressions from the games that are at the show.

We've been nothing but impressed by how drop-dead gorgeous Rune Factory Frontier looks, so we're more than happy to know that good old Marvelous will be showing the game at next week's E3 conference. Hopefully we'll find out whether the game is as pretty in motion as it is in screens, and more importantly, if the gameplay matches up to its lovely graphics.

The other game that we're eager to learn more about is Little King's Story, which corners the "looks fun and adorable" market. This life sim meets real-time strategy meets adventure game had our hearts ever since we saw this charming trailer. We'll finally be able to get our hands on it when the title releases here this winter, but until then, a taste at E3 will do us some good.


[Via press release]

Remember all those coloring contests when you were a kid? As you grew older, it became fun to scoff at the children's feeble attempts to color within the lines, and chortle at their crayon selection when a pencil was clearly the superior implement. Well, since we're all so great at drawing and coloring, it's probably a good idea to enter the Little King's Story "UMA" Contest.

A UMA is an Unidentified Mysterious Animal. Create one, and your entry is complete! Little King's Story features a whole range of wacky inhabitants, and one UMA entry will be chosen to become an in-game creature! The top 100 entries will also be featured at a museum within the kingdom.

Release some creative tension, because there is no limitation on what you can make -- be it an animal, person, entity, or even a higher plane of existence. Just keep it in this dimension, okay? Hit up the contest details, along with some sample creations, right here. Happy drawing, and good luck!


[Via press release]

Nintendo Power already reported that Little King's Story (Project O) had picked up a North American publisher last month, but Marvelous Entertainment USA and XSEED Games are just now getting around to releasing an official statement on the bright and colorful strategy title.

The two companies have partnered to bring Little King's Story -- not to be confused with Square Enix's somewhat similar strategy title, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King -- to the States this winter. Hopefully, the charming looking game won't be lost amid all the other holiday releases.

Quick primer on the game: You play as Corobo, a shy boy who stumbles upon a crown in a nearby forest. Corobo discovers that with the crown, he can charm anyone in his village and give them orders. Howzer, a bull-knight, soon stops by and tells the kid that he's now the king of the village and that it's his responsibility to lead the hamlet into building a grand kingdom. Bring your scepter into the gallery below for some kingdom-building screenshots!

We have yet to see a copy of the latest Nintendo Power for ourselves, so we're technically calling this a rumor, but according to the NeoGAF writeup, XSEED has announced plans to publish Ousama Monogatari/King Story in the U.S. under the title Little King's Story. As if it weren't confusing enough to have two games about little kings building towns, now the title has become more similar to My Life As a King's Japanese title, The Little King and the Promised Land. XSEED recently announced their plans to publish a number of Marvelous games, so it's no surprise that one of their highest-profile Wii games is on the list.

According to Revogamers.net, Rising Star Games is planning to publish the title in Europe as well. Again, this makes sense, as Rising Star is a subsidiary of Marvelous.