Soga: Our first project together was Valhalla Knights for the PSP and we really enjoyed working with each other. Later Marvelous was looking to branch out to the US and they were looking for a co-publishing partner. We started talking with Marvelous about a year ago and finalized our deal in April 08.

Soga: Little King's Story is a tale about a timid little boy named Corobo. One day he comes across a crown infused with a mysterious power to charm any person around him and make them follow any order. Then an adventurer named Howzer the bull-knight appears and tells Corobo that he is the true king he was searching for. It is now up to Corobo to become the best king ever and to turn his sleepy hamlet into the best kingdom ever.

The title is designed and developed by an all star cast consisting of Yasuhiro Wada (Creator of Harvest Moon), Hideo Minaba (Art Director of Final Fantasy XII) and Youichi Kawaguchi (Main Programmer for Dragon Quest VII) and it combines life-simulation, real-time strategy, and adventure elements along with a great storyline that casual to core gamers will enjoy.

Soga: I'm assuming you're talking about the name change from "King's Story" to "Little King's Story"? Well actually, before Little King's Story had its official title we called it "Project O." I think it was 1up.com that picked up the news and called it "King's Story" which is the direct translation of the Japanese title. So "King's Story" was never the official title. After consolidating with Japan, US, and Europe, we thought "Little King's Story" describes the game the best.

Soga: The controls are very simple but using only one button was what the developers had in mind in the early stage of development. For control, the player will use the Wii remote as well as the Nunchuk. Mainly you'll use the Nunchuk to control your character and A button and B button to give orders to your people. However you'll be able to use other buttons to bring up menus and other functions.

Soga: One of the greatest aspects of this game that I love is that instead of ordering generic characters around you really get to feel close to the citizens of your kingdom. Of course the relationship of you (king) and the followers (citizens) will always be the same. Meaning you're the king and they are your subjects.

However the citizens will live their lives in the kingdom as well. They have their personal lives and each have different characteristics. Depending on how you play the citizens can grow to love or hate you. You can order them to work them to death or look out for them. As king, you have to work for the happiness of all your subjects, but you can disrupt their way of life if you choose so.

Soga: This is a tough one… This may sound like a cheesy PR reply but I honestly can't think of anything *not* good about the game so far. The ROM we have now is still 70% complete, but it's fun and looks very promising.

I'll leave the not good factor up to you guys when you get your hands on it.

Soga: All games are basically title by title basis. We did form a co-publishing relationship with Marvelous Entertainment but you'll see that Natsume will continue to publish the Harvest Moon series and Atlus will be publishing the Luminous Arc series.

Soga: Very interesting (laughs). The team was really gracious to have one Grand Prize Winner's illustration to become an actual in-game character, while ninety-nine other illustrations will be displayed in the in-game museum exhibit. I'm really excited and looking forward to how this will turn out.

If you could have sent it in before August 1st then it would have been in with the rest of the entries to be picked by the team. However the background of the character doesn't seem to fit with the theme of Little King's Story.

Soga: I suppose the similar part will be that in both games you'll be able to experience the life of a king but I think the producer Kimura-san said it best when comparing Little King's Story and My Life as a King, "My Life as a King has a downloadable game with actual simulation gameplay while ours is a packaged title and has a funny fairy tale-like story."

Soga: Well, as you know we have a lot of titles coming out. For now the list consists of:

Valhalla Knights 2 (PSP) Oct. 1, 2008 –Co-published with Marvelous Ent. USA

Populous DS (DS) Oct., 2008

KORG DS-10 Synthesizer (DS) Oct., 2008

Retro Game Challenge (DS) Winter 2008

Little King's Story (Wii) Winter 2008 –Co-published with Marvelous Ent. USA

Avalon Code (DS) 2009 –Co-published with Marvelous Ent. USA

Rune Factory Frontier (Wii) 2009 –Co-published with Marvelous Ent. USA

To the above list we have 3 unannounced titles. We will announce one title (Wii) at the end of this month and announce the other two (DS and Wii) at TGS in October. All three are co-published with Marvelous Entertainment USA. (editor's note: one of these titles has since been confirmed to be Muramasa: The Demon Blade (Oboro Muramasa Youtouden by Nintendo Power)

Soga: We'll do our best :)

Soga: It's always a pleasure. Thanks and right back at you.