xenoblade chronicles
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Xenoblade Chronicles headed to North America on April 3, 2012 [update: it's true!]
Update: Nintendo of America has since confirmed that the game is in fact coming to North America in April 2012, though the company did not give out a specific launch date. Despite Nintendo's many attempts to dissuade your unshakeable confidence that, yes, eventually, Xenoblade Chronicles would arrive on North American Nintendo Wiis, it seems strong will may pay off. An image posted on gaming forum Neogaf shows what appears to be a listing from GameStop's internal point of sale system with an April 3, 2012 launch date attached. Strangely -- and further confirming the listing's legitimacy -- is a little note next to the listing which says it'll be, "GS [GameStop] Exclusive." Could the game be arriving only at GameStop locations in North America and eschewing other retailers? Is this just a retailer-specific version? It's unfortunately unclear. More bizarrely, Nintendo's Facebook account seems to be hinting at a forthcoming announcement, with the sudden addition of new artwork from the game. Much ballyhoo was made earlier this year by Wii-owning RPG enthusiasts when Nintendo of America initially indicated the title wouldn't be released in North America, eventually inciting a series of events ("Project Rainfall") meant to get NoA's attention about the outcry. The other two games that fans requested from Nintendo in that campaign, The Last Story and Pandora's Tower, remain without launch windows in North America. We've contacted Nintendo and GameStop for comment, but expect we won't hear anything until one of the two decides to make this listing more official. [Image credit: Neogaf]
How to play Xenoblade Chronicles if you live in America
We American RPG fans can do nothing but grit our teeth this week as we watch Europeans tear open their brand new copies of Xenoblade Chronicles, which Nintendo released for Wii in PAL territories today. The Japanese role-playing game has received impressive critical acclaim in the European press, garnering a solid 91 on Metacritic. This should be fantastic for everyone involved -- except Nintendo won't bring it to America. Despite outcries from both fans and media -- and the Wii's dismal software lineup for 2011 -- Nintendo of America has remained stubborn, insisting that it has "no plans" to release Xenoblade in the United States. The same goes for The Last Story and Pandora's Tower, two other hardcore Wii titles that have both been lined up for Europe. By the way, we reached out to Nintendo of America once more, who had no comment as of publishing time. Xenoblade, developed by the minds at Monolith Soft (also responsible for Xenogears and the Xenosaga trilogy), may join the ranks of Mother 3, The Last Window and Freshly-Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland as a game that Nintendo refuses to bring here no matter what anyone says. But don't worry, Yanks. There are other options out there. Since the game is available in English, all you have to do is get your hands on a European copy. Problem is, Nintendo region-locked the Wii. If you have an American Wii, you can only use it to play American games -- until you hack it. It should be noted (and we can't stress this enough) that you should not use your hacked Wii to illegally download or pirate games. That said, we want everyone to be able to play fantastic games like Xenoblade, no matter where they live. So here's how you can import European Wii games and play them on your American Wii.
Operation Rainfall begins phase 2, asks fans to buy Final Fantasy on Virtual Console August 19
Operation Rainfall, the fan-driven initiative to promote North American releases of Xenoblade, The Last Story, and Pandora's Tower, begins its "phase 2" today. This phase is meant to coincide with, and take advantage of, the August 19 launch of Xenoblade Chronicles in Europe. "To all residents in the regions of Europe and Oceania," the organizers say, "we encourage you to pre-order and purchase it at your earliest convenience. In the Americas, we encourage you to promote awareness of these titles. Good sales abroad will be a strong indicator for the title making it to American shores." The initiative also includes a rally of letters to Nintendo of America, to be mailed from August 13 to August 17 in order to arrive at roughly the same time. The group also posted an open letter to Satoru Iwata urging him to greenlight the games for North America, and promising to help promote them. Finally, "phase 2" includes one (hopefully) attention-getting stunt timed for August 19. As a show of interest in RPGs, the initiative encourages people to purchase Final Fantasy on Virtual Console that day -- if you already have it, you can gift it to someone else or donate to Child's Play through a widget on the site. Can the Virtual Console's servers even handle multiple people buying a game at once? Has that ever been tested?
Reggie: NOA 'watching' Xenoblade performance in Europe
Nintendo of America, the last we heard, had "no plans" to localize Xenoblade or any of the other titles for which "Operation Rainfall" is campaigning. But plans, or lack thereof, can always change in the face of enough money. NOA president Reggie Fils-Aime told IGN that the company would be paying attention to next week's European launch of Xenoblade Chronicles. "We will be watching very closely what happens in Europe," he said. "Certainly if there are business opportunities and positive consumer uptake from some of those titles, that will be great data for us to consider as we look at what to do with these titles." That's certainly not a confirmation of a North American release, but neither is it the sort of stubborn denial we've come to expect regarding these games. So that's something. If you want the opportunity to buy a copy of Xenoblade Chronicles, go buy a copy of Xenoblade Chronicles ... from Europe!
Xenoblade Chronicles' European release bumped up to Aug. 19
Nintendo of Europe is taking full advantage of the goodwill it's earning with the localization of Xenoblade Chronicles. Nintendo has bumped up the European release date for Monolith Soft's Wii RPG from September 2 to August 19. It will still be available in either a standard edition or a special edition with a red Classic Controller Pro. In addition, the pre-order-exclusive special edition bundle will come with three posters. Nintendo of America's last word to date on the matter was that there were "no plans" for Xenoblade or the two other games on which the "Operation Rainfall" campaign is focused.
Xenoblade Chronicles gets European special edition, very European localization
While American fans are doing their best to fume productively about the localization prospects for Xenoblade Chronicles, Nintendo continues working on the European localization. And Nintendo is really hammering home the fact that it's a European localization. A video clip from a recently posted Iwata Asks interview reveals a surprising amount of Britishness in the voice acting. See the clip in question after the break, and find lots more in the interview itself. An announcement on Nintendo of Germany's site reveals that not only is Xenoblade being released in Europe on September 2, it's being released in a limited edition with a red Classic Controller Pro. That's like twisting the Xenoblade in the backs of already irritated Americans.
'Operation Rainfall' campaign seeks localization of Wii RPGs
Normally, online petition efforts seem doomed from the start. But a grassroots campaign, born on the IGN forums, and aimed at getting Nintendo to localize Xenoblade, The Last Story, and Pandora's Tower outstrips the normal, futile campaign through cleverness and pure vigor. Fans have taken to spamming Nintendo's Facebook and Twitter pages and email with requests for those three games. "Operation Rainfall" also involves coordinated physical mailings of letters to NOA headquarters, aimed at one game at a time. Even more clever -- and likely effective -- is a campaign to pre-order "Monado: Beginning of the World" from Amazon. Back in 2009, before it was even called Xenoblade, Nintendo announced this game at E3. Amazon accordingly added a pre-order listing, which has been sitting dormant for two years. Now, that orphaned pre-order listing is Amazon's top seller in video games. Unlike most petitions, this can be translated directly into purchase intent -- i.e. money on the table -- and is more likely than anything to attract Nintendo's attention. It's at least attracted the attention of Nintendo's social media intern: the company tweeted, "Hey fans, we appreciate your enthusiasm. Look for more updates to come soon!"
Monolith Soft's Wii RPG Xenoblade localized this year -- for Europe
Nintendo has just revealed a European localization for Monolith Soft's Wii RPG Xenoblade. A UK teaser site has just gone up for what is now called Xenoblade Chronicles, featuring (strangely) an untranslated trailer. What that trailer lacks in English text, it makes up for in imagery of impressive locales and big monsters, reminding us why we've been eager to hear news about this game for so long. A press release was posted on the Nintendo Europe sites, and then removed, but not before NeoGAF user Vinterbird could capture it. According to the release, the game will be out in Europe this year, and will offer both English and Japanese voice options. We hope this European announcement is the harbinger of a wider worldwide release, and that this isn't another Disaster: Day of Crisis situation in which an anticipated Monolith Soft-developed Wii game goes to Europe and stays there.
