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Pandora's Tower review: Chained blades
It's hard to say for certain what a platform's last game will be, but it's pretty easy to guess what a platform's last noteworthy release will be. I'm sure the endless parade of impulse-buy, waggletastic Wii shovelware will continue to trickle out for a while yet, but the last significant Wii release for North America looks to be Pandora's Tower. As the last of the three Operation Rainfall games brought over from Europe (via Japan), it was bound to garner plenty of attention, regardless of its quality. The good news is that Pandora's Tower deserves it.%Gallery-187276%
XSEED erecting Pandora's Tower for Wii in NA this spring
Publisher XSEED has come to the rescue for American Wii owners again. Once thought lost to the dungeons of Nintendo localization, XSEED will bring Pandora's Tower to North America this spring. Pandora's Tower tells the story of a hero tasked with saving a young girl from a terrible curse. The only cure: feeding her lots of freshly slain monster flesh. Check out the trailer above (made for the European release last year), for the gritty, nasty details.Last year, to the dismay of many fans, Nintendo infamously stated it had "no plans" to localize three major Japanese Wii RPGs, The Last Story, Pandora's Tower and Xenoblade Chronicles (though it did eventually localize the latter). Now it seems XSEED has made a habit of snatching up discarded Nintendo properties in North America, last year localizing The Last Story, which went on to be its most successful game ever.
Xenoblade Chronicles arrives on April 6 wrapped in this gorgeous box art
According to Nintendo of America head Reggie Fils-Aime himself, Xenoblade Chronicles will finally arrive in North America on April 6. Wait, but didn't that game already come out, like, two other times? Yes, friend, it totally did. First, in Japan on June 10, 2010 as just "Xenoblade," then in Europe once more on August 19, 2011 with its current name. The April 6, 2012 North American launch will mark its third such launch. But hey, check out that incredible box art!The game's tumultuous journey from Japanese exclusivity to worldwide release has been a point of contention for classic console JRPG fans. After a group formed online named "Operation Rainfall," various loud messages were voiced to Nintendo about a trio of JRPGs that were at the time unannounced for North America (The Last Story, Xenoblade Chronicles, and Pandora's Tower). All three titles have since been announced for release (or released) in other regions, though Pandora's Tower is still not planned for a US release.Of course, you could've been playing Xenoblade Chronicles all along by using our handy guide to making the EU version work on your North American Wii. But then you already knew that, right?
New Xenoblade Chronicles trailer shows off combat and menus
Xenoblade Chronicles is still on track for its April 2012 release in North America, proving that there's nothing in this world that you can't do. This latest trailer from Nintendo and Monolith Soft shows off the game's combat, crafting and weapons systems, as well as some very large robot swords.
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]
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?
The Joystiq Show - 003: Localization of the Damned
This week, the Joystiq Show talks localization. From the cry of gamers wanting Nintendo to bring niche Japanese games stateside, to inside information straight from the localizers themselves, we have the topic covered from all angles. Is Catherine the first game from Atlus to include underwear in a special edition? You'll have to listen to find out. Also, stick around after the main show as Mark MacDonald from 8-4 joins a lengthy Spoiled Rotten roundtable on Shadows of the Damned. Part 1 (2:50) - Operation Rainfall Part 2 (15:10) - Atlus on Catherine Part 3 (28:40) - Mark MacDonald of 8-4 Part 4 (52:30) - Spoiled Rotten: Shadows of the Damned Let us know what you think of the show in comments. Also, we still need some sweeter than sweet art for The Joystiq Show, so you creative types should get on it! Note: Most game clips from Audio Atrocities. Get the podcast: [iTunes] Subscribe to the Joystiq Podcast in iTunes [Zune] Subscribe to the Joystiq Podcast directly in the Zune Marketplace [RSS] Add the Joystiq Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator [MP3] Download the MP3 directly Host: Richard Mitchell (@SenseiRAM) Guests: Chris Ward, Aram Jabbari, Clayton S. Chan, Mike Meeker and Mark MacDonald Producer: Jonathan Downin (@jonathandownin - Game Thing Daily) Production Coordinator: Richard Mitchell (@SenseiRAM) Music: Trash80 and Broke For Free. See the full guest list, and stream the show, after the break.
Nintendo: 'No plans' to localize Xenoblade, Last Story, or Pandora's Tower
On Sunday, Nintendo of America's Facebook page promised "more updates soon" regarding the status of Xenoblade, The Last Story, and Pandora's Tower, the three Wii games that are the focus of the ongoing grassroots campaign for localization, called "Operation Rainfall." On Monday, it posted a Super Mario 64 trivia question. Then, today, it provided the response that fans were waiting for -- but not the one they wanted. "We never say 'never,'" the company stated, "but we can confirm that there are no plans to bring these three games to the Americas at this time." A brief response on Twitter thanked Operation Rainfall-ers for being "such incredible fans," but reiterated that "there continues to be no plans for NOA to release these 3 games right now." Not that we want to give false hope regarding the actions of a company who is always pragmatic to the point of angering dedicated fans, but "no plans right now" is far from a death knell, especially for Nintendo. Some things that there were "no plans" for in America: the black Wii, the Classic Controller Pro, the Wii Sports Resort hardware bundle. Basically, there are "no plans" until the company decides to tell people its plans. So even that denial leaves the door wide open for one of these games to be announced at a "Media Summit" or similar event in the fall. We're just mentioning that possibility, to be perfectly honest, so that we can say we totally called it should that happen.
'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!"
