Massive Letter Writing Campaign for Pandora's Tower, Xenoblade, Etc

[joshnickerson]

A big group of Nintendo fans are planning a three week letter writing campaign on Nintendo of America next month to try and get Pandora's Tower, Xenoblade and The Last Story released on the Wii in the states. The difference here is that instead of starting online petitions or email, they are encouraging people to send in polite, hand written letters via snail mail.

Destructoid Article, along with sample letters and the time frames for each mailing campaign are here: http://www.destructoid.com/letter-writing-campaign-for-last-story-pandora-s-tower-204505.phtml

And while some (I can think of a few here in particular) may scoff and say that these kinds of campaigns rarely work, it's certainly a lot more productive that posting whiny messages on message boards.

[Kellhus]

Isn't Xenoblade coming to the states for sure? The Last Story is confirmed for localization in Europe right now so a stateside release seems likely, at very least possible. Pandora's Tower may be a lost cause though.

[incubus421]

I'd enjoy a few reasons to start playing my wii again.

[Gameguy]

If that Trace Memory/Another Code sequel or Fatal Frame 4 would get a North American release I might consider getting a Wii. Why aren't people writting letters for those games?

[RP2A03]

Isn't Xenoblade coming to the states for sure? The Last Story is confirmed for localization in Europe right now so a stateside release seems likely, at very least possible. Pandora's Tower may be a lost cause though.

Nope. Despite getting an English release in Europe, NOA has no plans for releasing it here.

From http://wii.nintendolife.com/news/2011/06/xenoblades_north_american_release_chances_take_a_k nock


"Minel appeared on French TV show Nolife to discuss the game and revealed that although Nintendo of Europe wanted to show off Xenoblade Chronicles at E3, Nintendo of America denied it as it didn't want to show off products it would not be selling."This is, of course, entirely unacceptable and Reggie needs to have his name taken and his ass kicked. Anyone who wants these games needs to send a letter to Reggie. We will be heard. We are unignorable for Xenoblade is now the number one bestselling game on Amazon.

[Tron 2.0]

I like to see the last story here when nothing was announced at E3 i was very bitter at noa.Realy what's there problem to begin with !? The last story has been a huge sucess in japan yet noa are just sitting there and doing nothing,shesh.I wounder if reggie is just 'being ignorant again like what happen with mother 3 and thinks the last story isn't good enough for the u.s.

Btw i'll probably sign the petition though i doubt it will do any good.

[MrNelson]

http://twitter.com/#!/NintendoAmerica

And so begins the backlash. Hopefully the letter campaign will have a positive effect on this, if most of the participants haven't been deterred yet.

[joshnickerson]

I forsee Reggie's desk (or more likely, some intern's desk) being buried in piles of letters this month.

Now is NOT the time to give in, now is the time to fight HARDER. Get them pens and paper ready, it's time to go old school.

[Sailorneorune]

Short version: Capcom still idiots, Nintendo joins them. Film at 11.

[MrNelson]

I forsee Reggie's desk (or more likely, some intern's desk) being buried in piles of letters this month.

Now is NOT the time to give in, now is the time to fight HARDER. Get them pens and paper ready, it's time to go old school.

Agreed, I'll be sure to deliver more than my share of the good ol' paper spam along with some OpRainfall propaganda.

Today Xenoblade!
Tomorrow, Mother 3!!

[Tupin]

I'll send in a letter.

[NayusDante]

Something tells me that Reggie isn't the one to talk to about this. He's not head of marketing anymore...


Xenoblade - I put in my preorder on Amazon today. When I looked, it was still ranked #1 in game sales.

The Last Story - This campaign was the first I'd heard anything about it not coming to the US. The only response I can muster is, "WHAT THE CRAP IS WRONG WITH NOA???"

Pandora's Tower - This is the first I've heard of this game, period.


There is no excuse for not releasing these games. If a thousand crappy games can get high print runs, they can satisfy fan demand for these. Make them mail-order only if they must. It's not like there's any real JRPGs coming out they would have to compete with...

[joshnickerson]

For some reason, Bluto's speech from Animal House keeps running through my head. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8lT1o0sDwI&feature=related

[Icarus Moonsight]

Short version: Capcom still idiots, Nintendo joins them. Film at 11.

LOL Maybe Nintendo software dept can borrow hardware depts giant nut sack for a while? Might get something done.

I personally would like Fatal Frame, Disaster Day of Crisis and more freakin' shmups, but whatever.

[Swamperon]

I think their Facebook response was pretty condescending. Basically saying "Awwww, aren't you all cute? But no".

The fact that all 3 are coming to EU and even AUS (which surely must be more of a financial risk than NA?) is a further smack in the face. The translations exsists. And is the Wii region free? No of course not. The PS3 and 360 have that option.

Nintendo said they wanted to bring back the core. This is hardly a good first step. I guess core to them just means the FPS crowd. The worse thing is Nintendo won't even let a company like Atlus or NIS bring them over instead.

I live in UK so it's not a problem for me but I've seen the situation reversed plenty of times.

[Sailorneorune]

Yes, the mind does indeed boggle at how North America is being passed over for games that are (say it with me now) ALREADY IN ENGLISH! Or will be as of this fall.

Between NoA's stupid shit and Capcom's stupid shit, I'm about ready to fling my Wii and DS out the window and back over them with a big red truck. The "No. Now go away, kid, you bother me" tone we received with their official responses regarding the Wii RPGs and Ace Attorney Investigations 2 respectively is certainly not helping.

And to those who plan to import the Wii games from Europe and break the region locks on your Wii consoles, how much do you want to bet that your shiny new Zelda game will require a system update that will either A) relock your Wii console or B) leave you with a $100 brick?

[Icarus Moonsight]

Either wait for the relevant CFW update or run two Wiis. That's about it.

Business as usual being a gamer these days. Just do it yourself. Stop begging.



"Awwww, aren't you all cute? But no"

This is what goes through my head when I look at the Wii/DS retail shelf for the last year or so.

[Cryomancer]

Why no love for http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zangeki_no_Reginleiv ?

[wingzrow]

I don't think nintendo is really to blame here. The wii is pretty much dead as far as the american core gamers are concerned. Really, why bother when 98% of the amican wii owners are content with shovelware anyway.

Sad but true. As long as I can import though I really don't care. As long as i can play en english.

[Icarus Moonsight]

Why no love for http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zangeki_no_Reginleiv ?

I don't think I'll ever get tired of Norse or Greek mythology games.

NOA is seriously lame. WTF do they actually do there in Redmond, hang out at coffee shops and facebook all day?

[NayusDante]

Nintendo's response to Operation Rainfall has seriously changed my perception of what the Wii U is going to be. This is extremely depressing, now that I understand what's going on. They'd rather focus on shooters and casual titles. Hopefully, the Japanese studios will see this as well, and port their titles to platforms that actually support variety. There's something really wrong when the Xbox gets more JRPGs than the Wii.

Unless something happens with Dragon Quest X and it's a US launch title, I have no reason to buy a Wii U, and probably won't for quite a while. I'll probably skip Skyward Sword too, until I can get it used for cheap.

A lot of people have been crying Dreamcast in response to the Wii U, but they're still wrong. With the message they're sending now about the kind of games they will and won't localize, the Wii U is going to be another Saturn!

[NayusDante]

http://oprainfall.blogspot.com/2011/07/source-ntsc-xenoblade-done-last-story.html


American localization of Xenoblade is complete, The Last Story is currently being translated to English for an American release, but there is no word on Pandora’s Tower localization. This information was disclosed to Operation Rainfall today from a source within Nintendo who wishes to remain anonymous. There is currently no indication of when Nintendo of America plans to formally announce these titles.

Not official confirmation, but it's somewhat hopeful.

[Baloo]

A lot of people have been crying Dreamcast in response to the Wii U, but they're still wrong. With the message they're sending now about the kind of games they will and won't localize, the Wii U is going to be another Saturn!

The Sega Saturn was the greatest system ever. Nothing will EVER be like the Saturn. Wii U will be fun, but there's no way in hell the games will be as good between the Japan and US libraries.

As for the inside source, I'm skeptical as the Facebook page has already announced that they wouldn't release the titles here. Why would they suddenly change their minds?

Also you guys fail to realize that sales are what dictate if a game gets localized here or not. If it's not going to sell as well as another game, why spend the money? It's expensive for all that translating and extra programming, and for a genre that's STILL Niche! It's not really worth it!

[joshnickerson]

@NayusDante - If it's true, yeah, it's hopeful, but Nintendo has translated many games that were never released in the US... i.e. Earthbound NES. Still, keeping my fingers crossed.

@Baloo - Nintendo never explicitly said they would NOT release the games here, they just said "no plans to bring these three games to the Americas at this time", which you know is pretty much a bullshit PR non-answer.

[Kyle15]

I'm ready to write a letter and send it off. I missed those other "bring games our way" campaigns, but I won't be missing this one.

[Cobra Commander]

Famicom Dojo Podcast interviewing Chris Ward from Operation Rainfall.
http://famicomdojo.tv/podcast/8

[dystopian]

Famicom Dojo Podcast interviewing Chris Ward from Operation Rainfall.
http://famicomdojo.tv/podcast/8

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/26966

The Last Story Confirmed for Europe...

Hopefully this means they'll do a NA release. If not, homebrew channel, here we come.