Originally, the space occupied by this editorial was going to contain a glowing review for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D Edition. However, given the circumstances over the last several days, plans have changed. Sorry Nintendo, no review for you…I just can’t do it in good conscience. In place of the Zelda review, I present the tale of Operation Rainfall.
For those currently unaware, a small movement started over the last several days. This movement and its associated campaign has picked up significant steam, generating lots of coverage in the mainstream gaming press, and shows no sign of slowing down. This campaign is trying to address what has been a sore spot for many hardcore Wii owners over the last few months: Nintendo of America’s refusal to localize their first-party Japanese RPG lineup (Xenoblade, The Last Story, and Pandora’s Tower). The straw that finally broke the Koopa’s back occurred late last week, when the project manager of Nintendo France went on record to confirm The Last Story for localization in Europe while at the same time also confirming the fears of North American Wii RPG fans: Xenoblade Chronicles was blocked from a showcase at E3 by Nintendo of America because they did not want to showcase a game they didn’t plan on selling. Reggie himself was much less forthcoming at E3 and dodged the question when confronted about the title with “nothing to announce.”
Apparently, that was because there was indeed nothing in the works to bring these titles stateside, despite the fact that full English localizations are being crafted for the European market. The response of North American fans was swift. Xenoblade‘s outdated Amazon.com entry (which has existed since the game’s original announcement at E3 under the name Monado: Beginning of the World) was propped up to #1 game on Amazon.com via a surge of preorders (it still remains in the top 10 as of this writing five days later, beating out Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D Edition). A statement was promised to the gaming media over the weekend, but fans were skeptical. Making good on their promise, Nintendo of America did indeed release a statement this evening via Facebook and Twitter, and as expected, fans had reason to worry.
“Thank you for your enthusiasm. We promised an update, so here it is. We never say “never,” but we can confirm that there are no plans to bring these three games to the Americas at this time. Thanks so much for your passion, and for being such great fans!” – Nintendo of America
Nintendo of America just trolled us.
I’m not fluent in Public Relations, but to me that message seems to translate into English as: “eff you very much, now please go away,” especially since they haven’t issued any official press releases or allowed the gaming press to discuss the issue with Reggie or anyone else at the company. Namco Bandai’s North American branch will tell you that JRPG fans don’t just “go away.” After months of spamming their Twitter and Facebook accounts, fans were able to make their voices heard to NBGI management and paved the way for a localization of PlayStation 3 exclusive Tales of Graces F (and the 3DS version of Tales of the Abyss). Officials from NBGI have gone on record to state that the fan response to the Tales series is one of the main reasons for the new localizations.
A couple more things to note – I don’t want to provide readers with false hope, but this isn’t the first time Nintendo has released contradictory information for reasons of corporate strategy. Back in 2009, Nintendo told Gamespot that it had no plans to release the Classic Controller Pro in the West, only to have it launch beside Monster Hunter Tri several months later in April of 2010. And let’s not forget the debacle that occurred with a denial of a new DS model mere days before the official reveal of the DS Lite. Things can change, and hopefully Operation Rainfall will continue to fight the good fight in order to get these wonderful games released in America. Next up for the movement is a snail mail letter writing campaign to Reggie that is scheduled for July 11th-13th, along with the constant torrent of daily Facebook and Twitter messages targeted at Nintendo of America.
To find out more information about Operation Rainfall, visit their site here.
As for the games, GamesAreEvil will be obtaining import copies from Europe and reviewing them right here, so you can expect plenty of coverage as the release dates draw closer. Xenoblade Chronicles is currently scheduled for release on Sept. 2nd, just not in America. Maybe we can change that.
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