Nintendo doesn't care about us anymore. They don't care what we think about them. They don't care what we want. They especially care nothing about Wii owners. When I talk about Wii owners I'm not talking about the fat people that tried to use it to work out. I'm not talking about the vacuous soccer moms that used it to suck out the brains of their children while they were absent on anti-depressant drug rave-ups. And I'm especially not talking about the old married couples that used it to subsitute for deathesque fake conversations when their friends came to visit.
No, I'm actually talking about the the owner who likes to play games. Girls and guys of all ages that PLAY. Nintendo has abandoned you. Deal with it. The only bone you've been thrown to aid in your survival until the WiiU is this mythical Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword that even the great trickster Miyamoto, in a fit of game impotence, couldn't even get to work right 2 years ago. It was quite an embarrassment so it was good that he was in front of his fawning FakeGN4 syncophants who just chuckled. And guess what, if you're like me and you don't give a flying Link about Zelda, well, you're just out of luck!
I can't remember the last time I got excited about a Wii game. It was probably Arc Rise Fantasia, which was about a year ago. When I heard that a trio of Nintendo RPGs were not going to get published I began to get really pissed, and so did a lot of other people, as witnessed by a movement called Operation Rainfall that started out on the FakeGN boards. There's a whole protest/expression/campaign to get Nintendo to publish the three games: Last Story, Xenoblade, and Pandora's Tower. Nintendo of America's official response stated:
"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!"
To me, they are not officially closing the door on these games. It doesn't say "We will never publish these games in America" so I think if we put enough pressure on them, they might put them out or at least let a quality publisher like Xseed or Atlus handle their releases. Operation Rainfall is organizing a mail-in campaign for each game starting on July 11 with Xenoblade. The address for Nintendo and more info about Rainfall can be found on its blog at http://oprainfall.blogspot.com/
Xenoblade is being released in Europe but not in the US. It's even being localized into English English. There is also an Amazon page for the game under its original name of Monado: The Beginning of the World, which experienced so many pre-orders that it became the #1 best-selling videogame for a couple of days. That is, until Nintendo came out and said it's not planning to release it at this time. things sorta fell apart then. It's current ranking on the Amazon videogame bestseller list #215, which is pretty decent for a game that seems to have a questionable future. My pre-order still stands! I'll cancel it as soon as they say 0% chance. The Operation Rainfall letter writing campaign for this game will be the week of July 11.
Recently, it has also been announced that The Last Story will also see a European release in 2012. As with Xenoblade, no hint of a US release at this time.
Lastly, there are some preliminary reports that yes, Pandora's Tower will also be released in Europe in 2012!
If Europe was not getting any of these games I guess I could just resign myself to a "shucks, I won't get to play them", but the fact that ALL of these games will be released there and also localized and translated pisses me off to no end. Actually, I could just deal with subtitles since 95% of dub actors suck. If Nintendo and Reggie Fails a Me don't release these three games, coupled with the 3BS, the negative vibe will carry over to the WiiU. If they don't support ME, I'm not going to support them.
E3 sucks. These games were passed over because, as was apparent there, Nintendo thinks it can compete with Sony and Microsoft simply by having games that go Boom! How many copies of Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto, Dead Space, and Madden sold on the Wii? Do you really think any of the people that play those franchises are gonna play on the WiiU? Puh-lease. So Nintendo of America, you need to quit biting the hand that feeds you. You can probably keep on coasting with the same old Mario and Zelda crap but for people like me, that's not enough. You need to release some niche stuff from time to time. I won't buy a WiiU until I see a good JRPG get released for it, which pretty much knocks Final Fantasy out of the running.
I will be participating in the letter writing even though my very soul cries out against group activities, and even though I'm a bit suspicious of the movement as well since they added a "Child's Play" donation widget on the side where you can donate money. What does that have to do with getting these games published? It's about these 3 games, not your personal charity donations! And you know, another thing is, why don't the writers at IGN, G4, Destructoid, and other game media outlets try to start movements like this to get games they think are being ignored a chance at US publishing? I could tell you why, but you wouldn't like the answer, especially if you're a game "journalist".
Part 2: The 3DS forthcoming
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