Operation Rainfall

I am more than a little surprised at Nintendo of America (NOA) stance of not bringing 3 original Wii games in the US. Xenoblade Chronicles, Pandora's Tower and The Last Story are the games in focus of an aggressive online petition where the fans (including me) have been raising our voices in an effort to make NOA bring these games in the US. Operation Rainfall got my attention a couple of days ago on Siliconera and was intrigued at the epic scale of this petition. Unlike a normal online petition the fans have taken steps of pestering NOA on their Facebook and Twitter pages and pre-ordering huge copies of Xenoblade Chronicles on Amazon (still named Monado: Beginning of the World on the site). This prompted a rapid response by Nintendo on Facebook promising the fans an update soon much to the delights of fans and instigators of Operation Rainfall. Now I don't live in the US myself, but I want these 3 games to come out in North America so that I too can have a chance to import these games.

Today NOA gave the update which wnet like this:

"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!"

I am still perplexed at response. Sure this looks like a normal PR reply, but for us fans it feels like a blow to the gut. What is really bugging me is why is Nintendo being so stingy about Wii RPGs, considering that Nintendo's own DS has been a RPG haven, both niche and mainstream. Yet when the fans are clamoring for 3 of the finest games on the system (in Japan these games have been pretty big), they are showing the cold shoulder. The kicker is that at least one game can actually make it to the US. Xenoblade Chronicles has a solid September release date for EU territories i.e. the game script is already translated in the English and yet NOA is acting like it doesn't care about the hard core fans. It's beyond logic!

But rather being angry, I am still hopeful. While browsing GameFaqs I read a wonderful reaction by a user named ignasia7, whereby he said that getting a positive reply so early into the operation is asking for too much and that the fans need to step up efforts while being cordial as the fact remains that this operation has made NOA get up and take notice. After reading this I can't help be a little optimistic but still think that one last push may be required to make NOA yeild. And if they do yield then this act will be considered as rebuilding bridges for the hardcore audience who felt betrayed by the Wii casaul angle and while also helping Nintendo in the long run with the Wii U on the horizon.

Till then I can only hope that these games do end up getting an American release, while in the worst scenario I can always import the game from the UK!