Nintendo not localizing Japanese Wii titles for North America, cause for concern in the future
Yes, Nintendo’s initial response about possibly bringing Xenoblade, The Last Story, and Pandora’s Tower to North America was lame. It was short and uninformative. Although they promised an update in the near future, it was not at all worth the wait.
This response, too, is useless and basically confirms what most Nintendo fans have feared: Nintendo of America is not bringing any of these desired titles stateside. Looks like Operation Rainfall is going to have a long, tough battle ahead of them…
“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 really don’t know what else can be said at the moment. I’m personally annoyed the most that we’ll likely never see Xenoblade in North America. Not only is this the second Monolith Soft title that NoA has neglected to localize, but this release was actually announced through Nintendo’s North American division first via an E3 2009 press kit.
Another point I’ve seen popping up on message boards lately is that this type of mindset is a bleak sign of what we might see in the future. Nintendo is hoping to regain the hardcore market with Wii U, but why would anyone be interested when they see these three hardcore titles just sitting in Japan (except for Xenoblade… which is already in English… in Europe), begging to be localized? Who’s to say that Nintendo won’t take the same approach in the future? Monolith Soft is currently making a secret Wii U game, but will it ever be localized?
I don’t think I was actually expecting Nintendo to announce any of these games for North America this week. Furthermore, this update shouldn’t be much of a surprise for anyone who has been following the situation. However, this basically slams the door on any imminent chance of localization. Hopefully fans will continue to speak up, since Nintendo really deserves to be blasted for their negligence.
