Xenoblade sneaks onto Nintendo's Facebook page

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Nintendo - Wall | Facebook

Rumor: GameStop to sell Xenoblade in US (Update) -Destructoid

[Update: Nintendo has thrown fuel on the fire, updating its Facebook page with Xenoblade images! The plot thickens]


According to a NeoGAF Sherlock, Xenoblade Chronicles will finally come to North America despite Nintendo of America's previous refusals to publish it. If the rumor is true, it is slated for April 2012 and will arrive as a GameStop exclusive product.



The exclusivity is what makes this particularly plausible. It would indicate that Nintendo of America, while conceding to demands for a North American release, is wisely keeping supply limited as I once suggested it should do -- potentially producing just enough to satisfy the cult audience without mass-producing copies that the masses would ignore. I should be an analyst!


Of course, this is just speculation at the time, with Nintendo saying nothing on the matter. Still, hopefully it has merit. The game is reportedly pretty damn good, and it makes no sense to not release it in limited quantities when it's already been translated for Europe.

[Cheezeman3000]

Re: Xenoblade sneaks onto Nintendo's Facebook page

Looks plausible. I just hate the fact that Gamestop is the exclusive retailer. Kinda wish that chain would just die a horrible horrible death. But it won't.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Xenoblade sneaks onto Nintendo's Facebook page

Given Nintendo of America is skittish about releasing the game to start with, it was probably Gamestop that went to bat for gamers and made the offer to carry the game if Nintendo would just publish it. Clearly, they've seen Operation Rainfalls demands on Amazon and Facebook and that's guaranteed $$$ for anyone that carries it.

Hate them if you want, but Gamestop does not play dumb and they're not going away. Best Buy, Target and Wal-Mart wouldn't even bother to make such a deal.

Also, I think Iwata saw the success of Skyrim, called Reggie and said "We have an RPG with a big world to poke around in, why the fuck aren't you publishing it?"

[Cheezeman3000]

Re: Xenoblade sneaks onto Nintendo's Facebook page

Also, I think Iwata saw the success of Skyrim, called Reggie and said "We have a big open-world JRPG, why the fuck aren't you publishing it?"

Could be true. On the other hand, I wonder if they already had it planned but Skyrim caused them to push it to April.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Xenoblade sneaks onto Nintendo's Facebook page

Xenoblade CONFIRMED for North America -Destructoid

Now confirmed, thought the Gamestop part is still a rumor.

[Gobo]

Re: Xenoblade sneaks onto Nintendo's Facebook page

This calls for this




Gamestop is the exclusive retailer, but you can order it through Nintendo directly on the page itself

Xenoblade Chronicles at Nintendo :: Games

Pre-orders start the 19th. I do love how there are people bitching that it will not sell well because anyone who wanted to play it already has because they imported it or downloaded it. They also make no desire to buy it, thus it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy and the US doesn't get The Last Story or Pandora's Tower. Idiots

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Xenoblade sneaks onto Nintendo's Facebook page

They convinced themselves that "no plans at this time" meant "never" and that they were only importing or pirating to "teach" Nintendo a thing or two. Which is basically teaching Nintendo that Nintendo was right about them.

I held out this long because I had the lingering suspicion once Zelda was out they might say something. Still, I think Reggie could have come out and announced it earlier.

I don't resent the people that imported because in a way, they helped the US release happen since Nintendo was watching those numbers carefully. Buf fuck everyone that pirated it. They wouldn't have bought Xenoblade any more than Uncharted 3 or Skyrim or anything. Pirates do not pirate on principles - they have none.

[Yellow Mage]

Re: Xenoblade sneaks onto Nintendo's Facebook page

Gamestop is the exclusive retailer, but you can order it through Nintendo directly on the page itself

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Xenoblade sneaks onto Nintendo's Facebook page

I need to remember to pre-order this later this week.

Only reason I haven't done so now is my employee appreciation stuff is this weekend and I just want to toss the left over cash at the pre-order. Probably going to get Fallout 3 GOTY, RDR GOTY and maybe something else. I have like $90 in credit laying around and I neglected to get Mario Kart 7 this week, which I had preordered.

I just know I'll get tired for Mario Kart in a few days. I'm like that with racing games.

Still, I'm really, really happy Xenoblade is coming out in the US. If we can get The Last Story as well, that would be great. Pandora's Tower would also be nice, but its not as big of a deal to me.

I'd rather have Earth Seeker than Pandora's Tower anyway:

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Xenoblade sneaks onto Nintendo's Facebook page

Well, its almost two weeks from release!

Something I didn't know - which may or may not be of interest to some people - is that the writer and director of the Xenogears and initial writer for the Xenosaga series - Tetsuya Takahasi - was a writer and director for this game. The "Xeno" name was something the team decided on as a nod to his previous work.

[Cheezeman3000]

Re: Xenoblade sneaks onto Nintendo's Facebook page

...which is exactly why I'm so excited. Loved both of those games. Although, he does have a tendency of leaving things... unfinished lol. At least he finished this one.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Xenoblade sneaks onto Nintendo's Facebook page

Well, I guess that's a perk of working under Nintendo rather than fearing the whims of a third party's CEO and shareholders. When you work for a platform holder they tend to just let you get your work done.

[Cheezeman3000]

Re: Xenoblade sneaks onto Nintendo's Facebook page

I guess. Still wishing they had left Xenogears on a cliffhanger and released a 2nd game to do the 2nd half of the story, instead of the storybook-like 2nd disc. Oh well.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Xenoblade sneaks onto Nintendo's Facebook page

Its nor really a question. When these people formed Monolith Soft and Namco had a controlling share, they were firing writers, artists, the director and programmers before the second game was barely in pre-production. Almost everything about Xenosaga II was phoned in as a result. Namco came in with all the negative feedback and none of the constructive criticism and just told them to change the game these various ways for the western audience.. It was only by the third game that Namco really let Monolith Soft look at the feedback and take it constructively rather than by boardroom mandate.

When Nintendo greenlights a game, they just let the studio do their thing, get out of the way and check in every now and then. Its almost entirely the same way with Sony. I'd say it was the case with MS, but there's hardly a first party to measure things by now.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Xenoblade sneaks onto Nintendo's Facebook page

Old video review from IGN, but worth a view if you're curious.

and some music tracks from ACE+ and Yoko Shimomura