Do you even remember the last game you bought for your Wii? Exciting Wii releases, typically few and far between, have been virtually nonexistent as of late. The Wii has stagnated to the point that fans have taken matters into their own hands. A grassroots movement called Operation Rainfall have set out to do just that, campaigning to localize three Nintendo-published role-playing games.

Though not for a lack of trying, the efforts have yet to prove successful. Nintendo of America still refuses to localize the games. Despite critical acclaim and commercial success in Japan, it seems like Americans won’t get a chance to experience these titles. You just have to wonder why though. Have they forgotten their fans? Does Nintendo even care?

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XSeed is living proof that publishers can make a living off localizing weird, niche Japanese titles in Western markets. They’ve some of my favourite Wii titles, including Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon and Little King’s Story. Nintendo may not be keen to bring Japanese RPGs stateside, but it looks as though XSeed is game.

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Nintendo has announced that Europeans will be able to get their hands on Xenoblade Chronicles on the 19th of August. If you’re willing to run down to the high street, British retailer Game will be offering an exclusive pre-order bundle for the highly anticipated title. The bundle features a red Classic Controller Pro, three A1-sized posters, electronically signed by Monolith Software founder Tetsuya Takahashi, and the game itself.

Back when I lived in the UK it seemed like exciting Japanese games rarely made it to the European continent, but we sure did get a lot of FIFA. It’s nice to see that Europeans will be able to get their hands on some exciting releases for once, even if North America is getting the shaft this time around.

[Source: Eurogamer]

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At Japan Expo in France over the weekend Namco Bandai’s Makoto Yoshizumi  told Kingdom of Tales that there will be not be a North American release for Tales of Graces on the Wii. This is beginning to sound awfully familiar, something rather unfortunate for Wii-owning RPG fans.

As reasoning Yashizumi asserted “It would be next to impossible to condense all the game’s data on a Wii disc, so unfortunately, there will be no Wii release”, but rather would be releasing on PlayStation 3. While the localized version of the game contains features not seen in the original, saying Tales of Graces couldn’t fit on a Wii disc is interesting, seeing as the title has already seen a Wii release in Japan.

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Last week’s update featured the comparatively awesome offering of Kirby’s Dream Land and Final Fantasy III. It left me wondering if Nintendo was finally going to start getting its act together. Would next week’s update bring Metroid II, Pokemon Red, or even Sonic Chaos? Nope. The disappointment continues.

Hit the jump for this week’s list of games with funny names.

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It’s Thursday and you know what that means, yet another offering of downloadable titles from Nintendo. While they’re still no where near competing on the level of Microsoft and Sony in the online department, with Kirby and Final Fantasy titles in the mix, this week’s offering is an easier pill to swallow than the last.

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We posted our review for Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D earlier this week. Chris Carter thought the game was decent, but had some gripes. One of which was the fact that “save files are permanently ingrained onto your game’s cartridge”. Capcom’s actions in this regard have turned out to be highly controversial and caused quite a stir on the internet, believing this is the latest method to kill the used game market. In backlash, fans have review-bombed the title, leaving it with a rating of 1.5/5 on Amazon.

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Well, it looks like that customer service rep at Nintendo spoke too soon when she confirmed Xenoblade for a North American release. Nintendo finally gave an official statement regarding the triplet of Wii RPGs via its Facebook account earlier today.

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Despite an utter lack of software coming out for the Wii, Nintendo of America has been extremely reticent about localizing a handful of fantastic-looking Japanese roleplayers. That is, maybe, until now.

Earlier this morning Destructoid reported that Nintendo customer support confirmed that Xenoblade would be making its way to North America under the name of Monado: Beginning of the World. The title has been out in Japan for ages now and has been confirmed for a post-holiday release in Europe, it’s nice to hear that they at least intend on bringing it stateside at some point. Better late than never I guess.

While Nintendo has publishing rights for several Wii RPGs, The Last Story is my favourite of the bunch. Luckily for Europeans, Nintendo France has confirmed a EU release for The Last Story in 2012. Fantastic news! While “Operation Rainfall” is only a few days in the making, it appears as though it’s having results. Hopefully Nintendo of America will listen to the cries of its agitated fanbase and follow suit.

[Via Destructoid]

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If you’re familiar with Nintendo-published titles like Disaster: Day of Crisis, Another Code: R, Zangeki no Reginleiv, Captain Rainbow, and Fatal Frame IV, you know this old song. Nintendo of Japan publishes plenty of awesome games that never seem make it to the United States.

At this years E3 many Wii fans were were hoping for localization announcements for Nintendo’s three recent JRPG releases: The Last Story, Xenoblade, and Pandora’s Tower. Instead Wii owners got shafted, it became clear that Nintendo of America has decided to sweep the Wii under the rug — like the “dust” the console is well known for collecting.

In response fans have started a campaign called “Operation Rainfall“ to get these games localized. After receiving numerous pre-orders Monado: The Beginning of the World (Xenoblade‘s previous title) is currently sitting pretty at #1 on Amazon’s top 100 Bestsellers in Videogames — ahead of both L.A. Noire and Ocarina of Time 3D I might add.  Additionally, fans have began to swamp Nintendo’s Facebook page [image], Twitter, and email with localization requests and petitions. So, if you’e like me and still somehow manage to have love in your heart for Nintendo, please hit the jump for a pre-written letter template so you can join the cause.

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Were you hoping that the arrival of the 3DS eShop would mean exciting things for Nintendo’s downloadble services? Well, that won’t be happening — at least not this week.  The most exciting title of the week features Chimaki from Guilty Gear 2 in a “quirky” platformer called Pro Jumper! Guilty Gear Tangent. It could be alright.

Hit the jump for the rest of this weeks titles, or not. Better luck next week, Nintendo.

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Gaijin Games has announced that all six Bit.Trip games will be making the move from Nintendo’s WiiWare service to store shelves. The upcoming disc-based Wii title includes the following special features:

• 120 completely new BIT.TRIP challenges spanning all six games
• Exclusive Audio Gallery with fan remixes, original songs, and demo versions of existing BIT.TRIP themes
• Exclusive Image Gallery with production stills, concept art, and promo images
• Exclusive Video Gallery with more than 25 movies telling the story of CommanderVideo
• 6 Letters to BIT.TRIP Fans, written by Alex Neuse, the series’ director
• Exclusive BIT.TRIP Soundtrack Sampler CD with music from all six games
• All 6 games in the award-winning BIT.TRIP series in one completepackage
• New difficulty modes in all games
• Online leaderboards

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