There's something I've been meaning to blog about for a while now, and I've been putting it off. Largely, this is because I've been trying to work out reviews for games, particularly Alice: Madness Returns, but another major factor is that it involves something I really didn't want to face up to and it involves Operation Rainfall.
If you haven't heard about it, Operation Rainfall (aka Project Rainfall) is a petition to Nintendo of America by fans who want three major Wii releases, namely Xenoblade, The Last Story and Pandora's Tower, released here in North America. Nintendo of America responded to the petition by thanking everyone for their enthusiasm and told them "No". Already this sounds familiar to me. I was reminded of when Fatal Frame 4 was promised to us only to be yanked away. (Since then, we've been told about a port of Fatal Frame 2 for them Wii which will be released in North America, but I'll believe that when I see it.)
However, in the case of Operation Rainfall, this makes even less sense then Fatal Frame 4 betting buried. 2011 hasn't exactly been a great year for Nintendo. The 3DS hasn't exactly set the world on fire and the WiiU hasn't exactly gotten the kind of hype they would have wanted, but the real kicker is that the Wii's software lineup has been almost non-existant. I've been a pretty staunch defender of the Wii, but I have to admit I've spent more time with my PS3 and, hell, even the PS2 then I have with the Wii this year. What was the last big release...? Mario Sports Mix? I can't even remember. The only thing Nintendo fans have to look forward to between now and the WiiU's launch is Zelda: Skyward Sword, assuming Nintendo doesn't push that game back in order to release a WiiU version at the same time like they did with Twilight Princess.
I guess the strangest thing about all this is the fact that Nintendo of America seems to be acting deliberately dense on this one. One claim they had was that sales were unlikely to be high enough to justify a North American release. Yeah, except that games like No More Heroes and Muramasa: The Demon Blade sold way better here then in Japan or Europe and for the record, Nintendo of Europe has picked up Xenoblade.
Yes, that's right. Europe, usually the smallest seller, is getting Xenoblade. So at least one of the three Rainfall releases is getting an English localization and it's not coming to North America... why?
I dunno. I sit here looking at the big box my copy of Catherine came in and I'm reminded of the fact that it's already sold more then what Atlus projected. Does Nintendo really hink there's such a small market for import games? Well, truthfully, I'm not surprised by this, not after Fatal Frame 4, anyway. The end result is that I feel more apathy and bitterness then rage or disappointment over this development and in a way that's actually worse. Sure, I signed the petition, but I'm not exactly getting my hopes up. I've basically resigned myself to the fact that the Wii is just going to coast along on the same good will that Nintendo is hoping will convince me to buy a WiiU at launch.
And I've never wanted to think that about any console.
Oh, and speaking of Catherine, if you were wondering about all those wacky extras in the Love Is Over edition, check out my unboxing video below:
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