Topic: Xenoblade Chronicles Heading to Europe

[NWR_MattB]

The highly-anticipated Wii RPG is finally getting a localization.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/25905

Today Nintendo of Europe announced that Xenoblade would be receiving a localization under the name Xenoblade Chronicles.

This Wii RPG, released in Japan in June of last year, follows the strife between Bionis and Mechonis worlds. The game will feature both English and Japanese voice-overs and will feature subtitles in English, French, Italian, German and Spanish.

No specific release date has been announced but the game should drop sometime this year. 

[KDR_11k]

**** YEAH!

[broodwars]

Good for NoE actually showing that they care somewhat about their Wii userbase.  Pity NoA can't say the same right now, and I have a sinking feeling that this is going to be yet another Wii game that NoE has localized and NoA will not.

[MaryJane]

I have a sinking feeling that this is going to be yet another Wii game that NoE has localized and NoA will not.

That would be terrible.

[broodwars]

I have a sinking feeling that this is going to be yet another Wii game that NoE has localized and NoA will not.

That would be terrible.

That would be Reggie.  It's a niche game that's a lot of work to localize and market, and Reggie has not shown that he cares to bring those games over here.  It would be particularly laughable if NoE localizes this and NoA does not considering the multiple languages NoE has to deal with, but it wouldn't surprise me in the least.

[MaryJane]

Why not just use the English NOE version then?

[broodwars]

Why not just use the English NOE version then?

I could ask the same thing of NoE when they have to "localize" something like Kirby's Epic Yarn.  We've seen some legendary delays on "localizing" text-light games for Australia as well (Yatzee loves to complain about them).

[Ian Sane]

Okay, NOA now has no excuse whatsoever.  How is Europe a good market for an RPG but North America is not?  The English text will be done.  NOA would hardly have to do anything at all.

But then NOA only cares about the big mainstream hit.  Why is the Wii considered the casual console again?

[BlackNMild2k1]

Maybe this is exactly what NoA was waiting for for this game and The Last Story, a Japanese to English translation where 90% of the work was done by NoE.

[Jonnyboy117]

I think Reggie will wait to see how Xenoblade sells in Europe, and use that as further justification for not releasing it in America.

[Jonnyboy117]

On the bright side, we may be able to import the European version via HBC.

[Killer_Man_Jaro]

Hooray... for some. It's only now that I realise I know nothing about this game - I was paying more attention to The Last Story. Still, now that Xenoblade is likely to be the only one of the two to be localised, I'd better appreciate it.

[Enner]

Maybe Atlus USA can pick up the publishing rights if Nintendo of America declines. Oh please let the former happen if the latter comes true!

[Luigi Dude]

Oh not this argument again.  The game is 100% coming to North America, period, there's no need to even worry.  This isn't a low budget title like Disaster or Another Code that Reggie can just brush off.  This is a 60+ hour RPG, with full voice work, and high production values.  Like I've been saying all along, Iwata wouldn't have allowed a game like this to have the budget it did unless it was made with a worldwide release in mind.

Seriously, this is one of the games Reggie has no say over, Iwata is calling the shots here.  For the big budget titles like this and The Last Story, Iwata wants his money back and so NOA has to bring them over and has no say against it.

[NeoStar9X]

I don't like the brew. However if NoA does not release this I will do whatever I have to do to play an import version of the game on my US Wii. That will be the end of me speaking out against such software going forward as well.

[NWR_insanolord]

Again, is it really too much to ask people to wait the two months until E3 before making broad assumptions based on offhand comments made by Reggie in different situations?

[broodwars]

Again, is it really too much to ask people to wait the two months until E3 before making broad assumptions based on offhand comments made by Reggie in different situations?

I think if NoA was going to bother to localize Xenoblade, NoE probably wouldn't have bothered announcing it before E3.  After all, they're both puppet division who take their marching orders from Iwata.  I think they would have held the announcement and waited until Reggie stepped up on-stage and announced the game as coming to North America at the Press Conference.  Then he could announce it for Europe as well, or NoE could announce the date on their own.  I think Jonny is right: Reggie's waiting to see how the game does in Europe before deciding to bring it over here, so that if when it bombs he can use that as an excuse to ignore it.

Sorry, but I just don't have any faith in Nintendo of America anymore when it comes to localizing anything other than sure-hits.

[NWR_insanolord]

You can blame Reggie for refusing to localize it or you can call NoA a puppet division, but you can't do both.

[broodwars]

You can blame Reggie for refusing to localize it or you can call NoA a puppet division, but you can't do both.

Yes I can if Iwata hasn't given Reggie explicit orders regarding localizing a particular game.  Then, and only then, does NoA have the authority to do whatever Reggie wants with a game.

[BeautifulShy]

Just want to post this here since you guys might not have looked in the main Xenoblade topic.

http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2011/03/xenoblade-chronicles/
Check at the bottom of the page. It shows that Nintendo of America has registered a domain name for xenobladechronicles.com which currently redirects to Nintendo's home page.

[NeoStar9X]

Just want to post this here since you guys might not have looked in the main Xenoblade topic.

http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2011/03/xenoblade-chronicles/
Check at the bottom of the page. It shows that Nintendo of America has registered a domain name for xenobladechronicles.com which currently redirects to Nintendo's home page.

Means nothing. They could just be doing it so no one else gets it. Doesn't mean they have any intention of actually releasing the game.

[MegaByte]

I saw that, but NOA registered xenoblade.com and thelaststory.com over a year ago.

[Mop it up]

And marioparty9.com and marioparty10.com something like six years ago.

[Nemo]

Paying $8/yr for a domain (or whatever the going rate is) is nothing compared to making ads and paying for TV spots and magazine ads, etc., etc. So $8 is not really an investment that convinces me that they're publishing it in the US 100%.

I still hope it's coming, of course.

[Luigi Dude]

Here's the proof you all need as to why the game is coming to North America.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAYBui5ghJ0

Warning Spoilers for the different area's of the game

Once again, a game of this size would never have been green lite unless it would be given a worldwide release.  How many times do I have to repeat this?  To worry about this game not coming over here would be like worrying if Skyward Sword isn't going to be released over here.  Nintendo is the most conservative videogame company when it comes to spending money on game development.  They would not spend this much money on one game unless they planned on making it all back.

People have to get Disaster, Another Code and all the low budget DS games out of their ass because those games are not comparable at all.  Those games were all low budget titles that were never expected to get big sales in any territories which is why they had such low budgets to begin with.  Xenoblade on the other hand is a big budget game that's expected to get big sales.  NOA has never refused to bring over a big budget Nintendo title because they can't refuse to bring over the big budget titles since the whole reason the big budget titles were given big budgets to begin with was because they were made with worldwide releases in mind.