Topic: Xseed Bringing The Last Story to North America

[NWR_Neal]

The Last Story is coming to North America!

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/29357

The Last Story is coming to North America courtesy of Xseed Games, according to the Nintendo Direct presentation.

No release date was given, though Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime did say it will be on store shelves by the end of the year. 

The Last Story, developed by Mistwalker, is coming out in Europe later this week, and came out in Japan last year. It is the second of three Wii RPGs that Operation Rainfall has been pushing to get localized in North America.

[Soren]

It's weird hearing Reggie trying to hype himself up for these games when we know he didn't want them in the first place.

Still, Day 1 purchase.

[Adrock]

Better late than never. Way to step up to the plate, XSeed.

[motang]

Such an awesome news! Thanks Xseed!

[FZeroBoyo]

Woohoo!

[Enner]

Hurray! The begging and shouting worked.

[BlackNMild2k1]

I had a feeling that TLS had a high probability of coming over if Xeno got a release date.
But I hope all of you OpRainfallers out there don't continue to hold your breath for Pandora's Tower, because I'm pretty sure it ain't happenin'.

2 out of three was the best you really could have expected anyway.

I just hope it comes out atleast 2 months before the Wii U and gets promoted at E3 even if it came out just before that event too.

[Stogi]

Maybe they should wait and release dual versions for Wii U and Wii.

[Bman87301]

It's weird hearing Reggie trying to hype himself up for these games when we know he didn't want them in the first place.

Still, Day 1 purchase.

*face palm*

People actually believe Reggie didn't want these games?  There's no reason for Reggie not to want these games especially knowing the cult demand. The idea that they weren't announced sooner simply because Reggie personally didn't want them is ridiculous and just plain childish.

The weakness of the Dollar compared to the Pound and Euro is why they couldn't be as quick to commit as NOE could-- it was far riskier to take a major loss in the NA market.

It's far more likely that Reggie did want them and was probably a key player in working to ensure they did come here.

[Adrock]

And it starts... I'll sit this one out. I'm just happy to get the game. The Last Story was the one I really wanted. I hope it comes out well before November. I can't be bothered when there's Wii U (probably) and Resident Evil 6 to be played.

[ejamer]

Great news for North American gamers!  Props to Xseed Games for stepping up to make this game available - hopefully people will be willing to actually buy a copy.

[BeautifulShy]

I feel asleep a few hours ago and couldn't cover the NA live stream properly so I came in here refreshed the blog real quick and scrolled down and my reaction was basicaly this when I got to the end. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jpgy21r_dRE

Anyway I already have Xenoblade Chronicles preordered down at Gamestop so I guess XSeed just has to direct me to where I can throw my money at them. This is being bought.

[Fatty The Hutt]

Yay! Last Story!!
Now, about that DQX...

[Ceric]

Yay! Last Story!!
Now, about that DQX...

I have little doubt that DQX will be coming Stateside.  Thought I expect it to be the Wii U version only and about 6 month to a year after Japaneses launch.

[Kytim89]

There is still a chance we could get Pandora's Tower. If Xseed were to release Last Story in say may or june of this year then we could get Pandora's Tower in maybe july or august of this year. Of course I do not think that Xessed or Nintendo will publish this game in North America due to its content. There is always Atlus. Atlus releases games in limited quantities, so even if the demand for the game is low, Atlus would still have the capacity to satisfy the people who want this game. So, we very well could have all three games by the time the Wii U is launched.
 
Edit:
 
Even if 50,000 people buy Pandora's Tower in North America, Atlus is good at publishing games in small enough quantities that 50,000 would still be a good margin for profits for them to handle.

[NWR_insanolord]

We will not get Pandora's Tower. I guarantee you that you can walk into a store on day one and buy a Wii that game is not coming to North America. The Last Story has a western design aesthetic and was made by the creator of Final Fantasy, so I can see why XSEED might give it a shot. Pandora's tower has neither the broad appeal nor the strong pedigree, and would be a much tougher sell.

[broodwars]

While it's really great that Nintendo finally saw common sense and allowed a company that wanted one of the Rainfall games to actually bring them over here, I won't be buying the NA version of this game.  It's nothing against XSEED, but this deal simply took too long.  Months ago, I asked for the import version for my Birthday in April.  I've seen some folks on my Twitter feed estimate the NA release as sometime in the Summer, and that's simply too late.  If the game was releasing earlier I'd get it wholeheartedly, but I'm not buying a version of the game I don't need so XSEED will just have to manage without my sale.

[Adrock]

Xseed can shut up and take my money.

[Ian Sane]

I'm glad to see this coming out.  However, like with Xenoblade, I'm not too thrilled with how this has come about.  NOA didn't want anything to do with these games and only way we got them was with someone else's involvement.  The best NOA did was permit Xseed and GameStop to localize them.  Does NOA think they're doing us a favour?  They're doing the absolute bare minimum and I truly believe that if these other parties didn't get involved we would not get these at all and NOA would be fine with months and months of jack **** nothing until the Wii U came out.  My negative feelings towards NOA have not changed at all.  They might have if NOA localized these completely themselves in a "better late than never" scenario.  At least then we would know NOA gave a damn.

Nintendo talks about how they want core gamers to buy the Wii U and the whole Operation Rainfall thing has suggested the exact opposite.  Yes, we now get these games which is good but the way we're getting them doesn't make NOA look like they're at the pulse of core gaming.  If anything it proves the exact opposite.  So is this how it will work on the Wii U?  Will we only get the more obscure core games if someone else offers to foot the bill?  Nintendo should not want core gamers thinking that.  No one should be iffy about a Wii U because they're wondering if the "good" games will get localized.

[broodwars]

Well, as it turns out the person who was supposed to gift me the game...forgot to order it months ago when I gave them the link.  So I guess I will be getting the NA release after all.  -_-'

[Luigi Dude]

We will not get Pandora's Tower. I guarantee you that you can walk into a store on day one and buy a Wii that game is not coming to North America. The Last Story has a western design aesthetic and was made by the creator of Final Fantasy, so I can see why XSEED might give it a shot. Pandora's tower has neither the broad appeal nor the strong pedigree, and would be a much tougher sell.

It also doesn't help that even among Operation Rainfall supporters, hardly anyone cares about Pandora's Tower either.  Xenoblade and The Last Story were the two games everyone wanted and were demanding to come over.  Pandora's Tower was just thrown in because it was lucky to be released right before Operation Rainfall started and the creators of the campaign were like "Oh what the hell, might as well just put it in there anyway if we're demanding Japan/Europe only games".

[BeautifulShy]

Don't really agree with that Luigi Dude. I just think it had to do with lack of info. Anyway XSeed has a Facebook page up for the info and a section on their forums. I went and posted both in the topic in the games section.

[SuperTrainStationH]

I seriously can't believe that they are people who are still convinced that "Reggie hates the Rainfall gamess" or that "Reggie is trying to stop the Rainfall games from reaching North America" and that Reggie is somehow putting on an act by being excited that The Last Story is coming to North America.

It started with MOTHER 3 fans, but Reggie has become this boogieman scapegoat to blame for whenever North American Nintendo fans don't get their way exactly when and how they demand it.

Seriously, Reggie isn't some dictator who was keeping Xenoblade and The Last Story in a vault because he hates Nintendo fans, nor can he push a button and magically have them instantly localized, debuged, test played, manufactured, advertised, and shipped to store shelves.


 The idea that Nintendo in any way, screwed, mistreated, or betrayed the trust of their customers in regards to the localization of these games is LAUGHABLE.

If anything, North American gamers should feel outraged about Disaster: Day of Crisis and Project: HAMMER being used to promote the Wii at the E3 2006 Wii reveal only for them to never see the light of day.

[NWR_insanolord]

Reggie knew they were good games, but he doesn't have the luxury of making decisions based on that. If he didn't think they would be profitable, it didn't matter how great they were; he would be doing his job badly to release them despite that. Now GameStop and XSEED are taking on the risk, so NOA's in a more favorable position for these games to come out, and he can talk about how great they are.

[broodwars]

Seriously, Reggie isn't some dictator who was keeping Xenoblade and The Last Story in a vault because he hates Nintendo fans, nor can he push a button and magically have them instantly localized, debuged, test played, manufactured, advertised, and shipped to store shelves.

He doesn't need such a button to have the games localized; debugged; and play-tested, because these games are already localized into English.  As for having them manufactured; advertised; and shipped, he absolutely can "push a button" and have that done.  That's part of being the head of NoA and having the authority to decide what NoA does and does not pick up (unless given specific orders from Nintendo Corporate).  He just didn't think these games could turn a massive profit in NA, so he decided that NoA would not release them.

I think the only reason Reggie even agreed to let XSEED pick The Last Story up was because of Nintendo Corporate's recent abysmal earnings report.  He probably got orders from Nintendo Corporate to allow other companies to pick up the rights so Nintendo Corporate would see some extra cash for the next earnings report.