[Mockingbird]

MISSION PARTIALLY COMPLETED!

[cooljeanius]

MISSION PARTIALLY COMPLETED!

What? You can't just bump like that and not leave a link or something.

[Htown]

What? You can't just bump like that and not leave a link or something.

http://www.nintendo.com/games/detail...H5UTuz4zsz63F4

[cosmicblizzard]

What? You can't just bump like that and not leave a link or something.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=454122

beaten

[Nuclear Muffin]

VICTORY TO RIKI!!!

[ShockingAlberto]

MISSION PARTIALLY COMPLETED!

[Roto13]

Xenoblade is the only one I care about, so I am satisfied.

[Mockingbird]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/busine...LMO_story.html

[Goon Boon]

Looks like no Operation Rainfall cases, they're claiming a break-in happened I guess.

Back at around Pandora’s Tower Month we had a plan to pitch the game to publishers with a way for fans to donate to assist with the funding. We promised those who donated ten dollars or more that they would receive a case to hold the three games in. After many delays, some caused by us, most of it caused by the printer, we finally got confirmation that the cases have finally shipped and we would finally get the cases out to everyone who donated. Unfortunately due to unforeseen circumstances, that isn’t going to happen. Recently, one of the owners of Operation Rainfall had a break-in at his house; they vandalized the apartment and stole almost every single piece of electronic equipment. One of the things they also happened to steal was the box full of cases. Thankfully Steven Boaz, his wife, and his two dogs are alright. The cases cost a lot of money and being that we are only volunteers, we only make just enough money from ads to keep the website running. This means we will not be able to replace the stolen boxes nor can we refund anyone who donated. While we cannot blame anyone for being frustrated at us, we apologize we cannot fulfill our promise and hope everyone can understand our dilemma. We’ll do whatever we can to see if we can possibly get a replacement from the printers, but we cannot guarantee anything. In the event we find a suitable replacement for the cases to send our donators, we’ll contact those who qualify. Please send any hopes and prayers towards the Boaz’s, and I’m personally sorry for any inconvenience we may have caused you. If anyone stumbles upon the cases somewhere on the internet, please do not buy one and be sure to send us any information to opra.webteam@gmail.com Once again I’d like to thank everyone for donating, and am extremely sorry that this couldn’t have turned out better. Richard Ross Co-Owner Operation Rainfall

http://operationrainfall.com/read-re...-for-donators/

[SailorDaravon]

There is no way that doesn't seem shady as all fuck. Why on earth would burglars steal a box of empty cases? And wouldn't this have been an enormous box, or likely multiple boxes? That seems completely absurd. If that's true, I feel like they should at least provide some documentation/proof from the printer that the cases were actually paid for and had shipped, or something like that.

[Criminal Upper]

Pandora's Tower is the weakest of the three games, and generally regarded as terrible. I find it weird Rainfall even bothered.

Edit: And that does sound really sketch.

[Sandfox]

I honestly do not believe this. If its true they need to find a way to make up for it.

[SomewhatGroovy]

It was a pretty awful game, I thought.

[Karuto]

Stop with the stupid conspiracy theories. Burglars steal without rhyme or reason. If they think something looks like it would be worth something, they will grab it especially if no one is around to stop them, even if it is a bag of cases they think may have something inside. The fact that they are offering refunds is proof of it. Don't be asinine.

[fernoca]

The fact that they are offering refunds is proof of it. Don't be asinine.

But they aren't offering refunds...(?):

This means we will not be able to replace the stolen boxes nor can we refund anyone who donated.

Unless I'm reading it wrong.

But, yeah..sucks.
Calling them out is nonsense, we've had our fair share of stories in here were burglars steal specific systems, or specific stuff; so they stealing this box is "normal"; no need to start conspirancy theories about it.
They probably thought it had games/movies on it and weren't just empty cases.


EDIT:

I thought it was sketchy when I first read this article a few minutes ago but I guess we'll have to wait and see. Initially they weren't, but they updated the article with this: lol

Darn..hehehe. I know shouldn't be laughing, but the "Due to quite a stir people have come up with despite the situation"... :p

They did handled it poorly. They should've mentioned the robbery first, along them looking for alternatives (and nothing else)..before saying directly "we won't offer refunds as we don't have money".

It's probably what made it sound "weird" to many.

[web01]

Sounds like BS to me.

[The Grim Heaper]

I thought it was sketchy when I first read this article a few minutes ago but I guess we'll have to wait and see.

But they aren't offering refunds...(?): Unless I'm reading it wrong.

Initially they weren't, but they updated the article with this:

UPDATE: Due to quite a stir people have come up with despite the situation, we’ll be offering refunds for those who want it. E-mail opra.webteam@gmail.com with the name and details of the Paypal account used for the donations.

lol

[Karuto]

Offering to refund something when someone has had a lot of their valuables stolen away is hard when you're just a small group trying to offer people a good that was done initially through donation. How ridiculous can you be by jumping to such a conclusion? It may not have been the best way to word it, but have a shred of compassion.

[Karuto]

.

[Javier]

I'll be honest. I'm not jumping to conclusions, but I'll be lying if I said this doesn't look suspicious.

[Eusis]

Pandora's Tower is the weakest of the three games, and generally regarded as terrible. I find it weird Rainfall even bothered. Edit: And that does sound really sketch.

I'm of the mentality that it just happened to come out at the right time to get swept up with Xenoblade and Last Story, the two real stars of this. They were even announced together and have pedigrees that just a few years ago would've guaranteed a fast localization (well, mainly Last Story, though Xenoblade was certainly meaty enough), though enough people seemed to have liked Pandora's Tower enough that it's probably worth looking into when convenient... which actually happened simply due to Amazon.co.uk opening up the borders for game purchases and pummeling the price of the LE.

Do imagine that if it weren't for the Operation Rainfall ruckus none of them would've gotten LEs, or just Last Story would have.

As for what bumped the thread: Yeah, that definitely sounds suspicious to me. Be nice to get some actual proof of them being printed and see people get their money back. And let's be honest here: that kind of story IS a double edged sword: if true it's absolutely a tragedy, if false it's an easy way to deflect criticism by pointing at how terrible the event is. This IS a small, otherwise unknown group, even if they weren't out to scam it's possible they didn't realize they were in over their heads and decided to back out by creating a story like this. But we'll probably see what's really going on before too long, or so I'd hope.

[QisTopTier]

There is no way that doesn't seem shady as all fuck. Why on earth would burglars steal a box of empty cases?

Burglers don't really have the time to open up boxes and be like hmm ok this looks worth taking. It's normally GRAB THAT OH GRAB THAT HEY GET THAT REAL FAST OK LETS GET THE FUCK OUT

[Willy Wanka]

Did they not have tenants/renters insurance?

[Karuto]

I'm sure he does.

What I don't get is why anyone would think he would go to all this trouble creating a story of being robbed if he was lying? If he was lying and no one found the police report, he would be arrested. If he just wanted the money, he would have just ran off with it months ago. Saying this is suspicious or shady is just a very shameful thing to say. Stop with the absolutely idiotic conspiracy theories and go sit in the corner.

[@MUWANdo]

Pandora's Tower is the weakest of the three games, and generally regarded as terrible. I find it weird Rainfall even bothered.

I don't think anyone thinks it's terrible, just mediocre.

[GraveRobberX]

He does. What I don't get is why anyone would think he would go to all this trouble creating a story of being robbed if he was lying? If he was lying and no one found the police report, he would be arrested. If he just wanted the money, he would have just ran off with it months ago. Saying this is suspicious or shady is just a very shameful thing to say.

Well it just sounds suspicious

[Tmdean]

If he was lying and no one found the police report, he would be arrested.

Apparently they're promising to publish the police report on Monday. I'm going to wait and see what they come up with before coming to any conclusions.

If he just wanted the money, he would have just ran off with it months ago.

There could be any number of reasons that they might have had to come up with a cover story. Perhaps they originally intended to follow through but found out that they were in over their heads.

The whole idea of crowd funding to pitch the game to publishers is incredibly sketchy and bound for disaster. If a publisher wants to go that route, they should just set up a Kickstarter or whatever themselves. Once you've got a lot of peoples' money involved things get really complicated. Crowd funding really should be left to organizations that are experienced with this sort of thing.

[Kenturoxx]

They shouldn't have to give refunds back. The price of their electronics is way more than the price of those cases. They weren't even selling the cases, it was just a gift for those who donated. They should figure something out later on but right now, I wouldn't do it.

[Hiltz]

Interesting predicament.

[Zulithe]

Looks like no Operation Rainfall cases, they're claiming a break-in happened I guess. http://operationrainfall.com/read-re...-for-donators/

Remember when Project Zomboid gave this excuse too?
Can't wait until we start seeing Kickstarter projects citing this to their backers for why games or rewards won't be delivered.

I want to see the receipts. At least a redacted police report.

[IrishNinja]

shame for them, but yeah, doesnt sound like we missed out on much of a game. hope all's well.

Did they not have tenants/renters insurance?

i keep meaning to look into this myself

[WiiRevolution1]

Wow, didn't know these people were still trying to bring PT to US. Awesome, but that sounds really shady :lol

I do have a Japanese Wii, so I could always import it but miss out on the story (Don't wanna homebrew my Wii and get EU version) but the game seems cool enough to import and I may bite if its still available mid next year.

[Karuto]

The whole idea of crowd funding to pitch the game to publishers is incredibly sketchy and bound for disaster. If a publisher wants to go that route, they should just set up a Kickstarter or whatever themselves. Once you've got a lot of peoples' money involved things get really complicated. Crowd funding really should be left to organizations that are experienced with this sort of thing.

You do realize that all donations were going strictly to the cause, and that anyone who paid $10 or more were going to get a case as a gift? They were not paying $10 specifically to get the case and they weren't investing in a promise. No. Operation Rainfall is sort of like a charity, in that you would send them a donation in the hopes that they may be able to reach their goal, which in this case was to convince publishers to localize a game. They said that for months that as part of their disclaimer that all funds they received were going straight towards improving their ability to reach out to those publishers they felt had the best chance of localizing Pandora's Tower.

When was the last time you heard a charity offering a refund for an voluntary donation? In this case, a group of unpaid, autonomous workers are willing to pay out of their own pockets to make sure people are happy. Understand the situation before you go pointing fingers.

[Neon_Icarus]

People here think Pandora's Tower is terrible? Wow. As someone who's actually played the game, I'd say its a pretty good title, with a really interesting concept behind it. Admittedly the production values are quite low compared to XB/LS. Its definitely not a "Hollywood blockbuster" -type of game, but that's also a virtue in my opinion.

I'd wager that people who actually think its terrible (or truly mediocre), just watched a trailer on youtube and called it a day.

[Htown]

So why don't they post a copy of the police report?

[Zornica]

People here think Pandora's Tower is terrible? Wow. As someone who's actually played the game, I'd say its a pretty good title, with a really interesting concept behind it. Admittedly the production values are quite low compared to XB/LS. Its definitely not a "Hollywood blockbuster" -type of game, but that's also a virtue in my opinion. I'd wager that people who actually think its terrible (or truly mediocre), just watched a trailer on youtube and called it a day.

yeah.. I thought it was much better than the last bore.y. At least it tried something new and different, something which cannot be said for tls. Imo it was the closest to what I'd consider a real 3d castlevania without buttonmashing combo dmc/gow style combat to it. It's just you and your wip. Also the crafting mechanic was fun, and the storyline was something we hardly get to see here anyway. (And I guess the story is also the reason this will never be released in the US)

[rjc571]

Pandora's Tower is terrible if you play it with the classic controller, but with the Wiimote + Nunchuk it's a pretty solid game.

[Kouriozan]

People here think Pandora's Tower is terrible? Wow. As someone who's actually played the game, I'd say its a pretty good title, with a really interesting concept behind it. Admittedly the production values are quite low compared to XB/LS. Its definitely not a "Hollywood blockbuster" -type of game, but that's also a virtue in my opinion. I'd wager that people who actually think its terrible (or truly mediocre), just watched a trailer on youtube and called it a day.

I played and finished it with almost all ending and it was enjoyable.
I really liked the story.

[The Grim Heaper]

http://operationrainfall.com/read-re...onation-cases/

They deleted the old article entirely and got rid of the update which stated that they were giving refunds.

EDIT: Looking over the article, this part is interesting as it was absent in the other one.

We are still awaiting confirmation from the printer and UPS, but more likely than not, we will either be reimbursed by UPS for leaving the box of cases in an insecure location or the printer will reprint our order, especially since it has taken so long for them to finally print (that’s what we get for finding a low-priced printer!)

[HawthorneKitty]

I thought Pandora's Tower was a solid game.
The music was great even though initial combat became stale very quickly. I was surprised at how entertaining the boss fights were when the chain was usually the only thing you needed to win.

[RPGCrazied]

Can't refund the money? Isn't that almost like stealing? I didn't donate, but if I use money expecting something in return, I better get it, or at least a refund. I really don't want to think they are just lying about the break in just to steal money from people.

[Neon_Icarus]

Great to see Pandora's Tower getting some love here after all. :)
I hope we'll see more of these kinds of games from Japan for the Wii U.

[Yuterald]

People here think Pandora's Tower is terrible? Wow. As someone who's actually played the game, I'd say its a pretty good title, with a really interesting concept behind it. Admittedly the production values are quite low compared to XB/LS. Its definitely not a "Hollywood blockbuster" -type of game, but that's also a virtue in my opinion. I'd wager that people who actually think its terrible (or truly mediocre), just watched a trailer on youtube and called it a day.

Yeah, I imported Pandora's Tower (along with Xenoblade and The Last Story) and it quickly became my favorite of the bunch. Pandora's Tower encapsulates the spirit of an SNES game and the scope of a Japanese PS2 action game. I know I said this in the OT, but I'll say it again. Pandora's Tower is for those who enjoyed/valued that Japanese PS2 action game era. This was a game for a time when developers used to experiment and try new things on low-to-mid tier budgets. The game feels/looks like a cross between Castlevania: Lament of Innocence and Rygar: The Legendary Adventure. As I've said, it also radiates an SNES-like aura/spirit. For me, Pandora's Tower was the Soul Blazer/Illusion of Gaia/Terranigma of the Wii.

It's really a shame people don't look at it with this perspective. I fucking can't stand how people were always complaining about not having anything to play on the Wii. The weird/interesting/cool B-tier alternative games were there (Little King's Story, Sky Crawlers, Fragile Dreams, Lost In Shadow, among others) but the majority never bothered to check them out! A lot of these games were pretty damn exceptional too (like LKS). PT was the kind of game this generation needed. We get SO little title likes this nowadays. A lot of these "lost PS2" games were found the Wii, but today they are still far and few between on the HD consoles. I'm hoping the Wii U provides an equal or greater amount of these types of games. However, some of my favorite devs over the past few years who were providing these titles are gone down (Cing), so who knows what the future will hold. =(

I feel bad for those who were looking forward to this and waited out for a localization announcement. If you really want to play it I suggest biting the bullet and modding your Wii.

[Mockingbird]

Mission 100% Clear!

http://xseedgames.com/news.php?id=176

XSEED Games Announces Pandora’s Tower for Spring 2013 Release Fan Favorite Wii-Exclusive Action RPG to be Released for the North American Market Torrance, Calif., (January 16th, 2013) - XSEED Games, an independent-minded publisher, today announced they have come to an agreement with Nintendo that will bring the highly anticipated action role-playing title, Pandora’s Tower™, exclusively to Wii™ in Spring 2013. Developed in Japan by Ganbarion, Pandora’s Tower takes the classic fairytale theme of a maiden in distress and adds a violent twist, with the protagonist setting out to slay over a dozen giant monsters and collect their flesh in order to free his beloved from an evil curse. The agreement with Nintendo grants XSEED Games exclusive publishing rights to Pandora’s Tower in North America. “It’s fantastic to be bringing such a highly-anticipated title like Pandora’s Tower to such a vocal fan base,” said Shinichi Suzuki, President and CEO of XSEED Games. “North American gamers have been very patient in waiting for this game to be released, and we’re confident they will be pleased when they get their hands on the title.” A tale of unfortunate circumstances, Pandora’s Tower opens in the Kingdom of Elyria, where an unassuming singer named Elena succumbs to a wretched curse during a festival performance. Bearing an arcane mark on her back, she starts transforming into a savage monster, causing the town guards to attempt to kill her in order to prevent it. A young ex-mercenary named Aeron, whose heart has forever been pledged to Elena, whisks her away in the nick of time – and with the help of a mysterious witch named Mavda, he learns what must be done to avert her wretched fate. He must descend into The Scar, a massive chasm tied down by twelve chains connected to a floating island in its center, atop which sit thirteen interconnected towers. There, he must use his sword and a sacred chain to battle his way through each tower and extract the flesh of the boss “masters” that dwell within, which Elena must consume in order to reverse her ongoing transformation. But the clock is ticking! The longer Aeron takes to vanquish each beast, the less human Elena becomes, affecting her character and the game’s final outcome in a profound manner. Time is of the essence... Pandora’s Tower was developed in Japan by Ganbarion in conjunction with Nintendo, exclusively for Wii. The game will be published by XSEED Games in North America in Spring 2013. XSEED Games will release more product updates in the coming months. About XSEED Games: XSEED Games was formed in November 2004 by a small group of industry veterans with a common vision; to cross pollinate the avid gaming culture of Japan and North America. Delivering unique, innovative titles across multiple platforms and genres, XSEED Games is dedicated to publishing products that appeal to and enrich the North American market. The company is a 100% wholly-owned subsidiary of Tokyo-based MarvelousAQL Inc., a publicly-traded company listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. More information on XSEED Games can be found at http://www.xseedgames.com

[GrotesqueBeauty]

Say what? Bless you XSEED! Pandora's Tower was the game I wanted most from Operation Rainfall. I honestly didn't think I'd be excited for another Wii release, but here we are. I'm preordering this sucker.

edit: nvm, see the new thread :)

[Deku Tree]

Why now? Why not on Wii U?

[Roto13]

Why not on Wii U?

Because it's a Wii game?

[A Black Falcon]

Mission 100% Clear! http://xseedgames.com/news.php?id=176

It's too bad that stuff like Rodea (never released anywhere) and Earth Seeker weren't included in this effort... but still, pretty good news!

[Mauricio_Magus]

MISSION COMPLETE

[AzVal]

We need now to press for a reprint of Xenoblade. prices are too high. Not Gamestop nor Nintendo have it in stock anymore. In Amazon it goes over 80 bucks.