Release spacing, no doubt.Makes you wonder why they're waiting til April then.
It's great that it's coming out, especially for younger gamers that wouldn't have modded their Wii's but that can now stumble across the title, but in general it's too late. The fanbase bought it from NoE.
needs more Kirby-esque angryface
Where can I buy this!?
I'm going to buy this, even if I don't reallyl ike RPGs. Because its Xenoblade.
I don't know if I'll even begin to understand how to play it but I don't care.
This thread, Twitter and Facebook are indicating otherwise.The fanbase bought it from NoE.
This thread, Twitter and Facebook are indicating otherwise.
Some of the people that imported are even buying it again, although it's understandable that some will not.
Further proof that panic mode Nintendo is better Nintendo.
It's great that it's coming out, especially for younger gamers that wouldn't have modded their Wii's but that can now stumble across the title, but in general it's too late. The fanbase bought it from NoE.
Definitely going to double-dip... if/when it goes up in GameStop Canada's database.
Or perhaps I should import from the US? Hmmm...
This is the truth.
I just REALLY wish I could convert my save file to the new version... hell, it would be awesome if it "just worked".
I definitely want to double dip:
1. After all the whining I did, and importing the game for the activism as much as for the game itself, I'd better buy the local version.
2. OCD reasons: If there's a domestic copy of the game, I don't want the import, unless it offers me something that the domestic version doesn't have.
This news was both good and bad to me. I'm glad to see NoA do the right thing, and I'd much rather have a NoA copy in my collection in the end.... but I'm halfway through the PAL version. Do I want to restart the game? Definitely no :/ I'm not that tenacious a gamer these days. I'd surely lose interest. Do I continue the PAL game? Sure.. but then what am I buying the NoA version for?
First world gamer problems
Isn't it always? Look at the games we missed out on when Nintendo was the king of the market. We've missed the most on DS/Wii than any other Nintendo platform even with their larger output, and both of those have been their best selling platforms to date.
Pre-order now from GS: http://www.gamestop.com/wii/games/xenoblade-chronicles/98535
Or pre-order from Nintendo later. Whichever. I hope to buy from Nintendo unless there are some coupon codes for GS.
Hmm. Free shipping from Gamestop. Might have to do that instead.
Realistically, it's probably still very small.Well we know from the other threads earlier that a lot of people imported it as well. It's really silly on NoA's part to have not announced this months ago. I have no data on which to base any sort of estimate on the percentage of lost sales, but they certainly did lose some from their enthusiast base.
Thanks a lot!It seems like the Nintendo.ca store will let you order the game (starting December 19 when pre-orders open)
"The game will be based on the version that launched in Europe," said the company in a statement.
Everyone should play xenoblade!! The more the better!!!
More at the link.Over the years, as its fortunes have waxed and waned, the company has endured with the help of a core audience that simply adores it. These fans are the kind of people who run out to buy 500,000 copies of Skyward Sword on its release to make sure they get the gold Wii MotionPlus controller. The kind that stick with Nintendo despite the beating it's taking in the mainstream press over the sales and design of the 3DS. The Ambassador Program proved the company has some humility, and so does this move.
Moreover, like I already said, this game proves something. Yes, video games are a business, and one at which Nintendo lately often excels. At the scale at which it moves product -- Mario games selling in the tens of millions -- the sales potential for Xenoblade Chronicles is comically low. But the company -- all companies -- has a responsibility to publish works which enrich the medium.
Xenoblade Chronicles proves that there's life left in a genre that has become synonymous with stagnation and conservatism. It is a damn fine game, and there are frankly still too few of those being published relative to what's out there. And certainly, in 2012, very few of them will be published on the Wii. It is a game where a highly motivated developer stuck a stake in the ground and said "I want to transform the way this kind of game is made" and did it. How can a game like that not be made available to the broadest audience possible? It is, to my mind, an ethical question as much as it is a business one.
It can be played with Wiimote/nunchuk or Classic Controller.I forgot to ask a ? in my post earlier. Does this game requires CC Pro or not?
I have the following controllers:
Wiimote with nunchuck (came with the system)
Wiimote motion plus (bundle with Zelda: SS)
Classic controller (regular one)
I was hoping to use the wiimote with nunchuck or regular CC to play this and save myself some money from shelling out for the CC Pro controller.
Release spacing, no doubt.
It gives people playing Zelda (or getting it for Christmas) a few months to finish that up and then be hungry for another core Wii game.. and I beleive there are a few high-profile RPGs coming out in January and February they probably don't want to complete with.
Nintendo isn't dumb in this regard (even if people want to think that they are for their own selfish reasoning).
I'm 25 hours in. The thing is that I stopped to play Zelda, and there was that update, so now my Homebrew channel isn't working. After I'm done with Zelda I'm gonna try to reinstall it but I just have this sinking feeling I'm gonna fuck it up, and something's gonna happen to my save on the SD card or something and it's not gonna work.
I also feel like if I start over when the US version comes, I'm just gonna try to blaze through to where I was before which is not something that you should do in this game. You reap benefits from exploration/leveling and I'd feel like I'd get frustrated with the re-grinding.
Maybe. But it would be much more stupid for them to release it (exclsuive or not), right around when Final Fantasy XIII-2 comes out.Compete with other games? The way Nintendo releases Xenoblade, it won't be able to compete with anything anyway. It's probably NoA's lowest profile Wii release period.
I love Arc Rise Fantasia a lot. Both Xenoblade and ARF are not without their problems.Arc Rise Fantasia is better
Gamasutra's writeup on the news, which I'm posting a link to because it's pretty good:
More at the link.
It can be played with Wiimote/nunchuk or Classic Controller.
Realistically, it's probably still very small.
I think you're giving NOA far too much credit. This is the division whose territory is by far the strongest Wii market, yet whose Wii release calendar for the entire first 3 quarters of 2011 consisted of Pokepark Wii and Mystery Case Files. Even when they had other releases people were actively campaigning for and which they could have easily coordinated with NoE to release.Release spacing, no doubt.
It gives people playing Zelda (or getting it for Christmas) a few months to finish that up and then be hungry for another core Wii game.. and I beleive there are a few high-profile RPGs coming out in January and February they probably don't want to complete with.
Nintendo isn't dumb in this regard (even if people want to think that they are for their own selfish reasoning).
Compete with other games? The way Nintendo releases Xenoblade, it won't be able to compete with anything anyway. It's probably NoA's lowest profile Wii release period.
Desperate Nintendo is best NintendoFurther proof that panic mode Nintendo is better Nintendo.
I think the amount of importers was likely small too. One of the unquantifiable effects of this importing however is that a percentage of gamers did go and import this game and these gamers were the most hardcore that would have really driven online discussion of the title. Now with this late release most of these hardcore fans will be absent from the discussion and that has got to hurt word of mouth sales, which is the most effective marketing tool for games.
It would be super interesting to eventually get the UK and NA because we could then see how this whole experience affected sales of the title.
None of those games are really on Xenoblade's level.
"The game will be based on the version that launched in Europe," said the company in a statement.
Too bad I already imported it and hated it. Oh well, would have loved to pay less for it than what I paid at Game UK.
While that's true, I mean, the same thing happens for people who import games from Japan. There's a small segment of GAF that would import.. say.. Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep and have a good discussion thread on it during its Japanese release. That doesn't really hinder discussion when it is released elsewhere (and in some cases, these people will come back in and talk it up with new players).I think the amount of importers was likely small too. One of the unquantifiable effects of this importing however is that a percentage of gamers did go and import this game and these gamers were the most hardcore that would have really driven online discussion of the title. Now with this late release most of these hardcore fans will be absent from the discussion and that has got to hurt word of mouth sales, which is the most effective marketing tool for games.
It would be super interesting to eventually get the UK and NA because we could then see how this whole experience affected sales of the title.
Xenoblade is like.....a squaresoft Game.Xenoblade is not a perfect game, nor is it the best RPG I've played (I've had issues with the quest system and a bit of the battle system, for instance). But it is indeed refreshing, and it might provide the gameplay and narrative that people have been looking for in JRPGs for years. The background art is also absolutely gorgeous.