NINTENDO TARGET OF MAIL CAMPAIGN, WII OWNERS DEMAND XENOBLADE

NINTENDO TARGET OF MAIL CAMPAIGN, WII OWNERS DEMAND XENOBLADE

Operation Rainfall Increases Pressure on Nintendo of America with Mail Campaign to Bring Already Translated Game to America

Redmond, WA July 6, 2011

The 2011 Wii game line-up has left Wii owners to take matters into their own hands.  Last week, Nintendo of America received thousands of requests from a group of fans known as Operation Rainfall to localize three games for North America: Xenoblade, The Last Story, and Pandora’s Tower.  Nintendo’s response, that there are no localization plans at this time, did not silence the Wii owners.  Instead, Operation Rainfall members are mailing letters and packages directly to Nintendo’s Redmond, WA office to show their support for bringing the three games to North America.

Operation Rainfall’s mail campaign begins this week, and letters will begin arriving on Nintendo of America’s doorstep between July 11^th and July 13^th.  This is a follow up to the group placing enough preorders of Xenoblade, listed as Monado: Beginning of the World, to make the game #1 in Video Games on Amazon.com for over 48 hours.  Writers are encouraged to write why Xenoblade should be brought to North America.  The game has received critical praise in Japan, and it is already confirmed for a September 2^nd release across Europe with full English, French, and Spanish translations. 

Wii owners are also sending Nintendo items like plastic cocktail swords to Nintendo of America.  This is similar to what fans of TV shows have done in the past to avoid cancellation.  This is the first in a series of mail campaigns.

Nintendo of America stated via Twitter and Facebook that it has no plans to release the game at this time.  “None of this started with any guarantee,” commented Mike D of Operation Rainfall when asked about Nintendo’s statement, “They have listened.  Now we just have to get [Nintendo] to deliver.”  Nintendo of America has declined to release a number of Wii titles to the United States, including Fatal Frame 4 and Disaster: Day of Crisis. 

Xenoblade faces a similar fate in America.  Meanwhile, European gamers get a special edition of the game that includes a red Classic Controller Pro, reversible box art, and a promotional poster.  Operation Rainfall hopes to convince Nintendo to make a similar release in North America.

Interested in joining the campaign? Learn more at http://operationrainfall.com and send a letter to the following address:

Reginald Fils-Aime (President and COO)
c/o Nintendo of America
4600 150th AVE NE
Redmond, WA 98052

About Operation Rainfall:

Founded in June, 2011, Operation Rainfall is an organization of gamers advocating for the release of video games in all regions around the world.  Operation Rainfall has been covered by many news networks including Wired, Joystiq, Kotaku, Destructoid, and IGN.  More information is available at http://operationrainfall.com.