Why Reggie is Wrong for Calling Gamers "Insatiable"

"What's wrong with me" is that I don't have enough Reggie in my life.

Last week, you may have read Kotaku's post about a conversation with Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime regarding the "core gamer."  He essentially blamed the bad blood between many of today's "hardcore gamers" and Nintendo on a refusal to ever be satisfied or content with what's being offered.  Now, the general claim that gamers are an entitled bunch is defensible enough.  One merely needs to look at the myriad outcries against DLC, DRM, "online passes," HD rereleases, retailer-exclusive pre-order bonuses, and the fact that every Tom, Dick and Harry now feels the need to create a petition every time something doesn't quite go his way.  The Mass Effect 3 ending controversy and the petition for a non-GFWL PC version of Dark Souls stand out as some of this year's douchey-er "give me more!" spectacles.

But "the Regginator" invokes different reasoning when he calls out gamers.  And I'm here to tell you why, while the general sentiment is correct, the logic behind it missed the mark entirely.

Filly's Weekly Highlights: June 17 - 23

Well, I decided I'd do this thing where I give a rundown of my personal highlights every week, and offer my humble two cents.

New Releases:  Pokémon Conquest; Quantum Conundrum (PC)

My 2012 Localization Checklist

Another post, another few months gone by.  Sorry for the delay!

The woes of being a lover of Japanese games in this day and age are often staggering.  With less and less of interest to me coming out of Western companies, these are the games I'm counting on to fill the void.  Sadly, rather than responding accordingly to the emergence of a global economy and Information Age, Japanese developers seem to be losing touch with their Western fans via an unwillingness to even localize some of their most fascinating and unique games.  Recently, we've seen the effects with social networking movements such as Operation Rainfall, the Gallian Liberation Front, and a handful of fan pages devoted to various Tales games.

The situation isn't entirely bleak.  Japanese developers have many interesting things to offer Western fans this year so far*.  These include Xenoblade Chronicles, The Last Story, Tales of Graces f, Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward, Spirit Camera: The Cursed Memoir, Pokémon Conquest, and Ni No Kuni:  Wrath of the White Witch.  With all that on its way, it may be hard to see what J-game lovers still have to complain about.  So without further ado, here are the rest of the games I'd love to see localized in 2012.

Filly's Year-End Awards, 2011

2011, claimed by many to be one of the best years in gaming history, came and went.  Time to share my absolute favorites of last year!

Last Chance: Sign the Operation Rainfall Petition!

Those of you who follow my humble blog are aware I'm a supporter of Operation Rainfall.  In case you've been living under a rock, the goal is to persuade Nintendo to localize the Japanese Wii games Xenoblade Chronicles, The Last Story, and Pandora's Tower across all regions.  We encourage "raindrops" to continue supporting Nintendo, and not to import or boycott.  We've been informing Nintendo of America of our interest in these games through letter writing, e-mails, and communication through social networks.

Xenoblade has stolen the spotlight recently with its August 19th release in Europe.  Thanks in no small part to the free advertising the Operation has provided, as well as overwhelmingly positive reviews, the game has far exceeded NoE's expectations for sales.  Brick and mortar stores and online retailers ran out of their first shipments in mere days, and while some seem to have gotten more copies, the game remains conspicuously out of stock online.  If the dubious source VGChartz is anything to go by, the game sold 30,000 copies in its first week in Europe.

All Aboard Operation Rainfall!

Short story: We (all regions) want Xenoblade Chronicles, The Last Story, and Pandora's Tower.

Long story: Unsurprisingly, the "core line up" for the Wii in 2011 is looking grim. In North America, only LoZ: Skyward Sword rests on the horizon. But wait! A ray of hope. Mistwalker's The Last Story and Nintendo's new IP, Pandora's Tower, still remain a distant possibility. They're already out in Japan, with Xenoblade Chronicles set to release this Fall. So far it's been confirmed that Europe will be getting The Last Story and Xenoblade, with no word on Pandora's Tower. As for North America... well, Nintendo says we're SOL, apparently.

Nintendo of America has repeatedly denied any plans to bring us these three core action-RPGs, even in the wake of the new online campaign "Operation Rainfall." This is also following Nintendo's claims that they intend to return to targeting "core gamers." In Nintendo's words, there are simply "no plans" for NA getting these three games. Pandora's Tower in PAL is also dubious. However, as Joystiq's Nintendo division has pointed out:

Not that we want to give false hope regarding the actions of a company who is always pragmatic to the point of angering dedicated fans, but "no plans right now" is far from a death knell, especially for Nintendo. Some things that there were "no plans" for in America: the black Wii, the Classic Controller Pro, the Wii Sports Resort hardware bundle. Basically, there are "no plans" until the company decides to tell people its plans.

 So, there is still hope.

North America could really benefit from having these three games (and PAL from having Pandora's Tower). The Wii is especially strapped for core releases this year, which is pretty disappointing for those of us who have supported Nintendo every step of the way. Sales-wise it's a bit of a risk, but Nintendo isn't exactly scrambling for dollars and can afford to take this risk. Especially because this could put Nintendo back in the good graces of former Nintendo fans who have since boycotted--right in time for their supposed return to core gaming, the WiiU. This would be a win for everyone so it boggles my mind that they're so hesitant to risk a few bucks.

Or at least make your systems region free, FFS. Really, I'd be more than happy to import if it was "safe." I still might unlock my Wii since apparently it's really easy, but at the same time, it would mean a risk of bricking my console.