Xenoblade coming to the U.S. via Gamestop Exclusive - NeoGAF

Looks and sounds legit, people are reporting calling in to their GSs and getting the information confirmed via that route.

Somewhat surprised by this, to be honest, considering the tack they've taken recently. But panic mode Nintendo is the best Nintendo, so.

Will buy a second time to support Monolith, even if it means giving money to GS, which I haven't done in years.

Absolutely. Saw this on NeoGAF earlier, got dubious. Now sort of excited.

Called my local Gamestop to confirm, its real! YAY! Now i dont have to try to mod and somehow brick my Wii.

Modding a wii takes all of 3 minutes and is basically impossible to brick. Also, you should still do it so you can play Donkey Kong Country returns with the classic controller.

There's also a backup utility that lets you UNBRICK it on the off chance you decided it would be cool to open it up and rub your scrot all over it.

Literally idiot proof.

Also Brawl hacks.

No REGRETS. I only simply got my copy early, took it around the world and beaten it in 285 hours and completed that mofo just in time for Skyrim. :D

<3

And of course we don't have to go to Lamestop!

If I recall correctly, starting sometime later this month, you could pre-order the game straight from Nintendo, so you don't have to give Gamestop your money.

My Wii is in shambles. Can't even read discs, so I had to mod it to read off of external HDDs. I downloaded the game there. Loved what I've played so far.

I'm gonna buy it just to have it even if I can't play the physical disc version of it.

EDIT: Welp, here's the confirmed news. $50 is hard-pressed to beat. [ link ]

This is nice of Nintendo, but at this point, too little, too late. Most of the folks who really wanted this game bought it from Europe, at not too bad of an import tax. I appreciate the sentiment of wanting to support the publisher, but I've got too many other things to spend my money on to buy a symbolic second copy. If Nintendo had made this announcement months ago instead of saying they had no plans for a NA release, I would have waited.

People say that, but importing a game from europe and modding your wii isn't really a normal behaviour. The JRPG market on the Wii is small, but the active subset of North Americans who own it doesn't make up that entire market. Not even close.

The fact that it's a limited release implies that they realize they don't NEED to make that much money on it. Much like when they did a limited release on Electroplankton, the game was essentially localized already and the costs of doing a release were minimal.

They'd probably make money even on something tiny like a 10k print run. I don't necessarily think they are expecting much from this in terms of raw numbers. But considering Nintendo's posted losses, even making a minimal profit on a minimal effort is worth the time investment for them. Especially if these rumours about this nebulous "relaunch" are to be bought into.

They'll try to stretch the Wii as thin as it'll go (which is pretty god damn thin considering what it is right now), and this is part of that time buying strategy. It'll make a good bullet point, it'll restore a little faith, and it'll look good to consumers and analysts. It's really not a bad move for them no matter how you cut it.

I'll buy it a second time as a support symbol for Monolith. I adore them.

As for any advantages it might have over the pal release, it already supports Pal60, so there won't be any noticeable framerate differences.

How much would you guys recommend the Classic Controller Pro, which I somehow don't already own, for this thing? Nintendo's selling a bundle for a whopping $5 off, so is that actually worth spending the cashdollars on, or would I be better off saving the money for the next retro game revival Kickstarter?

I used it for Xenoblade, its great for me. But yeah, its pretty much YMMV depending on the functionality of the wiimote/nunchuck or the controller.

If you like having a NORMAL controller for a rpg, I would recommend a classic pro. If you don't care for the button/placement awkwardness then go ahead use the wiimote/nunchuck.

If you don't have any sort of Classic Controller then I'd really recommend it. I haven't tried the Wiimote/nunchuck combo with Xenoblade, but I'd guess it's pretty awkward in comparison.

Oh yeah, I do have the original Classic Controller, just not the Pro. Any extensive Z button usage that'd make the Pro's vertical trigger layout more preferable?

No, I don't believe it uses the Z button at all.

Yeah, I've been fine with my regular Classic Controller. Unless you want the different shape and color there's no real need to upgrade.

OH herp derp, I didn't realize there was an upgrade lol. Yeah just whatever you had for classic is fine. :D

Awesome. And I've already found something to impulsively blow the extra :15bux: on instead, so that's nice. Thanks for the help, guys and gal~

When I play video games at 3 AM:

<@CHz> Currently totally ignoring the plot in Xenoblade.
<@CHz> Apparently this place is exploding, but there's no timer so I'm enjoying how they didn't lock out any of the areas.
<@CHz> ::switches maps entirely::
<@CHz> ::tense music changes to calm piano::
<@CHz> :)
<+Qworkie> =D
<@CHz> gonna get one last look at dis sweet view before i go..........................................
<@CHz> (seriously am doing this)
<+Qworkie> spoilrz
<@CHz> spoiler: this one place has this totally sweet view
<@CHz> what now q
<+Qworkie> FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
<+Qworkie> GAME RUINED NOW
<+Qworkie> WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT CHZ
<@CHz> 8)
<@CHz> Went back to where I'm supposed to be going and they remembered to switch the music back to DRAMATIC PLOT MUSIC instead of the normal area BGM.
<@CHz> ^5 Monolith
<+Qworkie> ::thumbs up::
<+Qworkie> "oh, you're back. Now where were we"
<+Qworkie> "oh right"
<+Qworkie> ::DRAMATIC PLOT MUSIC::
<@CHz> "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

<@CHz> For comedy purposes I am now running with the character with the slowest footspeed.
<+Qworkie> lmao
<+Qworkie> if only you could glitch characters into running backwards
<@CHz> ::super mario 64 backwards longjump::
<+Qworkie> complete with WAHHOOOO
<@CHz> Getting the Wii hack scene on this immediately.
<+Qworkie> ^^^^

<@CHz> Okay, at the destination.
<@CHz> Doesn't lock you into a cutscene though so I'm taking the chance to talk to all the NPCs here.
<@CHz> They say new things! I have to talk to them!
<@CHz> except for this one guy right here
<@CHz> SAYING THE SAME THINGS AS BEFORE
<@CHz> I CAUGHT YOU
<+Qworkie> WHAT A BUTT
<+Qworkie> THESE OTHER GUYS THOUGH, YOU GUYS ARE COOL
<+Qworkie> WE'RE COOL
<+Qworkie> BUT THIS GUY
<@CHz> ::everyone turns and glares::
<@CHz> ::thrown out::
<@CHz> ::leave without him::

<@CHz> lmao it asks for confirmation to leave
<@CHz> NOPE CHANGED MY MIND
<+Qworkie> gotta look at dat sweet view again
<@CHz> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
<+Qworkie> "ok, I'm done. No wait. Ok. No. Waaait. Ok now I'm- ok one more"
<+Qworkie> "almost done now"
<+Qworkie> "wait just a bit more"
<@CHz> "oops game clock just changed to nighttime, we can't leave now while it's dark"
<@CHz> "who's got the sleeping bags"