'Xenoblade Chronicles' gets European bundle, no dice for North America

(All rights reserved - Nintendo / Monolith Soft)

Xenoblade Chronicles is one of the most highly rated role-playing games on the Nintendo Wii in its native Japan and, when it arrives in Europe on September 2, will be bundled with a special edition controller.

No such luck in North America, however, as a campaign to bring Xenoblade and two other titles to the continent has been rejected by officials comments on Nintendo's Facebook page.

Though Xenoblade may not be a household name outside of its homeland, Famitsu magazine gave it a near-perfect score and voters on Japanese user review portal MK2 still rate it as the Wii's best role-playing adventure.

Fans of Xenoblade, The Last Story, and Pandora's Tower have organized themselves to co-ordinate Operation Rainfall, petitioning Nintendo to localize the three titles for the North American Wii.

Nintendo broke the news on January 30, thanking fans for their enthusiasm, and saying "We never say 'never,' but we can confirm that there are no plans to bring these three games to the Americas at this time."

Current pre-orders for Xenoblade Chronicles, under its working title of Monado, have made it Amazon.com's second best-seller for the Wii, ahead of Zumba Fitness and behind Just Dance 2.

Nintendo's Xenoblade update on Facebook: facebook.com/Nintendo/posts/126089684142160
Operation Rainfall site: http://oprainfall.blogspot.com