Kamis, 29 Maret 2012
We are now just a week out from the release of Xenoblade Chronicles in North America and the excitement is beginning to rise! I reached out to the folks at Operation Rainfall to conduct an interview about Xenoblade Chronicles, and their campaign efforts. They graciously agreed to answer a few questions for the Play Nintendo readers, so without further ado, on to the interview!
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Before we get started I’d like to congratulate you on the success of Operation Rainfall and the fantastic new website. Nintendo fans have been able to effectively voice their opinions through your campaigns and an amazing new community has grown as well, thank you for all your hard work!
Play Nintendo: Most Nintendo fans have heard of Operation Rainfall and may have even participated in the campaigns, but there still could be a small few that are new to your efforts. For those few, could you tell us a bit about Operation Rainfall?
Ryan Tyner: Thank you for all the kind words!
On June 23rd, 2011 the marketing manager of Nintendo France, stated that Nintendo of Europe wanted to show Xenoblade Chronicles at E3, but that “Nintendo of America wouldn't let them because they didn't want to show products they aren't planning to sell.”
On June 23rd, 2011 the marketing manager of Nintendo France, stated that Nintendo of Europe wanted to show Xenoblade Chronicles at E3, but that “Nintendo of America wouldn't let them because they didn't want to show products they aren't planning to sell.”
That was when a group of gamers, wanting these three games, grouped together and formed Operation Rainfall with the purpose of letting Nintendo of America know there is an audience for these games.
The goal of Operation Rainfall was to get the three titles of Xenoblade, The Last Story, and Pandora’s Tower localized in the Americas. We would do this by having the thousands of our campaign followers email, mail, post on Nintendo’s Facebook wall, send Nintendo of America Tweets, and even call Nintendo of America, with the purpose of telling Nintendo of America they wanted the three games.
PN:Operation Rainfall, in my opinion, has held the best organized campaigns in recent times and it could be argued that this influenced Nintendo’s decision to bring Xenoblade Chronicles and The Last Story to North America. Could you tell us about any challenges you may have encountered while organizing these campaigns?
RT:Well I think the biggest challenge was doing all the work for the campaign. People might be surprised just how much work goes into a campaign. You have to create, plan, and organize the campaign in order for it to be successful. You have to find ways to attract more people to your social media sites which involves providing up-to-date information on all the games. We have a website, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Google +, Blog, and Youtube channel that all need to be run as well. There is so much work and not very many people doing it. Most of the time the work fell on just three people, the current leaders of the campaign, and it took a toll on us all because we would spend most of our free time working on the campaign. Of course, two of the games we were campaigning for are now coming, so it was worth it in the end.
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| The Last Story |
PN: Now that both games are coming to North America, Nintendo will be paying very close attention to the sales of both games. Nintendo has also chosen to release Xenoblade Chronicles exclusively through GameStop and on their own website. What are your thoughts on Nintendo’s choice for the distribution of Xenoblade Chronicles?
RT: We’re just happy we’re getting Xenoblade honestly. We would have loved a full release like Europe had, or even a release by a localization publisher like XSEED, but in the end, we are getting the game and that is all that matters. Same thing for The Last Story.
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| Xenoblade Chronicles |
PN:What piece of information would you give to those that haven’t pre-ordered Xenoblade Chronicles, or those on the fence about the game?
RT: I have played Xenoblade Chronicles, and let me tell you, it’s an incredible game. There is just so much you can do (or not do if you so choose) that I spent 145 hours on my first play through. It’s really not like any game you have played before. I felt it took all the best things about the RPG genre and mixed it altogether in one incredible experience. Oh and the characters are fantastic. There is not a single character that you will not like or choose not to add to your party.
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| Xenoblade Chronicles |
PN:Moving forward, Operation Rainfall will begin campaigning for the release of Pandora’s Tower. Could you share some of those plans with us?
RT: Beginning April 13th, which marks the day that Pandora’s Tower is released in Europe, we will begin what we are calling “Pandora’s Tower month”. For an entire month, we will be posting news, articles, reviews, videos, and everything else we can find on Pandora’s Tower, to get people hyped up about the game. We don’t have a schedule quite yet, but we also have plans during the month to have our followers contact NoA and XSEED and let them know there are a lot of people that want the game released in the Americas.
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| Pandora's Tower |
PN:It’s possible that Operation Rainfall will begin campaigns to localize other games outside the big three. I know that fans have been asking if there are plans to target other games for localization, but I’m going to ask something a little different. Are there any games that Operation Rainfall isn’t interested in creating a campaign for?
RT: We’re not really interested in campaigning for games that were either not well received in Japan, or did not sell well; Earth Seeker is an example. We would love it if Earth Seeker was localized, but we can’t exactly tell a company to localize a game that could potentially lose them money. Also, we’re not really interested in past games that were never localized. We want to focus on games that have either not been released in Japan as of yet, or that have just recently been released. So, sorry people, this means no Captain Rainbow or Disaster Day of Crisis.
PN: Is there anything else you’d like to add?
RT: Just that we hope all of your readers plan to buy these games when they are released here. The campaign will mean nothing if the games are released and they sell poorly. It would show that we were wrong and that they were right in not wanting to release them here in the first place. So buy the games!
Also, we just recently started a website that not only brings coverage about our three games, but also brings coverage on other games coming out of Japan as well as other niche genre games that need a bit of attention. So check it out! http://www.operationrainfall.com
Also, we just recently started a website that not only brings coverage about our three games, but also brings coverage on other games coming out of Japan as well as other niche genre games that need a bit of attention. So check it out! http://www.operationrainfall.com
Thank you for taking time to conduct this interview, it’s going to be an extremely exciting week for Nintendo fans! I know I’m personally stoked about sinking my teeth into Xenoblade Chronicles. I look forward to hearing more about Operation Rainfall in the future and wish you all the best!
RT: Thank you!
RT: Thank you!
Ryan Tyner, Co-leader of Operation Rainfall
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I'd like to thank Ryan Tyner of Operation Rainfall for taking the time to answer a few of my questions. I'd also like to say that if you're looking for more information on Xenoblade Chronicles, The Last Story, or Pandora's Tower then you should definitely check out the Operation Rainfall Website as well as the official websites for each game. You can also follow Operation Rainfall on Twitter (and Facebook) to stay up to date on their current and future efforts.
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