RUMOR - GameStop to start Pandora's Tower preorders on Ju...

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RUMOR - GameStop to start Pandora's Tower preorders on June 20th, GameStop exclusive
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Here's a juicy rumor for you guys. Apparently, GameStop is set to start taking preorders on Pandora's Tower on June 20th. This information comes from a GameStop employee, supposedly. You can actually check out an audio recording of the conversation with the employee at the link below. It sounds pretty valid to me...or at least, well acted.

Audio here

[OprahFTWinfrey]

Uuuuugh... Gamestop... I'm not exactly a fan of Gamestop. The only reason I use them period is if there's a preorder bonus, or a game is exclusive to their stores.

But anyway, this could be wonderful news if the rumor's true! (which, I'm going to go ahead and assume it is true since the other two RPGs are being/have been localized) This means we'll finally have all the games from Operation Rainfall over here in the states!!!

[LegendofSantiago]

If it's true, then the Wii is in for a good last year.

[Syrek]

I wouldn't be surprised if Pandora's Tower came out this year, making this the RPG year of the Wii. After seeing how successful Xenoblade was and how many great reviews it got as well as the hype for the Last Story, it only makes sense that they complete the trio of JRPG's. What a great way to send off the Wii then with some of the best the RPG genre has to offer. I really love playing Xenoblade Chronicles and Im quite confident I'll really sink into The Last Story cause Im a big Mistwalker fan.

[motherbra1n]

it's more or less inevitable at this point.

[MoldyClay]

I dunno why Pandora's Tower keeps getting referred to as an RPG. I've seen nothing in the gameplay that looks even remotely RPG-like. Looks like Castlevania.

Having said that, if this is true, I am preordering day one.

I wanted this game the most of the 3.

[Mike_Intellivision]

Color me not surprised.
That will be an easy pre-order once it happens.


Mike from Morgantown

Wondering if I can get to 500 retail Wii games.

[Johnny2900]

If it does come out, then I need to work more hours over the summer to pay that off along with Last Story and all of the upcoming 3DS titles..

[8bit101]

I dunno why Pandora's Tower keeps getting referred to as an RPG. I've seen nothing in the gameplay that looks even remotely RPG-like. Looks like Castlevania.

Having said that, if this is true, I am preordering day one.

I wanted this game the most of the 3.

It's action-RPG.

[LittleKingsWii]

Yes, plz.

Crazy to think that I might buy more new Wii games this year than the last (especially with how flat the last year for me has been on purchases for Wii).

[Diortem7]

I hope this is true. I really want this title.

[Hyawatta]

Flaw In The Logic

One thing that doesn’t seem to make since is that the GameStop manager is saying that a company bought the rights to Xenoblade Chronicles, The Last Story, and Pandora’s Tower so they can have them imported as kind of a series. Then he said that GameStop bought the rights from them so that the three games would all be GameStop exclusives. The problem that I have with this is that even though Xenoblade Chronicles was a GameStop exclusive, The Last Story is not. I have The Last Story preordered on Amazon, so I don’t believe that this GameStop manager is entirely accurate in what he is saying. It came to mind that XSEED might be the company that he is talking about that has bought the rights to import the games, but they did not do that for the GameStop exclusive Xenoblade Chronicles. I would guess that XSEED is going to provide us with Pandora’s Tower just as they are doing with The Last Story, but it will also not be a GameStop exclusive.

[Sneakers]

Welp...another game to pre-order. Looks like a intresting game.


I am curious what the RPG elements are....because as mentioned, reminds me of Zelda and Castlevania.

[MoldyClay]

@8bit101

I feel like that's stretching it. I've barely seen any RPG elements. Less so than Kingdom Hearts or something.

*shrug*

@Hyawatta

This. I just listened to the audio and there were tons of problems with what the guy was saying.

But he sounded like he only kinda skimmed over whatever he's talking about.

But yeah, The Last Story is *not* Gamestop exclusive, and Xenoblade and TLS are published by different companies (Nintendo and XSEED).

So I don't know what to make of this exactly.

[nGen]

I wouldn't be surprised if Pandora's Tower came out this year, making this the RPG year of the Wii. After seeing how successful Xenoblade was and how many great reviews it got as well as the hype for the Last Story, it only makes sense that they complete the trio of JRPG's. What a great way to send off the Wii then with some of the best the RPG genre has to offer. I really love playing Xenoblade Chronicles and Im quite confident I'll really sink into The Last Story cause Im a big Mistwalker fan.

I just reached the Leg of Bionis, holy god it's so beautiful.

[kdognumba1]

noooo, confirm CONFIRM BBBLLLLLLLLLAAAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGHHHHHHHH

[Mirr0rR3flection]

Yay another exclusive for GameStop. >.>

[motherbra1n]

the less RPG it is the better.

[thegreatscp]

I wouldn't be surprised if Pandora's Tower came out this year, making this the RPG year of the Wii. After seeing how successful Xenoblade was and how many great reviews it got as well as the hype for the Last Story, it only makes sense that they complete the trio of JRPG's. What a great way to send off the Wii then with some of the best the RPG genre has to offer. I really love playing Xenoblade Chronicles and Im quite confident I'll really sink into The Last Story cause Im a big Mistwalker fan.

I just reached the Leg of Bionis, holy god it's so beautiful.

Just wait til you're in the Ether Mine... Holy god is that segment boring.

[JimmyWolf]

So first off this recording talks about one company being responsible for all 3 games coming out here, even though Nintendo is doing limited release of Xenoblade and Xseed is doing Last Story. Secondly, Last Story is NOT a Gamestop exclusive lol. I call fake on this for sure.

[CrashMan]

Hey all,

I'll try to clarify a few things here since I wrote the piece/recorded the audio.

Yea, not everything the manager says is crystal clear. However...

A) If you listen, I sort of put the words about The Last Story being a GameStop exclusive in his mouth. Even though I pay close attention to this stuff, in the moment of the conversation I made a mistake. It happens.

I don't think he really pays attention to gaming the way we do, it's just his job, so he didn't leap to correct me. But, I believe he does pay attention to his managerial emails, which is all that was important in this case.

B) A lot of folks are getting hung up on the assumption that the company he states "bought the rights" to all 3 games is a publisher.

At 1:44 in the recording I toss out the phrase "publisher" and he did not confirm or deny that's what he was referring to. In the world of business, I think "buying the rights" could refer to any number of entities, no?

I don't think the ONLY parties responsible for getting a game on a shelf are the devs, the pubs and the retailers.

C) Perhaps I'm just an optimist, but even looking objectively at the facts... so what if he was confused on some details? When someone is shot, witnesses often report different competing versions of reality. Regardless, they all know someone was shot.

In this gruesome analogy, the presence of PT instructions in his corporate inbox is like the shooting. Since he DOESN'T seem to pay close attention to gaming, the fact that he pulled the name PT out of his brain, as opposed to say, Ninja Bread Man 2, tells me its for real.

The fact that he said the same thing last Saturday tells me that he wasn't just high on meth one of these two visits. =)

~~~

In the end, everyone is entitled to their interpretation of the facts!! Just keep this in mind when you're making your pre-order on or around June 20th ^_^

Also, RMC, if I could act that well, why would I waste my talents on video game coverage instead of wasting them on Hollywood blockbusters? =D

[Devil_Rising]

Well hot damn. I guess it went from "MAN, Nintendo of America are JERKS and don't care, and Operation Rainfall is a WASTE OF TIME" to "Oh look! Guess we're getting those games after all. As in all of 'em".

[kamehamehax]

Pandora's Tower? YES.

GameStop Exclusive? NEVER.

I will die a thousand deaths before I buy it from them. I will wait two weeks after the release date and buy it used from Amazon.

-BitNick

[Devil_Rising]

Nice sentiment. But that isn't exactly supporting the game, sales-wise. Saying "yeah I bought it used", isn't actually supporting the game. And that's what Nintendo wants to see, is sales, to justify releasing games like this in the first place. If these games DON'T sell, as in first time over the counter sales, and not just used recycling, then we might not see Operation Rainfall type titles again, and it will be the fault of people who weren't willing to buy the games in the first place. I understand hating Gamestop, they suck. But what's more important, not supporting Gamestop, or support these ORF titles that we've all been asking for for like a year?

[Eliskor]

Hey all,

I'll try to clarify a few things here since I wrote the piece/recorded the audio.

Yea, not everything the manager says is crystal clear. However...

A) If you listen, I sort of put the words about The Last Story being a GameStop exclusive in his mouth. Even though I pay close attention to this stuff, in the moment of the conversation I made a mistake. It happens.

I don't think he really pays attention to gaming the way we do, it's just his job, so he didn't leap to correct me. But, I believe he does pay attention to his managerial emails, which is all that was important in this case.

B) A lot of folks are getting hung up on the assumption that the company he states "bought the rights" to all 3 games is a publisher.

At 1:44 in the recording I toss out the phrase "publisher" and he did not confirm or deny that's what he was referring to. In the world of business, I think "buying the rights" could refer to any number of entities, no?

I don't think the ONLY parties responsible for getting a game on a shelf are the devs, the pubs and the retailers.

C) Perhaps I'm just an optimist, but even looking objectively at the facts... so what if he was confused on some details? When someone is shot, witnesses often report different competing versions of reality. Regardless, they all know someone was shot.

In this gruesome analogy, the presence of PT instructions in his corporate inbox is like the shooting. Since he DOESN'T seem to pay close attention to gaming, the fact that he pulled the name PT out of his brain, as opposed to say, Ninja Bread Man 2, tells me its for real.

The fact that he said the same thing last Saturday tells me that he wasn't just high on meth one of these two visits. =)

~~~

In the end, everyone is entitled to their interpretation of the facts!! Just keep this in mind when you're making your pre-order on or around June 20th ^_^

Also, RMC, if I could act that well, why would I waste my talents on video game coverage instead of wasting them on Hollywood blockbusters? =D

Let me counter you a bit there though. You said he doesn't pay much attention to gaming which is all fine and dandy, I can understand many GameStop managers are just that -- managers. However, you said you put the words "GameStop exclusive" in his mouth, which yeah, you kind of did.

The thing that gets me though, is you also put the words "Pandora's Tower" in his mouth. I listened to the audio recording and you were the one that said the words "Pandora's Tower" first and therefore allowed him to use that even if it were wrong. He didn't think up Pandora's Tower on the spot himself which if he did would give more credibility to him.

It seems kind of fishy and that you and this "manager" are seemingly using the hype of Pandora's Tower (coincidence that it happens the week it releases in Europe? I really don't think so.) and the huge following of Operation Rainfall to garner some temporary fame for your little unknown site. Until today I've never heard of your website. This just sounds like a ploy to get some traffic by using a very much anticipated game.

I hate to sound like that, but what else am I to go with here? There's no solid proof of these claims and an audio recording can very easily faked. Why not ask him if you can make a short 3 minute video while asking these questions? Why can't he pull it up on his computer and take a quick picture (like some GS employee did for Xenoblade Chronicles)? There's so much more that could have been done to give more credibility to this than what either you or him did.

So for now, we have to go with this being fake. I also strongly doubt GameStop would refuse pre-orders until June. That's not how they operate. They want pre-orders as soon as they can as that means more money sooner. It'd be stupid of them to go "well...we could open them now but let's wait...". They've never done that before so why start now?

Also, as many others have checked and confirmed, no other GameStop has this game in this in their computer systems and I'm lead to understand that all GameStops use a universal system that makes it so if something is in the system of 1 Gamestop its in the system for them all. So with this 1 GameStop being the only one to have it in their systems that doesn't make a whole lot of sense really.