GoNintendo 'End of Day' thought - A point to petitions?

Looks like I jinxed my ankle yesterday. I had plans to walk today, but it actually ached a good deal today. I guess I've been pushing it a bit too hard. I never thought I'd say this, but I'm really eager to get back to exercising! See you in a few, short hours.

Back when Operation Rainfall was going on, Wii owners in the states were struggling with the idea that three notable Wii games weren't going to come our way. We joined petitions, hit up Twitter with hashtags and spread the word any way possible. Thankfully, we did eventually get to enjoy those titles here in America, with many involved in the Operation Rainfall campaign feeling vindicated.

Shortly after that campaign, Nintendo quickly discussed the fan movement. Without getting into too much detail, Nintendo said that they were aware of the campaign, but it didn't really factor into their decisions. Still, we all wanted to think that our pushing helped influence Nintendo and their decisions to some small degree.

Now all these months later, Reggie Fils-Aime has talked about the topic once again. This time around he was much more clear on the topic. According to him, Nintendo was very aware of the campaign going on, but all the momentum behind it had no impact on the final decisions Nintendo made. All the hard work that fans did to spread the word didn't move Nintendo an inch. We just happened to luck out and get the games we wanted.

It's just a tad disheartening to hear that Nintendo didn't really put any weight into what its fans were saying. No, I don't expect a multi-million dollar company to run itself based on the campaigns of fans, but I would like to think that Nintendo could have handled the situation a bit better. At least Reggie is being honest about the matter, but it does suck to think that we really can't have any impact with fan movements. The most we can do is not buy/buy games and speak with our cash.

How does this make you feel? Reggie was just reconfirming what we heard awhile back, but with stronger words this time around. Is this what you expected from Nintendo? Were you hoping for a bit of a pat on the back from the Big N? How does this influence your future support of petitions and campaigns aimed at getting Nintendo's attention?