So the poster is 594mm x 841mm so ~23'' x ~33''  so not to much smaller then a regular large poster if the conversions are right.  That's not bad.  I figure they be the little legal sized flier styles one.

I wonder if the release date was moved forward in anticipation of NoA announcing a release.  This way, Nintendo in Europe can sell tons of copies to importers while Nintendo in America is still waiting to announce it.

That's what I was thinking. It seems an odd coincidence that the day after the alleged rumor of the game stateside Europe shaves two weeks off it's release date.

Interesting theories, guys. Here's hoping you're right!

Well, props to Nintendo of Europe for running a tight ship so they could move the game up 2 weeks.  I'm guessing the game's already through or close to being through certification.

They wouldn't make that call unless it was Gold on the translation and Certs ahead of schedule as in now.

There's no doubt in my mind that this bump-up is directly related to Operation Rainfall. The movement has gotten NOA's attention, so now they're going to closely observe European sales to determine whether or not to release it here. My bet is NOE is moving it up at NOA's request. That way they'll have extra time to analyze the early sales data and still have enough time to throw together a last minute holiday release if they decide to do so.

So to all of you in Europe, our fate is in your hands! Please buy Xenoblade Chronicles!

I think it's a little foolish to think Operation Rainfall has had any influence on Nintendo whatsoever. Game companies have pushed up release dates before for various reasons.

Really? What's your basis for that claim?

Sometimes games ship and appear in stores early... But their official release dates don't get revised nor do they get special announcements like this.

I challenge you to show me 3 separate examples of when this has happened before. I'm quite confident you can't.

In actuality, this is practically unprecedented... Trust me, it's probably more foolish not to think Operation Rainfall influenced this.

An online campaign had no influence over this, that is the safe bet. Online campaigns almost never work, and they never have with Nintendo. There is no evidence that this wasn't just a decision on Nintendo's part, maybe to get more sales from kids before school starts or another reason. I would honestly love to see and evidence that a group of people online (who were never gonna buy the game anyways) had any influence.

A quick search:
Earlier this year, Bethesda Softworks moved the release of Brink up a week: http://bethblog.com/index.php/2011/04/11/brink-it-forward-release-date-moved-up-one-week/
Bethesda also moved Hunted: The Demon's Forge up 1 day (only a day, but still moved up): http://news.bigdownload.com/2011/03/24/hunted-the-demons-forge-release-date-moved-up-by-one-day-to-ma/
The European release of Okami on Wii moved up 8 days: http://n4g.com/news/148100/europe-okami-release-date-moved-up

That took me checking just 2 pages on Google and took about 3 minutes (including copying and pasting the links) to find those examples of the official release dates being pushed up.

TJ I would like for you to supply the proof that the people behind Operation Rainfall wasn't going to buy the games anyway like you said in your offhand remark.

First of all why would they start up this grassroots inititive if they were not planning on get the games themselves? You don't start something like this unless they plan to go through with it. They haven't been undetured even after the response that Nintendo has given recently. There is usually people that give up and just quit at the slightest disapointment in their plan and just wallow in sadness and just don't move forward anymore.

I'm not seeing that in them right now. So please supply proof that they were not going to buy these games anyway.

I didn't mean nobody who joined in would have bought at least some of the games, but even you have to admit that it's a good chance that the majority of the people who joined in would have likely bought only 1 of the 3 games or none at all. Considering that it cost nothing to do this campaign, there was no loss if it failed. I have no interested in a game like Captain Rainbow, for example, but I would love to see Nintendo bring it over. I should have clarified that I was speaking more towards the people who joined in rather than the ones who started it.

Too much conspiracy-goggles in this thread. TJ probably right with just cause they can (and the sooner they release the less Skyward Swords can cut into it's sales...)

I suppose one could go through the various threads on IGN, NeoGAF, CAG, etc. where people were talking about pre-ordering Xenoblade from Amazon, then cancelling it if the title was actually announced...

I'm kind of halfway between them. I have no interest in Xenoblade, but I preordered it on Amazon and will still buy it if Nintendo actually releases it. I generally don't "vote with my dollars" as it were, but I'd make an exception for this.

Yep, I had always intended to buy the Last Story and Xenoblade had they been brought over.  I have a fondness for RPGs, which is a genre that the Wii hasn't really featured all that much.

Clearly, I stand corrected...

Nevertheless, I'm still convinced this was done at NOA's request. Simply saying it's not just because other campaigns  haven't seemed to influence Nintendo in the past is hardly valid argument... especially in this case where it's already been translated, and there have already been numerous indications that NOA was always at least considering a release.

Granted, it probably would be naive to think that NOA would suddenly decide release a game they had already decided not to just because of an online campaign... but that's not necessarily what we're talking about here.

We already appear to have a confirmation that NOA already made a North American build of Xenoblade even before Operation Rainfall began. So, it's pretty safe to assume they were always considering it and were likely holding out to see how it did in Europe first. Considering the timing, it's more than reasonable to conclude OR had some kind of impact this choice to move it up.

Operation Rainfall may not have been enough to completely make up their minds, but if they still hadn't completely ruled it out, then I'm sure it at least made them start looking at it seriously enough request NOE to give them more time so NOA can make a final decision and still get it on shelves in time for the holidays.

I'm more inclined to think that NOE's doing it to make themselves look even better in light of Operation Rainfall (which they are enjoying) rather than it having anything to do with NOA.