Were you ever a fan of the cult classic SNES title: Earthbound? If so then I have AWESOME news for you. Despite Nintendo’s unwillingness to translate and localize the game’s sequel, Mother 3, for other regions, a handful of fans have decided to do it instead. Over ten months in the making, the translation for Mother 3 is coming along very nicely, as showcased by the video above.

For those who haven’t heard about this project, the co-founder of Starmen.net (an Earthbound fansite) began this project as it became increasingly aware that an English port of Mother 3 was never going to happen. You can read the full history HERE.

It should be noted that the project is still AT LEAST seven months away from completion, and that comes with a whole bunch of stipulations. Also, as I am sure many of you are aware, you’ll probably be needing a GBA ROM to play this game. Still, if this game is as amazing as Earthbound was, then it will be well worth the effort. I applaud Mato and his efforts in this project.

Read the full story HERE.

Only one single JRPG made it to the top 100 in sales for 2007, according to next-gen.biz and it’s not Blue Dragon either. Despite having more than a few awesome JRPGs releasing last year (Blue Dragon, and Eternal Sonata instantly jump to mind) the only JRPG to make the top 100 list is the Pokemon Diamond/Pearl DS games. There you have it, the only JRPG to get on the top 100 in sales is also arguably the weakest. I’m not saying I didn’t enjoy the games, but, really, the story is practically the same as all the others and it really doesn’t do anything breathtaking.

So where is Blue Dragon, Eternal Sonata, and Rogue Galaxy? Where are all the other JRPGs that surely got released last year? Well, according to next-gen.biz, in order to qualify to be on the list the game had to have been released in at least one western territory. This means that the game had to have reached either the U.S., Canadian, or Western European shores in order to be counted and we just know how much those JRPGs devs love localizing for other territories right?

Other than Pokemon, there were only two other RPGs that made the list: Oblivion, and Spectrobes. To be honest, when a list like this comes around showcasing only one JRPG, and 3 total RPGs it is a bad sign for the genre. Why would developers want to continue to sink resources and money into a genre that can’t support itself? RPGs are some of the most expensive games to make. You have to hire writers to create an awesome story and you have to create lavish CGI cutscenes to enhance the story line. Then you have to throw somewhere between 20-40 hours worth of gameplay in there somewhere. RPGs are expensive, and it looks like they are becoming less and less “worth it”.

We may very well be looking to a world where the only RPGs we play are Oblivion sequels, Final Fantasy games, and more Pokemon. That sounds so depressing…