After all of the begging and bellyaching over getting Nintendo to release Mother 3 (also known as the sequel to the Super NES cult hit Earthbound) outside of Japan (in English, of course), it seems that the company still has no plans to bring the game to North American audiences.  The gang at Planet GameCube had the chance to speak with Nintendo's Nate Bihldorff (of the Treehouse localization team) about various upcoming Nintendo titles, and when Mother 3 came up in the conversation... well, see for yourself.

Bihldorff: Man, Mother 3. I don't know what's going on with that game. That's already out in Japan, right? Was it awesome, did you play through it?

PGC: No. I'd like to, but it's all in Japanese. That's where you guys come in!

Bihldorff: No, me personally, I'm not working on Mother 3. I don't have all the writers under me, so there may be other people in discussions going on with it, but I wouldn't look forward to it in the immediate future, no. Sorry, I know! There's a big Mother fanbase, there is. At least everyone can go back and play Melee to get your Ness on.  [Laughs]

In the industry this is what we call "twisting the knife".  It's amazing how with all of the great Wii and Nintendo DS stuff on the way there's still this one little "minor" Game Boy Advance game that so many people desperately want.  I continue to hold out hope for an eventual release in some format, but I'm not holding my breath at this rate.

(via NeoGAF)