Without this deal, North America wouldn't get the game. So I'm happy.

The principle really.  Nintendo should have released this game themselves and I really dislike Gamestop and their practices.  And who knows, Gamestop might start partnering with publishers and start getting exclusive games.  Can you imagine, let's say Gears of War, only at Gamestop?  I can already hear their horrible "Power to the players" tag already...

Well honestly speaking I don't see Epic or Microsoft settling to limit the stores that would sell a Gears of War game. This isn't the first time that Gamestop struck a deal to bring a niche game over to the States.

Microsoft and Epic are the ones I can see being bribed by Gamestop the most, but that's the most I wanna talk on that.  And this still doesn't change the fact that Nintendo of America's fucked up.  I mean Ocarina of Time got that crazy bundle with an ocarina.  North America?  Nothing.  Last Story, Xenoblade, etc should have been released here a while ago and the fact that Gamestop had to pony up money to bring the game here, shows you something.

Man, people need to get over this gamestop thing. Its not like all games get released on all stores. The fact is that Ninty believe that this is a niche game and they are treating it as such. Hell look at Rune Factory, did anyone see that game at a Target or Walmart?? Hell I think that Atelier Roroni or whatever the hell was only at GS, thats the only time I saw it. THe more niche a game is the less copies will be sent out, which means that it wont be sent to all stores. Gears of War??? Are you high?! Thats a mulit million selling franchise, GS cant afford to buy that exclusivity, the best they can hope for is getting some stupid exclusive weapon

I just like the fact that Gamestop went out and spent the money to get a niche game that wouldn't have come over here (legally) without it.

"I just like the fact that Gamestop went out and spent the money to get a niche game that wouldn't have come over here (legally) without it."

Good for them. Bad for NOA that they wouldn't have apparently done it otherwise.

lol you think Nintendo of Europe launched this title without Nintendo of America already consdering launching it here? Nintendo has always theorized that JRPG's and even Japanese strategy games do not perform well in western markets largest of all North America. That is why Advance Wars took so damn long and so did Fire Emblem and Mother was only represented once.

My bet is the higher ups in Nintendo had multiple reasons for releasing in Europe first. Many you probably haven't even thought of. One major one Europe is always seen as the last region to get games, Europeans often get pissed as they are neglected time and time again. By giving Europe something before America, in fact giving them something they never even confirmed for America gets them major bonus points in Europe which is also one of Sony's last remaining strongholds. Plus I remember Mother was not only hinted at by ONM but multiple times was mentioned as coming to Europe.

Its been known for a while that Nintendo was looking to experiment with some of their Japanese based RPG's in Europe. Other titles were hinted at as well. It makes perfect sense for multiple reasons for Nintendo to test out their Japanese products in Europe before a global launch!

As for GameStop, I am guessing they approached Nintendo first, not Nintendo approached them. In the past deals with Blockbuster for StarFox and such it didn't appear that Nintendo actually went after Block Buster and requested a deal. Reggie was hinting at bringing the game for ages and seeing the massive outcry for the title Game Stop likely saw an opportunity.

GameStop saw Nintendo didn't want to take any unnecessary risks, they knew that a wide scale launch in North America would cost Nintendo a lot. They knew they could likely get this much anticipated and highly demanded title exclusive on the cheap.

As for cheaply, yah it was cheaply done. Nintendo wanted to limit any potential loss they could take. Ensuring that the game couldn't really fail. Why would you spend up to another million dollars in localizing the game by getting North American voice actors and localizing the content. Then spend millions more distributing , wowing retailers to carry the game and then marketing?

Nintendo knows A) GameStop is paying them something for this exclusive B) Game Stop will do all the advertising for Nintendo C) No need to distribute to any other retailer. In the end Nintendo makes money and brings the game everyone wanted over with very little risk involved. Yes they are still risking if the game fails it will potentially prevent future games from coming to NA. Also a failure would look bad for GameStop who obviously expects the game to do well. Nintendo isn't risking only financials they are risking their reputation and the ability to bring Japanese games over in the future.

Plus everyone thinking the game is only coming because of Game Stop, you really need to stop being so anti-Nintendo. Reggie himself stated their were still a few big titles coming to Wii in North America for 2012. He also stated Nintendo was watching Europe to decide what to do with these titles. Meaning that Nintendo likely always intended to bring XenoBlade to North America if it performed well in Europe. GameStop knew their predicament and obviously jumped in to take advantage of Nintendo's vulnerability and caution.

In the end this is a win for everyone. Not to mention we don't know the actual exclusive details. This could be a timed exclusive for all we know. Since you can order from Nintendo themselves you could possibly be looking at a wider release later. I guess only Game Stop could release the actual details.

I don't want to destroy everyone's jovial mood, but what do you think the game's metascore will go down to once the game gets reviewed by the mainstream US gaming press?

I'm actually not sure it'll go down by much if at all, seems everytime I read about this in any media source they talk about it like the savior of the genre which makes me think they'll mostly be lavishing it with praise like its current reviews have done.  If it goes down I bet it'll stay above 9.