I haven't got anything else to say now so i'm gonna leave it there but as we've been talking I remembered a poll GameFAQS ran a few weeks back I thought was pretty interesting.

I know polls have a limited use but I do think it's pretty interesting and related to this thread. regarding the 47,000 people who voted:

http://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/index.html?poll=4422

seems like these small companies need to get review copy sent out to places like Eurogamer and 1Up because they review/preview almost anything. Likewise getting review copies sent to gaming magizines seems like a good idea to get as screenshots/videos out there as possible.

I think it's a good idea to simply move on and discuss the topic title

One problem that can arise I've noticed from company's sending out review copy's is that certain sites don't know how to review them correctly if at all. I know quite a few gaming web sites that didn't even review Fist of the North Star, which was just horribly unprofessional.

Reviews are generally comparisons. Because reviewers use comparisons so much when it comes to game that are very different it's difficult to come up with a score.

I'm not really a big fan of scoring games. I prefer to read what the player found bad and parts he/she found good in the game. To me that is far more important then review score at the end.

I did a little asking around in town today, and the GAME in my town are indeed taking pre-orders for Dodonpachi and King of Fighters XIII (the member of staff I spoke to was particularly looking forward to Dodonpachi herself).
So it seems its not all shops that aren't bothering, just some of them.

Since I don't have any decent gaming shops where I live there is nowhere to ask. Which is a major part of my problem with finding these games. It is very tempting to start a videogame/anima/manga shop where I live.

You should do that Angel, it's something me and a few friends have seriously thought about also.

I'm in the same situation as you. There's only a Tesco near me with a pitiful electronics department, and my nearest specialised game shop is a fairly long bus ride away. I love the fact that Rising Star and other publishers are bringing all these awesome games over, but it's a pain to actually find anywhere that stocks them. My Tesco takes preorders for games, but only the big name ones like Halo and whatnot. Thank God for the internet, but I don't like not being able to browse for games and chat with fellow gamers as much as I'd like to.

On the subject of reviews, I don't really pay much attention. If I like the look of a game, I'll usually buy it or play a demo and make a choice based on that. The only time I'll bother looking through reviews is if I'm really on the fence about a game, but that doesn't happen often XD

Since there are no game shops here in like 240km area, I usually by mine at the internet.
I have a few which stocks the games that I want:)

I have no knowledge on running a shop let alone starting one. So unfortunately it is just an idea.

The internet is great but if your like me and own a 3DS the best place to get at least 1 streetpass is at a game shop. Not to mention games like Pokemon that require you to go into a store to get specific legendaries you wouldn't be able to get otherwise.

I think overall it's fair to say that there needs to be more awareness by gameshops to stock these niche games, a sale is a sale at the end of the day. Even if they stocked them as limited editions that they would do only once. In fact my friend who owns a gameshop did the same thing with Deathsmiles as he knew it wouldn't sell many.