Pokemon Black / White Message Board older than one year ago

- Rugged Mountain
- Houses Ground/Rock-types like Larvitar
- Comes with new items and new berries
- Accessible as a normal area
- New mini-game which involves travelling in a minecart
- New space-based furniture
- Goes live on November 16th in Korea
- no official date for worldwide

Thanks to Serebii for the heads up!

- voting starts today
- runs through to November 30th
- vote for one of the first 493 Pokémon
- winner will be distributed on the Global Link
- Hidden Ability if they have one
- distribution will run from February 1st 2012

Have you ever been to a Pokemon tournament? I've been to events where Pokemon games were being playing in contests, but I've never been to one of the full-on tournaments. I could never actually participate in one of these events, but I'd love to go check one out. From this article, it certainly sounds like it would be a lot of fun!

This information comes straight from Junichi's Twitter...

N's real name is Natural Harmonia Gropius, with "N" coming from the term natural number.
With his high IQ, N exceeds humans.
A genius, N excels in math enough to be called a math wizard.
N is quick-witted and has extreme mood swings.
N can see the past and future of people.
According to Masuda, rumors have it that N was born from Pokémon; the parents are unknown.
N loves Pokémon but keeps his distance from humans.
N believes he’s perfect.
Always putting Pokémon first is N's ideology.
Given how he is, he has been shunned by humans. In effect, he has a very strong connection with Pokémon.
Link

Abra
Bronzo
Chimecho
Drowzee
Duskull
Gastly
Houndour
Mawile
Meditite
Meowth
Misdreavus
Mr. Mime
Ralts
Rotom
Sableye
Shuppet
Smeargle
Smoochum
Snubbull
Spinarak
Spiritomb
Spoink
Stunky
Volbeat
Wobbuffet

- Visit the Pokemon Global Link website
- log into your account
- visit the promotions page
- select the Dream World Banette promotion
- enter the password NPCHARACTER (case sensitive)
- a short video will play
- Banette will now be waiting for you the next time you visit the Dream World

- event is now live
- available in Japan
- Mewtwo's final move is Electro Ball
- this is a move it cannot normally learn
- event is open until Oct. 31st

Ray Rizzo is the greatest Pokémon player on the planet.

We have a number of reasons for thinking that -- the most obvious being that Ray Rizzo is the greatest name a human being has ever been given -- but Rizzo's accomplishments speak for themselves. He placed first in the Masters division of the 2011 Pokémon World Championships, bringing the gold home for the United States; as did Junior and Senior division winners Brian Hough and Kamran Jahadi. Take that, every other country!

These big, American heroes will take home portions of a $100,000 scholarship fund made available to competitors in the video game and trading card game tournaments. Still, we think being lifted on the shoulders of your peers and told that you're the greatest Pokémon player on the planet is probably reward enough.

Americans, gather round and pay tribute to our nation's most esteemed representatives: The best and brightest Pokémon trainers who have battled their way to the top of the U.S. tournament ladder. This past weekend, the winners of each regional Pokémon Video Game Championship bracket faced off in Indianapolis, weeding out the top eight trainers from the Junior (born after 2000), Senior (born 1995 - 1999) and Master (born before 1995) divisions.

These 24 youngsters will now head to San Diego, Calif. where they'll face off against other top-tier players from around the globe in the Pokémon Video Game World Championships. Check out the full list of eligible trainers after the jump.

We're personally pulling for the Zheng brothers, who locked down top spots in the Junior and Senior brackets. Of course, we're also big fans of Wolfe Glick, the Master-tier Champion; though that has less to do with his remarkable monster-dueling prowess, and more to do with his preposterously amazing name.

If you haven't spent all your money on charity gaming marathons yet, another opportunity for you to throw money at human suffering is coming up -- and this time, it's a test of both endurance and gluttony.

Starting on July 15, Pro3Studios will embark on a 72-hour marathon, in which it will attempt to catch all the Pokémon species in Pokémon FireRed, Emerald, Diamond, Pearl, HeartGold, SoulSilver, Black, and White -- simultaneously. The gameplay will be streamed on a 3x3 grid, allowing you to watch it all happen in real time.

As this is going on, the group will accept donations through PayPal for the Children's Miracle Network. Those donations will allow viewers the privilege of naming some Pokémon and specifying a song for one of the players to sing on air -- and also, you know, help children.

Nintendo is strongly pushing back on the notion of looking into a Pokemon spin-off on mobile.

There will be a Pokémon app released for iPhone and Android phones this summer. Titled Pokemon Say Tap? BW, it's not a full-fledged Pokémon video game, rather a promotional spin-off, a card-based rhythm game focused around Pokémon Black and White.

After the news broke, speculation ran wild Nintendo was dipping its toes into the water outside its own platforms. Its stock even went up.

Nintendo of Japan strongly denied such chatter, citing that it doesn't outright own The Pokemon Company or the Pokemon franchise. Thus, The Pokemon Company was within its right to experiment like this.

I asked Nintendo of America whether the app would appear in North America, and while the company didn't address its English prospects, they provided a stern rebuttal of any speculation of this signaling a potential future for Nintendo franchises in a post-handheld world.

"On July 1, the Pokémon Company announced that it was launching a free Android and iOS application in Japan called "Pokémon IeTap? BW" (phonetic)," said the company in a statement. "The Pokémon Company routinely launches applications for cell phones and PCs as a way to promote its non-video game products, such as a music CD and Pokémon TCG [Trading Card Game] cards in this instance. Since they are intended purely as promotional tools, not as unique video games, Nintendo is not involved in any way."

It seems pretty clear Pokemon Say Tap? BW is intended as a promotional one-off, and as Nintendo's reiterating here, it's specifically designed to celebrate the Pokemon Trading Card game.

"The relationship between the two companies is unaffected," the company continued. "All Pokémon video game content will continue to appear exclusively on Nintendo platforms. As stated previously, Nintendo has no intention or plans of publishing its IP on non-Nintendo platforms. This is an example of a promotion by a key Nintendo partner and has no bearing on Nintendo's overall strategy."

That's about as strong of a denial as they come--as if it's any surprise. 3DS isn't selling at the same pace as the wildly successful DS, but Nintendo is a company that would have to be on wounded knee before releasing its games on a platform it didn't control. That's not to say it won't ever happen, but Nintendo's hardly in the gutter at the moment, and it'll be a long time before the company changes strategy. A man can dream, though.

All that said, I sure as hell would love an augmented reality version of Pokémon Snap on iPhone or 3DS.

People who dedicate a significant portion of their lives to the honorable art of capturing and training Pokemon deserve some recognition and, this summer, they're getting it. The 2011 Pokemon Black and Pokemon White Video Game Championship just completed its Regional Tournaments, and the kingdom's most powerful trainers have revealed some strategies regarding their noble creatures, as compiled by IGN.

Hydreigon, a Dark/Dragon Pokemon with three pairs of wings and a vicious cry, was the clear champion at Regionals, helping compose 53 percent of winning teams. Dark and Grass Pokemon made up 15 percent each of the most-used primary types, while Steel took a low 1 percent. Trainers used Protect for 14 percent of their moves, a clear majority when compared to the next-highest move, Rock Slide, at only 5.5 percent. For some pretty pictures to go along with the stats and a list of Regional winners, take a peek at IGN's post. National Championships run July 8-10 in Indianapolis, Indiana, because that's where heroes are made.

#watchitall A Pokémon: Black and White Pokédex is included in the latest 3DS system update. YouTube user CuddleofDeath gives a walkthrough, showing the various features and highlights. More »

#catchemall In late April, blurry Japanese magazine scans showed a new Pokémon title. It's late May, and that new Pokémon title is... More »

#wanttoseemy There are 650 Pocket Monsters. That's a lot. So Game Freak, the studio behind Pokémon, should be running out of ideas for new Pocket Monsters any day now, right? More »

The Pokemon Black and White versions go head to head in this trailer.

You've caught 'em all. You've trained them. You've bred them, trained them, and then EV trained them. You've hunted for their rare, shiny counterparts. You've done every little thing there is to do in the confines of Pokémon Black and White -- but you haven't yet taken on the world. Like, the real world. You know, the one we live in? Nintendo announced today its schedule for the 2011 Pokémon World Championship, a killer, three-month-long event which will test the mettle of trainers across the U.S. and Europe.

Players in the U.S. will have to attend a qualifying event held in one of six cities, starting with Seattle on May 14. Each qualifier will send sixteen players from the Junior Division (players born in 2000 or later) and the Senior Division (players born before 2000) to the National Championships on July 8 in Indianapolis. From there, the top eight will move on to the World Championships in San Diego on August 12, where they'll battle for fame, fortune and global Pokémon bragging rights, which is way more valuable then those other two things.

Check out the full schedule for the tournaments in the press release posted after the jump!

The 3DS launched last month to mixed results, as far as we can tell. NPD doesn't report hardware numbers, of course, but the agency reports that in its first seven days on the market, the handheld's performance "compares quite favorably to that of the best-selling dedicated handheld gaming platform of all time, the Nintendo DS." It sold about 100,000 fewer units than the 479,000 DS did in its launch month -- but that was a November.

Nintendo previously said the console had the best first day of any handheld in US history. Even so, it managed not to be the top seller of the month. That honor goes to ... the Nintendo DS.

And here's why. The top two games, unsurprisingly, are both DS titles -- Pokemon Black and White, the latter of which is the best-selling Pokemon game at launch ever, the NPD says. In fact, the only 3DS title on the top ten is Lego Star Wars 3, and that shares the position with Wii, DS, Xbox 360, and PS3 versions of the same game. The NPD provides no indication of how many copies were sold on any one platform.

Directly under the Pokemans at #3 is Homefront, suggesting that as far as gimmicks go, not being very good trumps 3D. A pair of debuts from EA, Dragon Age II and Crysis 2, also found their way into the top ten -- the full list can be seen after the break.

#eggtoss In the Pokémon Black and White cartoon, Ash will soon find himself the proud owner of a mysterious Pokémon egg. From April 27 through May 31, fans can snag their own Secret Egg from Toys "R" Us and play along. More »

...And now here’s some better news for Pokémon Black and White owners: the Global Link functionality for both games is set to launch April 13, according to a new message on the Global Link web site. The service, if you remember, was delayed a week or so prior to launch because of the Japan earthquake and the sudden need for companies like publisher Nintendo to cut down on energy consumption.    

Global Link still seems like a cool addition, especially if you’ve smashed up the Elite 4 and finished the main game. When hooked up through the Global Link web site, you’ll be able to access the “Dream World” and the “Global Battle Union.” The former area gives you the ability to invade your Pokémon’s dreams, allowing you to catch other Pokémon, find items and berries, and, somehow, talk with other players (dream-to-dream conversation sounds dangerous to me). The GBU, on the other hand, hosts Wi-Fi tournaments and also provides stat tracking after the fact like, you know, a competitive service should.
    
To be frank, I’m not clear on how you’ll need to interact with the Global Link web page in order to get the game part of the service operating tomorrow--it took over an hour for me to just figure out how to connect with a person and trade Pokémon in Black, so I don't expect Global Link to be intuitive. In fact, it seems like you need to register on the Global Link site beforehand, probably in order to prove that you're not a pedophile or something. But, hey, I bet Nintendo is relaunching the site tomorrow for this special occasion, so maybe it'll provide the information I need to know then. 

Here’s a bit of good news for those of you who haven’t captured Victini yet. Nintendo has decided to extent the Liberty Pass event. The only thing is, they haven’t listed a date as to when the event will end! You lucked out with some extra time, so you better take advantage [...]