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We choose you: WiiWare Pokemon Rumble TV spot

by Alexander Sliwinski { Dec 29th 2009 at 6:15PM }

The only real takeaway here is that a WiiWare game appears to have received a legitimate commercial for television. OK, so it's Pokemon Rumble, and yes, it's one of Nintendo's biggest franchises, but it's still a brave new world when a downloadable title gets some legit marketing dollars. We haven't actually seen the commercial on TV, but it's apparently playing during non-Adult Swim hours on Cartoon Network. Check out the 15-second spot for the 1500 Wii Point game after the break.

[Via GoNintendo]

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TheSpeedGamers aim to catch every Pokemon in 72 hours for charity

by Griffin McElroy { Dec 19th 2009 at 3:00AM }

The idea of a three-day speed run of Pokémon, in which the runners would attempt to capture all of the pocket-sized monsters therein, would have been a lot more feasible back in 1998. Today, the number of in-game species has ballooned from 151 to 493, a number that can only be appreciated when depicted in words: Four-hundred and ninety-three.

The charitable gaming experts of TheSpeedGamers plan to accomplish this near-impossible goal while taking donations for Ally's House, an Oklahoma-based children's cancer foundation. It sounds like a really great cause -- why not show some support on the group's livestream? Even if your "support" is just you repeatedly singing the Pokérap over and over, ad infinitum.

Amazon listing for Pokemon remakes includes March 14 release date, Pokewalker accessory

by Griffin McElroy { Dec 13th 2009 at 9:00PM }

Though Japan has been enjoying the adorable bounties of Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver for months now, us poor westerners still don't know when to expect the games on our store shelves, or whether they'll include the Pokéwalker accessory which allows you to take one of your encapsulated soldiers out for a discreet night on the town. Fortunately, if the games' Amazon listings are on the money, both these Unown pieces of info have been divulged: According to the listings, they're coming March 14, along with the Poke Ball-shaped peripheral.

The latter information actually comes from the games' supposed box art, which we've posted above. We've contacted Nintendo to find out if the Amazon listing is authentic. If it's not, we're going to give them the most guilt-inspiring sad puppy face anyone's ever seen. It will be absolutely brutal.

Pokemon remake screens, now in English

by JC Fletcher { Dec 9th 2009 at 5:15PM }

ONM has posted the first English screens of Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, coming to North America and Europe in spring 2010. The site highlights the newly redesigned Pokedex, which comes in both red and pink, and enables touchscreen-based obsessive browsing of your collection. Also visible: your starter Pokemon, who now follows you around like Pikachu in Pokémon Yellow.

There's still no mention of the PokeWalker accessory, unfortunately, making it increasingly likely that the Pokemon-training pedometer will be left out of the Western release.

Raichu cosplayer uses Marriage Proposal

by JC Fletcher { Nov 14th 2009 at 7:05AM }

When Chris Herbert decided to pop the question to his girlfriend of three years, Belle Starenchak, he picked the most romantic place he could think of: Anime Weekend Atlanta, with both dressed as Pokemon. It ... kind of makes sense for them.

Belle, or "PikaBelleChu," is featured in the Guinness Book of World Records: Gamer Edition for her massive Pikachu memorabilia collection, and Herbert met her by staging a Pokemon auction. So while we might be tempted to laugh, it would seem that the pursuit of 'em all is a major component of this couple's lives.

And now that they've done this -- a proposal in Pikachu and Raichu outfits, all floppy fake mouse ears on their hats and yellow glove slipped off to try on the ring that came out of the Pokeball -- we believe that the world's quota for Pokemon-themed proposals has just been filled.

By the way, it was super effective. See the moment after the break.

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Nintendo officially announces PokePark Wii

by JC Fletcher { Oct 15th 2009 at 10:05AM }

Only a week after everyone found out about Nintendo's PokePark Wii: Pikachu's Big Adventure, Nintendo has revealed the game, which will be released in Japan on December 5 for ¥4,800 ($53). Though it's certainly not the console debut that fans really want, this happens to be the first console Pokémon game developed by Creatures Inc., creators of the main handheld series.

The game involves Pikachu competing and cooperating with other Pokemans in a sort of theme park through, according to Andriasang, "tag, battle, and quiz mini-games." The game emphasizes Pikachu's interactions with his new friends and includes a camera mode to allow you to photograph the Pokémon you meet.

Gallery: PokePark Wii: Pikachu's Big Adventure

This Week on the Nintendo Channel: Pokemon on TV

by David Hinkle { Oct 5th 2009 at 2:17PM }

Like this week's NintendoWare Weekly update, this week's Nintendo Channel goodies are a bit on the light side. Sure, there's the launch video for Dead Space Extraction and the new Nintendo Week show, but the real prize is the new TV spot for Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky.

For the rest of this week's content, head past the break.

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Get ready to Pokemon Rumble at PAX

by JC Fletcher { Sep 3rd 2009 at 11:24AM }

In June, Nintendo released a Pokemon game in Japan that even those of us well over catchin' em all might look at with interest: Melee! Pokemon Scramble; a four-player brawler starring robotic Pokemon. Nintendo just announced that it's coming to North America -- we know, shocking that a game in Nintendo's most popular franchise would be released outside of Japan -- and will be shown off for the first time at the Penny Arcade Expo, or as some fans may now term it, the Pokemon Arcade Expo. The Japanese trailer is above.

In addition to the newly-announced Pokemon Rumble, attendees will get a chance to play New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks and other Nintendo titles.

'Pokemon World Championships 2009' DSi boasts a winning design

by David Hinkle { Aug 27th 2009 at 1:15PM }

You're looking at a limited edition Pokemon World Championships 2009 DSi. Given out by Nintendo as a prize at select events, only a handful of folks have ever been able to obtain one of these. The image above serves as a depressing reminder that, alas, we are not among those people. We hate them.

Gallery: The best (and worst) handheld mods

[Via Go Nintendo]

Nintendo announces Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver for US

by David Hinkle { Aug 14th 2009 at 2:29PM }

Turn those baseball caps backwards and clear you calendars, because Nintendo's latest Pokemon titles, Pokemon HeartGold and Pokemon SoulSilver, are set to invade North America during spring of next year. The games release in Japan next month and take players back to the Johto region, recreating the classic Pokemon Gold and Pokemon Silver games on the Game Boy Color. The press release made no mention of the walking functionality, which kind of bums us out. What, you didn't think we would actually beef up our Pokemon by playing the game, did you?

Gallery: Pokemon Heart Gold and Soul Silver (DS)

Joyswag: Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia [update]

by David Hinkle { Aug 13th 2009 at 12:15PM }

Update: Contest has come to a close, folks! Keep an eye on your inbox to see if you won!

It's Joyswag time again, folks! If you've missed out on the latest Pokemon Ranger game then this is the post for you, because we've got one copy of Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia ($30) to unload. Hit up the convenient bullet points below for how to enter and best of luck to you all!

Leave a comment telling us which Pokemon is your favorite
You must be 18 years or older and a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec)
Limit 1 entry per person
This entry period ends at 12:00PM ET on Wednesday, August 19

At that time, we'll randomly select one winner to receive Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia ($30 ARV)

For a list of complete rules, click here

Gallery: Pokemon Ranger 2

Downloadable Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games get physical Club Nintendo items

by JC Fletcher { Jul 31st 2009 at 4:40PM }

A few lucky Japanese WiiWare shoppers who pick up the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games next week will get limited-edition gifts from Club Nintendo. Fifty people who buy at least two of the three WiiWare roguelikes will get this pop-up book thing, which is, honestly, not that exciting of a pop-up. It's basically a paper dome. Two hundred people who purchase just one of the games will randomly be drawn to win a Wiimote/DS strap featuring artwork from the game they purchased.

Meanwhile, Nintendo of America has indicated no plans to release the games, and it won't indicate any such plans until they magically appear on the Wii Shop. Don't expect any promotions like this, or, really, any promotion at all.

Explore the latest Pokemon Mystery Dungeon this October

by JC Fletcher { Jul 29th 2009 at 12:44PM }

Pokémon addicts starting to get antsy about when they'll be able to satisfy their pathological need to purchase new Pokémon games just need to hold out for a few more months. Nintendo has announced an October 12 release date for the latest in the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series, Explorers of Sky, in North America.

Explorers of Sky is an updated version of Explorers of Time and Darkness, with new starter critters and new "Special Episode" missions that reveal more about the Pokémon characters in the game. Explorers of Sky also includes new wireless features, including the ability to share a "demo dungeon" and trade items locally.

Gallery: Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky (DS)

Latest Pokemon movie sets Guinness World Record

by David Hinkle { Jul 22nd 2009 at 2:45PM }

Japan recently received its 12th Pokémon animated feature in Arceus: To The Conquering of Space-Time. Even before its July 18 release, the film showed that the power of Pokemans is still strong in Japan by shattering records.

The Escapist reports that pre-sales of tickets were at insane levels, with 2,384,198 eager movie-goers signing up, enough to net it a Guinness World Record for most advanced sales of an animated feature. Heck, not even that many people bought Pokémon Platinum when it released!

Top brands of 2008 owned by Nintendo, EA, Activision, and not Sony

by JC Fletcher { Jun 30th 2009 at 9:00PM }

Wedbush Morgan Securities' 2009 industry report includes a list of the top thirty brands of 2008. The report notes that of the companies whose brands appear on the list, Nintendo, EA, and Activision were the only three with more than one brand to generate over $100 million at retail in the US last year.

And boy, did they. The top brand of the year, Guitar Hero -- perhaps you've heard of it -- was responsible for $992 million in US sales in 2008. The next two brands, Mario Bros. and Rock Band, generated $761 million and $662 million, respectively.

One company is notably absent from the top brands list: "Most strikingly," the report reads, "Sony had no top 30 brands for the third year in a row." Microsoft had two brands on the list (Gears of War and Fable) and Nintendo had four (Mario Bros., Wii Fit, Wii Play, and Pokémon). See the list of brands after the break.

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