pokemans
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The Pokemans, we want you to follow them
With the popularity of Twitter exploding everywhere, it was bound to happen -- Pokemon are now twittering. If you've ever wanted to follow the daily musings of your favorite characters, then Twitter is the place to be. Pokefan David Cole has compiled a detailed list of all current twittering Pokemon, focusing specifically on those who tweet in character -- like the filthy mouthed Primeape, above. If ever there was a reason to join Twitter ... well, this isn't it. But it's a great time waster.[Via Darkzero]
Blog caught a Pokemon Platinum Video!
Blog used Embed Video!But enough of that. While previous Pokémon Platinum trailers have wasted time showing us Pokémans frolicking in meadows, this latest serving comes with a great big dollop of gameplay sauce. There's more of that weird, topsy-turvy level that we're itching to wrap our minds around, some coverage of Wi-Fi play, plenty of battles, and those five silhouettes of the "new" Pokémon that you may have already theorized about.You can also hit the break to see the most relentlessly chirpy man and woman in Japan talk us through Platinum's minigames and Wi-Fi mode, assisted by some cute kids.%Gallery-25539%
Pokemon Platinum: a Japanese release date appeared!
Before today, "Fall" was the most specific release date we had received for Pokémon Platinum, and that's not really specific at all. It's like, a whole damn season.Three cheers for GAME Watch, then, as the Japanese site has revealed Platinum will launch in Japan on September 13th. That's a mere 60 days before (part of the world) gets addicted all over again! Fingers crossed we don't have another eight month wait for the localized version (as we did for Diamond and Pearl).%Gallery-25539%
VC Friday: Bubbles and Pokemans
It's a double WiiWare update for Europe and Australia this week as the fresh-faced download service once again blots out new old games. There is a pattern emerging here -- WiiWare one week, Virtual Console the next, and so forth -- but we're not yet sure if it's a deliberate trend or just a coincidence. Either way, it's pretty plain now that Virtual Console stuff is going to become less regular. Up for grabs this week: My Pokémon Ranch -- WiiWare -- 1000 Wii Points Pop -- WiiWare -- 700 Wii Points Videos after the break!%Gallery-22676%
Nintendo Japan sent out GIRATINA DS LITE! DS Fanboy fainted!
Members of Japan's Pokémon Daisuki Club will soon be able to (enter a raffle to potentially) buy a Giratina edition Nintendo DS Lite bundle, consisting of Pokémon Platinum and a swoon-worthy Lite that has been subtly branded with the Platinum cover star.Like many limited edition DSes, supply is expected to be short, so hopeful owners will have to submit an entry form to enter the draw, where they could win the right to give Nintendo money -- ¥21,600 ($203), to be precise. The raffle ends on July 14th (and is for Japanese residents only), and 1,000 of the names drawn will be eligible for an even rarer metallic Giratina figurine. Remind us again, please: why are we still living in not-Japan?Go past the break for a closer look.
Down at the Ranch with Penny Arcade
Is gazing at your precious Pokemans in glorified Pokémon display cabinet My Pokémon Ranch just not enough for you? Do you get sick of their cloying, sweet little faces? Do you yearn to see the little so-and-sos endure the same painful, hard knock life that you had to endure? Do you wish that once -- just once -- they were exposed to a slice of cruel, heartless reality?If so, know that Gabe of Penny Arcade fame is right with you! Hit the picture on the right for the latest strip -- it's a corker.
Dojo update: A new stage: let us show you it
Would you believe Brawl contains even more Pokemans? It's true! See which of the other critters made the cut after the break.
December 10th: American Pokemans get shown
On December 10th, six days after the Japanese launch of Pokémon Snap, the American Virtual Console will feature the rail-photography game. To promote the release, the online Toonami Jetstream channel will show a week of Pokémon cartoon episodes featuring Todd, the protagonist of Snap who was hamfistedly crammed into the show to help sell cartridges. Why should you care about a Pokémon spinoff game? We'll recap: It's a pretty okay game Judged against other Pokémon spinoff games, it's a freakin' masterpiece Expanded functionality allows you to share photos with Wii Friends (if you're me) More attention on Pokémon Snap could finally get the "photography game" genre going, or at least convince Hudson to let us download Photograph Boy. So, in conclusion, Photograph Boy is a great game. What? Oh, right. The Pokemans thing is good too.[Thanks, Orange Soda!]
DS Daily: Caught 'em all?
Pokemon Diamond and Pearl have been out for just over two months, and we suspect that there are still plenty of you out there playing. Either you've picked your copy up after the release date (which we always do) or you're just still working on catching and training those little buggers. Pokemon is a fairly deep game despite its apparent childishness, so it can take a long time to finish (or to decide to stop playing.)So who's still playing regularly? We ask because we're slowly building up our team in anticipation of a glorious future Game Night in which we can compete in a non-awful fashion. We emphasize slowly-- it turns out that work often takes time away from leisure activities. Outrageous, we know.
Wii Warm Up: Half a game
We don't think this is a controversial statement, although feel free to skewer us in the comments if it is: Pokemon Battle Revolution is not worth having if you don't own and play Pokemon on the DS. If we really wanted to arouse some vitriol, we'd say it's not worth having even then, but that would really just be flame-baiting for its own sake. We don't even actually feel that way.What we want to know is, is it okay in your mind to have a game like this that absolutely depends on another game to be fun? It it okay for such a thing to be full price?Obviously, if you're of the "gotta catch 'em all" persuasion who buys every Pokemon game regardless of quality, your answer is going to be a little different.
Gotta mispronounce 'em all
Games Radar has crafted another one of their hilarious Top 7 lists, this time about the "Top 7 Most Mispronounced Game Names." Nihon Falcom has two of the seven entries on the list, proving that they're kind of mean about titles. We remember that every magazine article about Ys back on the Turbografx-16 CD included a note about pronunciation ("ease"), because it's really not obvious.Topping the list is a certain Nintendo franchise whose name is delightfully, and intentionally, mangled by meme addicts across the web, including pretty much everyone here. Our mispronunciation: let us hint at it.
Pokemon Global Trading Service: 10 million served
The Pokémon Global Trade Station, which you probably know about from using it yourself, is a system that lets American gamers make really unfair trades to Japanese players eager for their English-named Pokémon. And it has been very successful in that regard!Nintendo announced that over 10 million transactions have been made on the Bidoof Unloading Station Game Breaking Station Global Trade Service. We hope there are plenty of game-ruining, over-leveled Pokémon left for us when we start doing trades! We've been too busy writing about Pokémon to play Pokémon.
Pokemon defeats fear of flying, gains 20 EXP
Today's Pokémon content is a sweet story of how GayGamer's Pirate Prince came to understand the appeal of the series while in desperate need of a distraction. During a long flight, he decided to play some Pearl, despite not having been much of a fan previously. It turns out that the game was an excellent distraction. In a situation where he was forced to choose between catching them all and paying attention to his claustrophobia and fear of flight, he was able to delve into the game and discover its merit.We aren't especially scared of flying, which is a surprise considering all of the things we are afraid of, we also took a plane ride this weekend, also accompanied by our Pokemans. It really is nice to have collecting and leveling to obsess about instead of the stress of being on an airplane and the stress of travel in general.
Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of you folding paper!
Okay, here's where we admit to watching rather a lot of the Pokemon cartoon in college. It was a fun social thing to do after class, and somewhere along the way, our ironic enjoyment evolved into actual enjoyment. Then, right after the movie came out, our enjoyment devolved into complete disinterest.Looking at this Meowth hot-air-balloon papercraft makes us nostalgic for the days of rooting for incompetent homeless child Ash and his friends to capture and train all the Pokemans they could while avoiding Team Rocket's premeditated child abuse.
Parish's rejected Pokemans review: Let us show you it [update 1]
For a change of pace, 1UP's Jeremy Parish sometimes submits reviews in webcomic form. He tried to do just that thought of doing that for his review of Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, and was denied, but went with the more traditional approach in the end. Luckily for us, personal blogs face no such content approval process. But rather than scrap the idea altogether, Parish has drawn up part 1 of his Pokemon review comic on both his 1UP blog and his personal blog GameSpite, with a promise to continue the story of ... well, of a guy reviewing Pokemon.We're big fans of Mr. Parish-- we listen to his 1UP podcast Retronauts every week, just like every sane person should. Not only that, we continue to be enthralled by anything that makes use of the "Pokemans" meme. So there was no choice but to post this comic when we saw it. Our hands were tied. What do you think about "alternative" review formats like this one?Update: Changed to reflect the actual circumstances of the strip's creation, thanks to a correction from Mr. Parish himself.
Like the Pokerap, but it doesn't rhyme and has no music
If you'd like a crash course on the 107 new Pokemon in the Diamond/Pearl generation, which includes the new DS games and Pokemon Battle Revolution, then this GamesRadar article might come in handy. It's an exhaustive Pokedex of the new creatures, and includes name, type, abilities, location, and information about evolution. What strikes us as we look at this list is how weird the names of Pokemon have gotten. Maybe it's because we've had ten years or so to get used to the older names, but the new ones are jarringly nonsensical. See Bidoof above. Unfortunately, Game|Life's Chris Kohler beat us to the "Let Me Show You Them" headline for his post about the article. We'll try to get the next one![Via Game|Life]
DS Daily: Your team thus far
We know, we know. You don't really want to participate in the DS Daily today, because you want to go back to the loving arms of Pokemon Diamond and/or Pearl. But surely, you want to brag? You've already got a Level 57 Gyarados, or a badass Bidoof wearing a flower ribbon?Show your guns, hotshot trainers! Which tricked-out, ultra-rare Pokemon are you sporting to beat the crap out of everyone in Sinnoh?Jason's Team: Level 24 Grotle, Level 22 Luxio, Level 19 Onix, Level 17 Ponyta, some random punk who uses HM01 Cut, and a Level 2 Budew I named after my roommate.
Gotta have caught them all: a look back at Pokemon
We love reading about gaming history. Gaming Target has posted a retrospective about one of the most influential series ever, and one that is especially resonant for Nintendo faithful: Pokémon. The article begins with background information on series creator Satoshi Tajiri, and then goes into fairly detailed analysis of not only games in the main series, but the merchandising phenomenon and spinoff titles as well. The article finishes with a preview of the upcoming Diamond and Pearl.If you're like us and enjoy reading retrospectives, or if you just love Pokémon, then this article is a totally worthwhile read. We encourage you to let them show you it.
Gotta wear 'em all [update 1]
We don't advise buying gifts for anyone who won't show you their Pokemans, but for anyone willing to show you them, you might want to look into these cute little Poke-watches. They've got a bright, retro look that's sure to catch the eye of other Pikachu devotees in the area. Looks like they're available in both red and blue, and while we're big fans of the color blue in general, red just seems a little more evocative of all things Pokemon.[Thanks to Kefka for inspiring this image way back when.][Update 1: A terrible typo.]
Gotta pre-catch 'em all: Pokemon preorder bonuses
If you've been on the fence about this whole Pokémon thing, just waiting to be convinced about the monster-collecting genre (thus giving away your rock-underside-located residential status) then Nintendo knows just how to tempt you: free junk. Preorder the new DS Poké-games, Diamond and Pearl, from the Gamestop -EB mega-retail conglomerate and you'll be rewarded with a stylus! Also included is a ... stylus ... holder! It's a holder for your stylus! (Back in our day, we had stylus holders too. We called them DSes.)Naturally, both of these items are decorated with Pokemans, so friends who come anywhere near your DS-wielding hand or your designated DS Accessories Storage Area will be tipped off about your pathological need -- your addiction -- to catch 'em. Also, it wouldn't be Pokémon if there were no incentive to buy both games -- in the case of these bonuses, the styli each have a different little Poké-mascot on top: Dialga for the Diamond version and Palkia for the Pearl version. We assure you that those are real Pokémon names and not rare diseases. Or maybe both? We don't have medical degrees.[Via GayGamer]
