Busy busy busy so I'm taking the easy way out!

Hey guys, you know you want to learn more about the Gold and Silver remakes, right? No? Sorry! Replace this text with some old timey piano music instead.

/v/'s recent ire over the change in female protagonist in G/S through the DS remake is apparent, as Crystal, the first playable female protagonist in a Pokemon game (introduced in Pokemon Crystal, the third game in the Gold/Silver/Crystal generation), has been replaced with a completely different looking character.

Gold, the game's male protagonist, seems to be unchanged. Cool story, as he was probably my favorite/second favorite protagonist design!

Also rumored on /v/ and elsewhere online is:
-Release date 11th Sept
-Preorders start on July 20th, same date as new movie, speculative preorder movie cross promotion
-From the Johto map, Kanto is hinted at
-Wifi Features Expanded
-Boy/Girl choice
-Skateboard
-Rival shown

The "preorder/movie" cross promotion refers to the notch eared Pichu you acquire from the latest Pokemon movie, which stars Arceus, God of the Pokemon universe. There is speculation that the special Pichu will trigger some in-game events in Heart Gold/Soul Silver.

Scans are courtesy of Corocoro magazine and /v/ with information from Pokebeach and rumor mongers.

Pokemon Heart Gold and Soul Silver

Confirmed on the Pokemon fan site Pokebeach by way of Yahoo! Japan, Pokemon Heart Gold and Soul Silver are going to be released for the Nintendo DS.

The games are supposed to be remakes of the original Pokemon Gold and Silver, often argued to be the best games of the franchise (with and without nostalgia-goggles; personally, I think Platinum is the height of the franchise).

The games will be updates in the same vein as Fire Red and Leaf Green were updates to the original Red/Blue/Green/Yellow games, with improved graphics and sound and likely other new features, including aspects that take advantage of new handheld technology.

The game is set to be released in Fall in Japan. No word when American releases will occur.

I, for one, welcome our new Poke overlords.

Original article here.

Neat trinkets from gaming #2: Wobbuffet and Lego DSi

As my struggles with finals continue, it's nice to spend an afternoon with friends in the ole' City of New York. Even better is when you find a bunch of new doodads to write about for your video game blog about video games.

First up is one of the new releases from Jakks Pacific line of Pokemon toys. Previously, I thought the high of Jakk's talking plush line would end at Piplup, which every girl I know is inexplicably transfixed with. Little did I know that during a stop at Toys R Us with friends yesterday that I would find one that is superior in every way (and if you disagree with me you are a liar and a communist): Wobbuffet.

For those of you less-than-familiar with the Pokemon franchise (why are you reading my blog, then, though, since that's all I talk about), Wobbuffet is well known both in the Pokemon anime cartoon for its appearance alongside Team Rocket as a kind of comic relief to the already comical trio (its name in Japanese is based off of the expression, "I don't think so." which is why when he pops out of his ball after Jessie and/or James say something in the cartoon to quip "WOOOOOBBBBAAAAAFFFFEET," it's a lot funnier in context when he's saying it in Moonspeak, where his name is Sonansu). Also it is known in the competitive battling community for being one obscenely broken mother, bringing games to a standstill through stall in the 3rd Pokemon generation when it gained the ability Shadow Tag (which prevented your opponent from switching Pokemon) and battles between Wobbuffet would never end because the "Struggle" matches would never deal enough damage to either Pokemon to make up for the Leftovers recovery.

Anyway, in case you haven't seen my full Twitter picture, it's me wearing a Wobbuffet shirt and I'll be damned if I don't love that endless-battle making miscreant. For $15 at TRU, I got to take the lovable lump home and cuddled with it in lieu of a Jenni (insert Pokemon police officer joke here). It's roughly 15" tall, so it's rather large, adorable and says its name when you squeeze its hand.

Second on my list of things is something you cannot buy but maybe with a fortune and a lifetime of Lego collection you could possibly make: the Lego DSi at the Nintendo World store. Let me tell you, I didn't even play with Legos when I was a kid but I was taken aback by this construct from the future or space or from space future.

I wish I had stolen a shot when my friend was standing next to it just to establish the scale of this thing. Also I wish the Lego DS stylus that was crafted appeared in my picture, but then again I'm taking pictures for my blog using a 1.3 megapixel camera phone on low battery, so that should be some indication of how quality I am.

Needless to say, this thing is huge and very good looking. The detail given to all of the minute aspects, be it screen graphics to lens on the internal camera (yes, they included a Lego bit that resembles the DSi internal camera lens), work of art, waste of time, welcome distraction while ambling through Rockefeller Center, the Lego DSi is an important piece of video gaming paraphanelia that should be seen at all costs if you're in the area.

Rotom Forms: Yeah, I'm still talking about Pokemon.

This past Sunday began the Secret Key Pokemon Mystery Gift event at Toys R Us stores in the U.S. and Canada. But the real story here isn't that it's just another event, but what comes after this week: the Secret Key will be available as a WiFi Mystery Gift giveaway if you can't make it to a Toys R Us store during this week.

In line with recent giveaways in Japan, now Mystery Gift events will be available for download over WiFi connection, such as Oak's Letter and ... whatever it was that got you access to Dakrai, allowing players (at some point in the future) to catch legendary Pokemon using techniques available to capturing other legendary Pokemon in-game (and once the Wild Pokemon Random Number Generator is broken, like the breeding and Shiny Egg RNG have before it, this will open up capturing perfect IVed legendaries in events).

The WiFi event/s are currently limited, both in Japan and America, to item giveaways. Future Japanese giveaway of a level 100 Arceus and Pikachu-colored-sprite Pichu for the next Pokemon movie are limited to theater downloads and will likely be the same for Toys R Us stores in the U.S. when the event comes overseas.

The Secret Key event opens access to a locked room that allows the Pokemon Rotom to change forms into one of 5 electrical appliances, enhancing its stats and allowing it to learn a special move based on the form it's taken. The download is only available for Pokemon Platinum carts and not for Diamond or Pearl. More on the form and event at Serebii!

DSi: The Internet Conundrum and error code 051300-1

So, it's already 16 hours into Easter Sunday. Around 12 hours in, I finally acquired my DSi and charged the sucker. However, that 15th hour was when the battle began.

See, my house has Verizon FiOS, possibly one of the most unfriendly non-computer wireless internet access points I've had to fight with (and even when friends visit with laptops in hand, I often am bombarded with "WHY CAN'T I GET ONLINE? WHY DO I NEED TO MAINLINE YOUR ROUTER?" fits).

While preparing to write this update, I tried in earnest to find my WEP key and log on. Only to find that my first router instance gave me a giant middle finger, between connection quality and allowing me to actually connect, whenever I'd test the connection settings. 051300-1, you're on my list.

After going to Nintendo's service page (not helpful, though the people who are on their phone lines are extremely so, to the point where I emailed the support staff at Nintendo after one of their representatives helped me with their WiFi USB connector last year to thank the service member who'd helped me through the process), calling to find the offices were closed for the holiday and basically giving up hope, I tryed resetting the connection. And found the scroll menu had my router listed twice. Oh.

The second connection was also A+++++++, causing my internet connection to somehow supercharge itself and load pages before I even went to them. Ok, that's an exaggeration, but updating my firmware was now possible to do and an enjoyable thing to do.

Still don't have anything downloaded, but hopefully this tidbit helps anyone who has a DSi and may be confounded by finding error code #051300-1 stopping their gameplay and internet dreams.

Edit: Because apparently The Internet is sending people to my blog to fix this error and my advice of, "I had my router appear twice in my available WiFi hotspots and I clicked the second one, which allowed the problem to fix itself," isn't helpful, here is the link to Nintendo's official fix for the error.

Two notes from the official page that may be helpful (particularly in one commenter's case):
"Did this connection used to work but has suddenly stopped? 'Power cycle' your router and modem. To do this, unplug both the modem and the router from the power outlet. Wait a few minutes, and plug the modem back in. Wait a couple of minutes for the modem to initialize, then plug in the router. Try to connect the Wii, Nintendo DS, or Nintendo 3DS online and test for proper response."

The official Nintendo page on router access breaks down troubleshooting by router brand. Hopefully this helps people still getting sent to my blog looking for a fix; it didn't work for me, but apparently my problem was not the one advertised.

DSi Review prior to internet

So out of the potential good ideas I've had, walking around New York City with an injured back is probably not at the top of the list. But the good news is the Nintendo World store in Rockefeller Center had the DSi available for some hands-on demoing. Additionally, I got one of my friends No More Heroes (without the Red Steel +$10 dual packaging. Buy it if you see it and don't have it because it won't be around for much longer!) and myself a pair of really comfortable Wii pajama bottoms.

Anyway, the DSi. The DSi is just... a lot of new fun things in a portable console. Will all of it seem relevant a month from now? Maybe not. Let's explore.

One of the new features on the DSi is its camera. The camera is about as simple to use as any cell phone camera, just minus the one-button activation on most phones (or at least on my LG Verizon whateveritis). The interior camera is only 0.3 megapixels, but the exterior one is a full 3.0. Funnily enough, the interior camera is actually really good, with photos showing up very clearly, probably even better than pictures I'd take on my phone (I SMELL A NEW PORTABLE NON-CAMERA CAMERA-ING DEVICE TO USE ON THE BLOG!!1oneforty). The menu allows you to toggle between cameras, meaning you can take pics of whatever's outside your DS or whoever happens to be playing with your DS.

From there, you can play around with the images, adding filters, morphing pictures, throwing in effects and other neat edits that won't be giving Photoshop a run for its money, but does give you a surprising number of options for photo editing software you use 100% on the fly. In fact, I had my handsome mug transformed by pulling my lovable kisser all-about using the touch screen.

Aside from the photo taking and editing capabilities, you also have a sound recorder using the DSi's microphone (or the DS headset, sold separately), which allows you to record sounds, slow them down, speed them up, change their pitch and not a lot else. Reviews say you can use this software in conjunction with your sound media files saved to any SD card, but since I was using a display model and don't randomly carry SD cards filled with AAC sound files, I couldn't be asked to actually test this feature out.

Needless to say, if I can entertain myself for a good 20-30 minutes playing a sound file of me saying, "Hey dad, can we get on sites? Nope," forward and backward in various speeds and pitches, adding the potential to mix and record your own audio files seems like a pretty sweet endeavor. And hey, why not throw on a beat AAC and sing over it for recording studio...ing on the go? If you're an aspiring singer, songwriter, or rapper, you could do worse if a flash of insight hits you while in the middle of an Ace Attorney trial.

In my previous post, I touted the DSi's ability to function as its own EyeToy peripheral from the PS2, as demonstrated on the DSi Store game download WarioWare title. Since it was available on the display systems, let me say that you wasted your money on an EyeToy without the WarioWare title, but the downloadable game (basically free if you buy the DSi during its limited time "Free 1000 Nintendo WiFi Store Credit" offer) just cements this fact. It's Smooth Moves but on the DS and, therefore, anywhere.

Finally, the Opera web browser. It wasn't available on the store DSi-s. So.
:D

Guy waits in line for DSi for 15 minutes, gets it

The guy in question is me. I got up at 7:30 this morning hoping I'd dodge the PS3 bullet for video game hardware releases. Turns out I was the only one in line this morning, questioned by another guy who was up with his 11 year-old son whether I was there for the PS3 bundle or not.

I would link now to the NYT DSi review, but it's so bland that it may as well be about generic-brand mouth freshener as it just sort of lists DSi peripherals and then says that it's like an iPhone. Yeah, it's the iPhone minus phone you'd hoped it'd be, but the iPhone doesn't have the Nintendo WiFi Store backing it, with an entire history of titles, liscenced or otherwise, going back to gamings glory days. Why download Super Monkey Ball when I can get Dr. Mario and Pokemon Platinum in the same system.

I think the best review of the device is a San Jose Mercury News article highlighting what the DSi is, what it does and what to expect from it, particularly that in addition to all the relevant games and such, the portable system easily emulates the capabilities of the EyeToy from the PS2, as seen in the download launch title WarioWare: Snapped!

Sony didn't take the release lying down. On Wired, we can see a response to some outright crazy statements made by Sony about the PSP's relevance to the non-kids market of gamers (ignoring, of course, that an unholy amount of DS owners are adults that could care less about Rock Band or Hannah Montana and would prefer some Brain Age or Spanish Instructor).

I don't have a lot to add right now because, even if my DSi was opened, charged and ready, I don't have WiFi access at school. So. Hopefully next Sunday I'll have a full review for you!

Pokemon News - The Acid Rain Glitch

Yet another quick update - the new hot topic in Competitive Battling in Platinum is the weather glitch being called "acid rain," a field weather effect that causes every weather effect to trigger between turns and doing damage to each Pokemon.

The glitch was discovered in the Japanese release of the game months ago, but has undergone some serious testing since its discovery.

The glitch works like this: after a weather condition has been set up, by attack or automatically through a Pokemon's ability, a player's Pokemon is knocked out by using Pursuit when said Pokemon switches out (ex: Player one brings out Tyranitar against Starmie, triggering Sandstorm with Tyranitar's Sand Stream ability. Starmie's controller switches it out while Tyranitar's controller selects Pursuit as his attack. Starmie goes to switch, causing Pursuit to attack first and knock it out). The knocked out player switches in a new Pokemon and, from that point on, Rain, Sun, Hail and Sand weather conditions trigger (not sure of the order, bro), each causing Pokemon to take damage as though it were Hail or Sand (and causing some Pokemon to recover HP depending on weather condition).

Apparently other field effects, such as Gravity or Trick Room, can also trigger the glitch. A research thread detailing every known aspect of the glitch can be found on Smogon's forums.

One interesting effect of the glitch is that it causes an infinite loop for Weather-transformative Pokemon like Castform, effectively drawing the match as neither player can continue battling.

Research has not shown whether this will have any effect on the 2009 Pokemon Championship Qualifiers, though it is possible Pursuit has no such effect in double battles, the format for the championship.

A video of the glitch showing up in the English Platinum game can be seen here.

Rockefeller Plaza Poke-Invasion

Saturday, March 21 was quite a day for Rockefeller Center's Nintendo World Store.

Patrons were lined up around the block, most all with DSes in hand, many dressed up as or carrying Pokemon characters, in anticipation of the prerelease of the latest game in the Pokemon series, Pokemon Platinum.

The store opened an hour early, 11 A.M., to a massive crowd. Employees tried to bottle-neck traffic to the store by allowing only ten people at a time to enter to reduce congestion throughout the store, though, to be honest, moving around was a difficult task.

The first floor was decked out, as it always is, with mountains of Pokemon merchandise. The merchandise was then surrounded with Pokemon Platinum related paraphernalia, such as standees of the male and female game protagonists, lots of posters and cut-outs (and masks!) of Giratina, the focal Pokemon of the game and promotional back packs, masks and other items related the game's release.

In addition to the giveaways of promotional items, customers purchasing the game were randomly selected to win copies of the game autographed by Game Producer Junichi Masuda and Game Director Takeshi Kawachimaru to enthusiastic shouts and ringing cowbells.

If the crowd and employees weren't enough excitement, the outdoor set-up was just more icing on the cake.

A play area, including ball pit, carnival games, demo stations of the new game, a live stage where young Pokefans could play games, dance and answer trivia questions and a bean-bag chair area with a screening of the new Pokemon movie "Giratina and the Sky Warrior" for patrons. Mascots of DPP starter Pokemon Piplup and Chimchar were walking around to greet fans and take pictures, while various inflatable Pokemon were spotted throughout the fenced-off courtyard.

Oh, and the game's official release date was only one day later.

The massive fan support is just a very slight sign of Pokemon's still massive popularity for all ages, parents, children and those teens who happened to grow up with the gaming phenomenon.

Platinum Release Party: AVAST!

March 21st, aka this Saturday, at Nintendo World in Rockefeller Plaza, NYC, Noon-4. Get ready. It's a party.

Nintendo's celebrating the overly-anticipated (to me, anyway) release of Pokemon Platinum in style with a release party, with giveaways, signings, costumes and, best of all, selling the newest release in the Pokemon series a day early.

Information is available on Pokemon.com, but the real treat is the fact that I'm going and you get to see me. No, just kidding, it's the Pokemon. You guys can see me fanboy over Pokemon like the ridiculous man-child I am. I will demand battles from everyone. No one is safe.

The lost world of the portable console.

While I was growing up, there was one thing that still had some level of "in vogue" to it before the world of portable gaming became sexy... before anything could really be described as "portable."

Yeah, you had Game Boy Color to play your Kirby, Mario, Tetris and Pokemon on and not long after was the Gameboy Advance.

The real unsung gem of that era, however, was the Sega Nomad, what boiled down to a handheld Sega Genesis system that ran off of wall outlets, 6 AA batteries, a car charger and probably other potential power sources. Ignore for a second that it consumed these batteries en masse like it was some sort of device made to consume batteries (and that rechargable battery technology was nowhere near perfection), it was a system you could play any "Sega" game on anywhere. And when you were, say, at a family friend's shorehouse and didn't have the gual to bring your whole system with you, you could hook the Nomad up to the TV and play on the big boy screen. The box even had a second controller port for second players if you so desired.

More recently (though none too recent), Sony released the PSone, a smaller, white, extremely compact Playstation system*. What's more, the system was prepackaged with a fold-up LCD screen, allowing you to plug the system into wall ports in an airport or use a cigarette charger to power you on the fly for a FF9 (because FF7 and 8 are awful games and you should be ashamed for liking them) speed run on a long family car ride across the country.

Now we have behemoths like the PS3 and Xbox360 (and motion sensitive Wii; good luck playing that in the back of an Oldsmobile). We have the Nintendo DS, PSP and iPhone as compact, pocket size, non-cirgarette lighter-charged systems that are almost on par with (even at times outstripping) PS1 graphics. We also have mods to let you play games like Sonic 3 and Knuckles and FF7 on the fly.

So what happened here? Nomad was poorly marketed and released at a time when the Genesis was ending its lifecycle, but the PSone was around well into the age of the PS2 and other last-gen systems, even offering a lower price tag to keep it competitively priced and well-moved from shelves. One was a potential success marred by timing issues, the other a success despite timing. We cannot get "current gen" specs running on a DS. And while we have laptops, there's a lot to be said for controlling Dante on a touchpad.

We're in an age of behemoths and little gnomes that fit in your pocket, but it seems there's no space open for something in between. I remember the fun, but maybe I'm one of the few who do, when systems like the Nomad only sold 1 million units (total).

*Special note: mine did not have a phone.

Iron Man at the App Store

So upon finishing my reading of this week's issue of Amazing Spiderman, I close the issue to find none other than Iron Man's red-and-gold mug painted across the back of comic. Yeah, nothing special, what with a movie, dvd release, action figure line and video games to the Marvel movie and RD Jr. career inflating box-office hit. Wait. That was all months ago.

I look down and see still shots from a new game. Graphics are a little light, so it's probably for a new DS or PSP title. I mean, it's a little slow, what with Iron Man on the run from the law in his own monthly and the movie being the fading summer memory it is. Then I start paying attention.

This: the words "Only on iPhone." The ad is puntuated by a review from "AppCraver," which doesn't tell me much from an actual video gamer perspective, so I looked to IGN as the first video game reviewer I could find in Google (I don't have an iPhone, so I can't be asked to review the game myself). From the 9/10 AppCraver review, the game plunged to a 6.5 (granted, a mediocre score rather than "bad" one) with the punchy line, "You don't actually control Iron Man; you just control his crosshairs as he flies in a along his set path." While it doesn't sound very super-heroic, it does sound reminiscent of 2-D sidescroller shooters in a more 3-D rendered environment, dressed up by whatever leftover movie budgeting they could find. Or Iron Man in Star Wars: Arcade.
That and the game is only $8 (which the reviewer laments). Compare this to the average $35 DS title punctuated by the additional functionality of the iPhone. Not to provide copious smoke-blowing for a platform I don't even own, but at $8, even if the game is a repetitive mire of mediocrity with Iron Man's repulsor-blasting mug taped over what would be a plane or one-man firing squad, it's only $8. Compare this to the aforementioned $35 (usually lower on less high-end releases; the DS title still costs more than double at $19.99 on GameStop's website). Even if the game's a dud, you didn't blow most of a $20 bill on it.